Travis Head finds his feet to thwart England's head-hunting approach

It's a good list: 152 vs England in Brisbane; 101 vs England in Hobart, 92 vs South Africa in Brisbane, 163 vs India

at The Oval.

Those are the matches where Travis Head, since late 2021, has produced a match-defining innings (and there are others in which he has played an important role). By Sunday night, weather permitting, we'll know if his 77 against England at Headingley stands among them. Should Australia manage to defend 251 and win the Ashes, it may have to top the lot.

This time Head was almost last man standing, having watched the middle- and lower-order get dispatched by Chris Woakes and Mark Wood. He was on 34 off 82 - quite an un-Travis Head innings, at least of the last two years - but there was now only one way to go. His next 30 balls brought 43 of the 54 runs added for the final two wickets.

With memories of Brisbane and Hobart fresh in the mind, it was the type of performance Ben Stokes had been wary of before the series.

"I think Travis Head is someone who, since he came into the team, has really taken his opportunity, and gone: 'This is how I'm going to play'," Stokes said in a Sky Sports interview.. "Him being allowed to go out and play the way he has, he's been so successful. He was so hard to bowl to in Australia when we were there last time because he just threw counterpunches, and those innings he played against us were really hard to bowl to, really hard to set fields to. But we are prepared for that."

Although Head eventually hoicked to deep midwicket to give Stuart Broadhis third wicket of the innings, it felt as though England had overdone the short-ball strategy to him at Headingley. With the ball zipping around in the first innings, they had been quick to set the field back and bang it in, which seemed to remove some of the natural advantages on offer. On that occasion, he was eventually caught poking to slip.

Again, on the third evening, even though play was under slate-grey skies with Woakes and Broad making the ball talk, they immediately went short to Head. He may not always look comfortable playing it, but he has a method that works.

"I've got to score off them, I can't just sit and cop it because, as we've seen, it's going to be the whole day," he said. "It's hard to say 'get under it', they've proved they won't change. I've played my hand on how I'm going to play it…it felt like today they hedged their bets because they did pitch some up and play with my feet."

Head conceded playing the short ball was the one area of his game he felt was not in top working order when he arrived in England. After the India tour, on pitches a world away from the bounce on offer on this tour, even taking into account some slower surfaces in this Ashes, he took a break and did not pick up a bat for a number of weeks.

After Head had made 163 in the World Test Championship final, India's bowling coach Paras Mhambrey admitted their quick bowlers had been too slow in taking him on with the short delivery, and he looked uncomfortable when they did later in his century and in the second innings of that game.

"It was one part of my game that I felt just hadn't clicked yet," he said. "India didn't come to that tactic till later in my innings. I didn't play [it] particularly well, which then lends itself to a little bit of talk [and I] find myself in the position I've been in."

In the Ashes, Head has contributed half-centuries in the first two Tests at Lord's and Edgbaston before falling to offspin both times - swatting Moeen Ali to midwicket and charging Joe Root - then faced the bouncer-barrage in the second innings last week, when he fended to short leg, which has largely been replicated here.

"There's not many periods I think we've seen in Test cricket where it's just been 100 percent short balls," he said. "I wasn't surprised with the plan. I prepared and thought it was going to come. Maybe not to the extent that it did, but I felt like, throughout the series, I've had moments where I've been able to get them off that plan."

Head said that if there was one thing he would leave this tour with, "it might be with a pull shot", which is a surprising thing for an Australian batter to say given the largely faster, bouncier pitches back home, although Head has played a lot of cricket on slower surfaces in Adelaide.

Head is the team's second-highest run-scorer in the series behind Usman Khawaja, which emphasises the importance of his contributions at a time when Steven Smith and Marnus Labuschagne have provided one major score in 12 innings between them.

Australia's advantage in this series has come down to very small margins and there could yet be another if the bowlers can deliver on day four. They will hope for the cloud cover that greeted England's attack and not sunshine.

"It's a huge day in the series tomorrow," Head said. "It would be silly for both camps to not say there's nerves in the camp. Hopefully we can redeem ourselves from '19 at this place."