Travis Head has shared his views on the pitch at the Optus Stadium in Perth.© X (Twitter)
Australia batter Travis Head has shared his views on the pitch at the Optus Stadium in Perth, the venue for their 1st Test against Australia, starting Friday. Perth has witnessed plenty of rain in the lead up to the match, which has hampered the pitch preparation. However, the head curator of the Optus Stadium revealed that the pacers would get extra pace and bounce, playing down concerns of “snake cracks” on the deck. Head said that while he enjoys batting in Perth, the track can become a bit challenging in the last two days, labelling some parts of it as ‘terrifying’.
“I do know that I’ve enjoyed batting here – in parts. There are parts of this wicket that can be terrifying, simple as that. I think everyone’s talked about that. Depending on where the wicket goes to on day three, four and five, it can be challenging,” said Head.
Head also gave a sneak peek into his preparations for bouncy tracks, revealing that he trained with yellow balls in England during the last Ashes.
“I did it a lot in England. I don’t think I had a net session pretty much after the first Test that I faced cricket balls. I just faced yellow balls because I knew that (short balls) were all they were going to bowl me. When you’re going through a long series, and I guess I was the one that copped it the most of that series, I thought I’d have a bit of a laugh and go to training without my pads – so that may come out again,” he added.
On the decision to train with yellow balls, Head revealed: “I don’t want a broken finger but I want to train it. It’s not enjoyable to train and it’s hard to do and visibility and wickets (makes it) not as (easy to bat against) as the centre.”
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