From Adelaide to Ahmedabad…
Travis Head plays the innings of his life to carry Australia to a sixth World Cup triumph—against all the odds.
Australia reached the “pinnacle” of cricket Sunday night in Ahmedabad, said captain Pat Cummins. Surely it would take a foolhardy person to contest this in a year when his team retained the Ashes, won the World Test Championship, and are now crowned World 50-over Champions for the sixth time.
With two opening defeats, Australia, now considered the fall-guys, silenced an expectant nation fuelled by a home-body, propaganda-driven agenda. The idea of this scenario seemed fanciful speculation just four weeks earlier as the five-time champion languished at the bottom of the ten-team ladder. Simultaneously, the hosts, India, were steamrolling oppositions with military-like precision.
Cricket, truly, is a fickle pastime—never to be presumed upon and certainly not scripted. It's a doctrine that India will surely grapple with in the foreseeable future.
Back to Sunday—briefly, the first-half numbers:
Pat Cummins won the toss and bowled—gasp number ONE.
Rohit Sharma busied himself early, similar to a worker who was late for his bus. The Indian powerplay yielded 80, albeit with three wickets lost. Virat Kohli rolled along without interruption until a deflection from bat to stump changed. the game—that man Cummins. The rest was laborious and somewhat predictable. India found themselves swimming in uncharted waters; their brittle tale was now clearly visible on the immediate horizon. KL Rahul lost the faith and his intent. The ball decided to change course, now starting to swing reverse, and a target of 240 was always going to compel India to attack with ball in hand. The rest we can talk about in more detail later. Oh, and there was the Australian fielding. By hand and foot, it was extraordinary. (Onya Bora).
SpeakingNick is a reader-supported venture. Free and paid versions are available. The best way to support me is by taking out a paid subscription.
When day gave way to night, Australia’s powerplay proved to be even more chaotic than India’s.
The ball swung, as did the bats of Travis Head and Davey Warner; slip catchers ushered balls between them. KL Rahul appeared to be still lamenting his innings earlier; it took a bolt-upright seam from Mohammad Shami and the safer hands of Kohli at slip to end Warner’s World Cup career—the seven that Warner made could easily be extended to 20-something, such was the nature of his fielding, if saves became run-credits.
Mitch Marsh came and went before you could draw breath, and Steve Smith did the unthinkable; he forgave a review to an LBW decision from Jasprit Bumrah that would have reprieved him—he might have been saving them for his mate, Marnus.
Talking of Marnus, that’s Marnus Labuschagne:
Bigamy it wasn’t, but the partnership that enabled Australia’s implausible heist should never have been able to happen.
Feeling generous? Maybe an Aussie supporter? Why not gift a SpeakingNick subscription, the holiday season is nearly here…
Travis Head was always in Australia’s best 50-over team, however, it had been decided that Marnus Labuschagne was no longer. This wasn’t a knee-jerk decision, there was a significant body of evidence in support.
It was August 7 when the Australian selectors chose to leave Labuschagne out of their provisional squad for this World Cup and the tour of South Africa.
Opinion saw not enough space for both Steve Smith and Labuschagne in the same order. The selectors had cooled on the enigmatic right-hander's continual dallying and tinkering with his own game and the role they required from him in this format.
Labuschagne found himself on the outer.
His would-be partner-in-crime, Travis Head, helped remedy the situation by suffering a fractured hand during the warm-up games in South Africa, thus allowing Labuschagne’s recall.
“Never give a sucker an even break.” Thankfully, this eventuated.
It should be said that Labuschagne was hardly a novice at what he was being asked to do. His run of strong performances in the South Africa ODI’s strengthened his recall position—it also helped that Smith was being managed through an injury himself, allowing Marnus to play the role in isolation.
Eventually, when the squad was finalised, it was left-arm finger spinner Ashton Agar who missed out at Labuschagne’s expense, and crucially, Travis Head was afforded the time he needed to recover from his injury.
Clearly, both became critical decisions from Australia’s think tank.
Labuschagne’s entry point was a precarious three for 47 at the end of Bumrah’s fourth over—Head was 10 at the time and looking far from settled.
Granted, it’s taken a while, but this post in the main is about the boy from Adelaide’s northern suburbs—Travis Head.
Before some numbers, we should read some of what his captain had to say about his intoxicating innings.
“He epitomises everything I want out of a cricket team.”
Pat Cummins went on to say, “He takes the game on; he just puts the pressure right back on the opposition, and he’s great fun to be around. I couldn’t be happier for Trav.”
Head said. “It’s certainly a lot better than watching the World Cup on the couch at home. I was a little bit nervous, but Marnus played exceptionally well and soaked up all the pressure. It’s nice to contribute in front of a full house.” Head went on to say, “How much he was looking forward to the reunions.”
He was rightly voted player of the match and joins Adam Gilchrist and Ricky Ponting as the only Australians to make World Cup Final hundreds.
Prior to 2023, Head played just 10 Test innings and 5 ODI games against India, only batting past the 100-ball mark once. In 2023, he’s gone past this mark three times from 12 innings, recording 90 not out in the Ahmedabad Test, 163 in the World Test Championship Final at the Oval, and now, 137 on the biggest stage of all.
“The partnership” produced 192 runs; Head's contribution was 127 from just 105 balls. Labuschagne’s part should not be overlooked—58 from 5 more balls that his partner faced.
“Be clear on your role in a partnership; park your ego at the boundary line; play how the scoreboard tells you.” Simple stuff, but so true.
Labuschagne did just that and had the perfect ally for company.
This final was over well before its conclusion.
India, you have to spare a thought—at least one.
Sent to all points of the compass in the early going, make no mistake, this World Cup was to be a celebration that would be seen by the entirety of Narendra Modi’s India. From Dharamsala in the north to Chennai in the south, Rohit Sharma’s men were continually on parade.
And, to their credit, they never missed a beat.
Once the preliminaries were complete, it was back to Mumbai for a semi-final, where they dispatched New Zealand in front of both cricket and football luminaries, and then on to their Prime Minister's backyard to finish the job and be crowned the undisputed World Champion.
India’s form was irresistible.
Runs flowed in the powerplays; Virat Kohli policed the middle overs like an overzealous London bobby; the new ball moved laterally on demand; their spinners purveyed like they always do; KL Rahul handled the gloves with aplomb; and their backup players would have found a place in every other team bar England—who clearly know better!
Alas, they fell in sight of the finish line, an agonising end for a supremely talented squad.
It’s my belief that Australia has always assumed the role of underdog, even when they have been at their most dominant. It appears endemic to the make-up of an Australian cricketer to downplay their significance—bar one in particular—even when they are clearly in the upper echelons of power.
The Pat Cummins/Andrew McDonald version is serially underrated, in part due to the shadow cast by their most immediate predecessors and the fallout from Justin Langer’s departure.
The country’s depth chart is sustainable in all three formats. Perhaps some of the malaise around this team is that the last 20 years have seen every other side improve dramatically, while Australia has merely maintained and buffed their model.
Travis Head and his crew will enjoy this victory as much as they do all the others. I wonder if the dressing room door was left open for their Indian counterpart’s—I have no doubt it would have been.
Onya, Ronnie.
As always, thank you for being here.
PS. Dhaval, truly, sorry for your loss…