Aussies surely can’t repeat churn and burn McSweeney mistake with Konstas if Head goes to opener

All the talk leading into the Sri Lanka tour is that Australia are planning on reviving the idea of Travis Head as an opener. 

That would mean Sam Konstas gets the chop after just two Tests or Usman Khawaja is surplus to requirements with the third scenario of one of them dropping down the order highly unlikely.

The Aussies churned and burned Nathan McSweeney following the first three Tests at the start of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series after playing him at opener even though he is a middle-order specialist. 

It was shabby treatment for the South Australian 25-year-old and even though Konstas clearly has more than a few rough edges that he needs to sharpen in his game, punting him after two Tests is not the way to nurture his prodigious talent. 

Konstas needs guidance from the coaching staff and senior members of the team, which is pretty much everyone else in his case given that he is 19 and no one else is under 30.

If the Aussies elevate Head to opener at the expense of Konstas, it would be a wasted opportunity, especially with these two matches a virtual free swing after they wrapped up their World Test Championship final berth after vanquishing India 3-1.

Of course no Test is even close to meaningless and the Warne-Muralitharan Trophy is on the line as well as Australia’s record of holding every bilateral men’s silverware but these matches in Sri Lanka and the trio of fixtures in the West Indies in June-July are perfect opportunities to build up for the home Ashes series at the end of the year.

Head was unwilling to put his hand up to open in the Test side on a permanent basis 12 months ago when David Warner retired and despite being well suited to the role in the white-ball formats, he prefers the middle order in the five-day arena.

After he was infamously dropped for the first Test, he was dragged up to the top of the order during the India tour of 2023 when Warner suffered a broken arm, doing better than expected (and the two regular openers) in five innings. 

He top-scored with 43 in Australia’s second-innings capitulation of 113 in the second Test after Warner had been subbed out after also suffering a concussion in his brief knock on day one. 

Sam Konstas. (Photo by Morgan Hancock – CA/Cricket Australia via Getty Images)

Australia curiously brought in specialist opener Matt Renshaw as Warner’s mid-match substitute but batted him in the middle order where he went cheaply soon after Head’s innings.

Head made nine in the first innings of the low-scoring clash at Indore which was over early on day three when he blasted 49 not out as the Aussies chased the paltry victory target of 76 losing just one wicket – Khawaja for a duck.

He finished the series with 32, as Khawaja amassed 180, and then 90 in the second innings (opening with nightwatcher Matt Kuhnemann) on the Ahmedabad featherbed which produced only 22 wickets across the full five days. 

Khawaja’s ton lifted him to top spot in the run-scorers for the series with 333 at 47.57 while Head added 235 at 47, making 12 in his only trip to the crease in the middle order.

Unfortunately for Khawaja, his recent form has not been anywhere near that output – he’s averaged 20.92 in the seven Tests since the trip to New Zealand earlier this year and 30.7 in the 16 matches since his last century at the start of the 2023 Ashes.

A Head and Khawaja opening partnership is the safe option but not a proactive one. 

Head does not want to bat there full-time and if this tour is about planning for their next blockbuster series in the subcontinent – the trip to India at the start of 2027, there is no point in picking Khawaja given that he has already stated his intention is to retire after the SCG Test next January, if he retains his spot in the interim.

For Konstas, with teammates like David Warner, who needs enemies. His Sydney Thunder captain told the media this week that if the Aussies bring Head up to opener, he’d be leaving Konstas out.

Travis Head bats a Indore in 2023. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)

Although he did say the teenager would do a good job if he is retained and perhaps there is an unconscious bias towards Khawaja, his childhood friend and long-time opening partner.

The Australian selectors made the right call when they brought Konstas into the fold for the fourth Test against India and he rewarded them with his dazzling 60 on debut on Boxing Day and also showed them that it’s going to take time before he’s anywhere close to the finished product with his helter-skelter knocks in Sydney. 

Time on the field, that is, not watching Head take his spot while he watches on from the dressing room. 

If he makes some decent scores, it will be just what he needs to prove to himself that he can cut it at Test level.

And even if he fails in all four innings in Sri Lanka, it’d hardly be the end of the world and it would accelerate his education on how a Test batter needs to operate to succeed. 

Back in 1992, Mark Waugh was given the unwanted nickname of “Audi” in honour of the four circles in the car-maker’s logo after back-to-back pairs in Sri Lanka in the early stages of his Test career and he turned out alright.