Australia haven’t finalised their playing eleven for the opening Test of their tour of Sri Lanka, but captain Steve Smith has confirmed that it will be Travis Head partnering Usman Khawaja at the top instead of youngster Sam Konstas.
Konstas made headlines with his batting show against India, which included a half-century on debut during the Melbourne Test of the recently-concluded Border Gavaskar Trophy in Australia, and his verbal duels with Jasprit Bumrah, besides the incident where a rattled Virat Kohli shoulder-barged the teenager.
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But Smith, who is leading Australia in the absence of Pat Cummins, chose Head over Konstas because of the way the former batted when elevated to open the inning during Australia’s tour of India in 2023.
“Travis will go to the top. Outside of that, I think, it will be pretty stable. I don’t see it being a great deal of change from that. The selectors liked what they saw in India when he (Head) had that opportunity. He got after the new ball, scored quickly and put the pressure on them straight away, so I guess similar thinking here,” Smith told reporters before a training session on Tuesday.
Head’s promotion leaves Konstas fighting for a spot in the middle order, with Nathan McSweeney and Josh Inglis as the other candidates in the fray.
“He (Konstas) is going to have a lot of practice if he doesn’t play, which in itself is great for development. I only have to think back to 2013 (in India) where I didn’t play the first two Tests, and just the amount of balls I was hitting in the nets and the skills I was able to develop from facing loads of net bowlers and things like that,” said Smith.
“So whether he plays or not, I think it’s going to be a wonderful experience for him.”
The first Test of the two-match series begins in Galle on Wednesday. The tour will conclude with two ODIs, after which the teams will fly to Pakistan to participate in the ICC Champions Trophy.
