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In an effort to future-proof the leadership stocks in
Australian cricket, Travis Head, the team’s hero from the ODI World Cup and the
World Test Championship final, has been formally promoted to co-vice captain of
the Test team alongside Steven Smith. Current captain Pat Cummins says Head has
all the makings of a future Test leader.
Just one day before Australia’s first Test match
against Pakistan in Perth, Head, 29, was added to the team’s leadership group.
Cummins also unveiled Australia’s playing eleven, which features just one
change from the last Test match they played against England at The Oval in
July: Nathan Lyon, the team’s lone spinner, replaces Todd Murphy due to injury.
Head and Cummins had previously served as co-vice
captains of the Test team under Tim Paine. In October 2018, after a team vote
in the wake of the sandpaper incident, Mitchell Marsh and Josh Hazlewood were
appointed as Paine’s co-vice-captains. The two were selected as Paine’s new
deputies in February 2019. But Head lost the title along with Marsh and
Hazlewood after he was dropped from the side during the 2019–20 home series
against India, which resulted in him losing his Test spot.
But his stunning run of form over the last two years
across all formats has Head well-entrenched in the side, despite briefly being
controversially left out for the first Test in India earlier this year. Cummins
confirmed the move had been made with an eye to the future.
“Really excited to have Trav on board as the
co-vice-captain,” Cummins said on Wednesday. “He’s been playing for a
long time. He’s always been a leader in our group. So we thought it was a good
time to formally recognise that. Whilst nothing’s imminent, Steve’s not going
to play forever. I daresay I’m not going to captain forever. So we feel like
we’ve got some responsibility to future-proof the team and start trying to give
opportunities to other leaders.
“I think the personality that he brings to the
team is something that we all love,” Cummins said. “And I think you
see it in the way he plays his cricket. There’s a certain amount of freedom to
it. He takes the game on. He enjoys it. He’s always got a smile on his face. He
never takes anything too seriously. He’s great at bringing the team together
for team morale, for putting his arm around players that need it.
“Sometimes you can mistake that for someone who’s
not a deep thinker about the game, but I think tactically, he’s excellent. So
he’s got all the makings of a really strong leader like we’ve seen him do for
South Australia for quite a few years and we’re making that a little bit more
formal around the Aussie team.”