Travis Head fires back at former players before Durban Test

Australia vice-captain Travis Head has accused former players of unfairly “putting a bullet through” the current side ahead of Friday’s first Test against South Africa in Durban.

Head, who opens the batting at the top of the order, spoke on Wednesday in South Africa. He said some former Test players turned critics “need a job, so they go after us”, in comments reported by Reuters.

The row centres on Matthew Hayden. The former Australia opener criticised selectors after batter Nic Maddinson was called up, describing the decision as promoting “the greatest pile of mediocrity”, according to The Guardian.

Hayden also said the call showed disrespect for first-class cricket, the domestic long-form game that feeds Test selection.

Head hit back hard. He defended Maddinson and the squad. He said outside noise made a tough job harder.

Maddinson trained with the main group this week. He faced the new ball, the fresh, hard ball used by opening bowlers, from left-arm quick Mitch Starc in the nets.

It is a sharp exchange before a big series. A Test is cricket’s five-day format. This is the first of the series, so tone matters.

Batting form is part of the argument. Test batting averages across the game have fallen by close to 20 per cent since the end of the 2010s. Cricket Australia has asked curators, the staff who prepare pitches, to produce surfaces more in favour of batters.

For fans, this means two contests at once. One is on the field in Durban. The other is about who gets to judge Australia’s batters, and how.