Key events
“I said earlier that at one stage England looked on course for 400,” says Simon McMahon. “Even had they reached it, you get the feeling Head would have chased the runs down almost by himself, he’s that good.”
There has never been an ODI opener like him, not even Virender Sehwag. His strike rate of 116 is easily the highest of anybody who has scored at least 1000 ODI runs at the top of the order. This is the list:
Australia were far too good for a young England side who left a few runs out there with the bat. Mind you, no target is safe when Travis Head is in the mood. He produced another dirty masterpiece, hitting 154 not out from 129 balls with 20 fours and five sixes.
Marnus Labuschagne supported him with a quietly brilliant 77 not out, which included 57 from the last 32 balls. Their partnership of 140 was almost flawless. And they took five wickets between them earlier in the day.
Australia win by seven wickets with 36 balls to spare
44th over: Australia 317-3 (Head 154, Labuschagne 77) Labuschagne has the honour of hitting the winning runs, cutting Will Jacks for four. The world champions have put England across their knee.
43rd over: Australia 310-3 (Head 152, Labuschagne 72) Bong! Head dances down to hit Livingstone for six to bring up a joyous and brilliant 150. What a player! When he was recalled for the 2021-22 Ashes he was about to turn 28 and his career was going nowhere. He was, in the parlance of our time, just another one from the bottle. Now he is the most destructive all-format batsman in the world, and arguably the best.
Labuschagne does further damage to Livingstone’s figures (9-0-75-1) with a hard sweep for four. Australia have scored 106 in the last 11 overs.
42nd over: Australia 295-3 (Head 144, Labuschagne 65) Labuschagne skids back to cut one last boundary off Rashid, who ends a chastening evening with figures of 10-0-59-0. Superb batting.
41st over: Australia 289-3 (Head 143, Labuschagne 60) Labuschagne pulls out in his deelivery stride and says something to Labuschagne, who belts the actual delivery for four and gives plenty back. Not sure what that was about.
There are four byes later in the over when a leg break from Livingstone beats everything and everyone. For 80 overs this felt like a close game; it has turned into a right hammering. In fact Australia have scored 89 off the last 9 overs. Crikey.
40th over: Australia 276-3 (Head 142, Labuschagne 52) Remember when Australia lost their first two games of last year’s World Cup and everyone overindulged on schadenfreude? This will be the 13th consecutive win since then.
Head hits his fourth six, carting Rashid miles over mid-on. In some ways this innings is reminiscent of Zak Crawley’s Ashes masterpiece: very scratchy for the first 40 or so runs, frighteningly good thereafter. In both innings there was no inbetween bit, no 10- or 20-run period where you thought they were starting to hit form.
He does have one moment of fortune when a big leading edge somehow lands safely on the off side. Frankly, he’s earned it.
39th over: Australia 266-3 (Head 134, Labuschagne 50) Lanuschagne scrunches Livingstone for a single to reach an accomplished 42-ball half-century, the perfect supporting role. He hit 20 from 29 balls then 30 from the next 13. And why not?
38th over: Australia 263-3 (Head 132, Labuschagne 49) England are a beaten team, their will broken by a moustachioed, easy-going phenom called Travis Michael Head.
Labuschagne sweeps Rashid for four more – he’s hit 29 off his last 11 balls – before Head drags a slightly disgusting hoick behind square for another boundary.
Australia need 53 from 72 balls.
37th over: Australia 251-3 (Head 126, Labuschagne 43) Oh yes, Labuschagne is into his work now. He carts the new bowler Livingstone down the ground for two sixes down in three balls, then sweeps fine for four. An expert at work.
“I think you’re right about Travis Head, but he is an unusual great in that he doesn’t really have a signature shot or typical innings,” says Gary Naylor. “I suspect it’s because he does everything so well that nothing stands out.”
Isn’t his typical innings – and I say this with nothing but love – causing utter mayhem? I agree about the signature shot. I suspect there are a few reasons we’ve been slow to recognise his greatness. He’s not particularly elegant, he was no more than a good international player till the age of 28 and, perhaps most significantly, he doesn’t look or strut like a superstar.
I was going to call him the beast next door, such is the savagery of his hitting, but that makes him sound like a serial killer so let’s move on.
36th over: Australia 233-3 (Head 125, Labuschagne 26) Travis Head could break another record today. The highest score in a successful runchase in England is Jason Roy’s 162 against Sri Lanka eight years ago; the highest against England in England is Sanath Jayasuriya’s riotous 152 at Headingley in 2006. Check out these bowling figures!
Labuschagne opens the face to steer Carse past the keeper for four, his first boundary from his 30th delivery. Australia seem to be strolling to victory; they need 83 from 84 balls.
35th over: Australia 225-3 (Head 124, Labuschagne 19) Australia keep things ticking over with five from Jacks’ over. It makes sense that Head and Labuschagne would bat well together and the numbers reflect that: their average partnership is 64 in Tests and 154 in ODIs.
34th over: Australia 220-3 (Head 123, Labuschagne 16) Brydon Carse replaces his Durham buddy Matt Potts. Extra pace can be a blessing and a curse; on this occasion it’s emphatically the latter.
Head times a low full toss through midwicket for four, then slugs a short ball just over the leaping Brook at mid-on. After a solitary dot ball, Head cuts Carse to the cover boundary and drags a pull through square leg. Four fours in five balls, all hit in an arc from cover to square leg.
This is just sensational batting from a true modern great. He is. We can’t call this a purple patch – it’s been going on three years.
33rd over: Australia 203-3 (Head 107, Labuschagne 15) Harry Brook holds on to Rashid’s last three overs, replacing him with Will Jacks. The ball is still turning and stopping occasionally, so it probably won’t be easy for a new batsman to start.
Three from the over, including a muffed reverse sweep froim Labuschagne that goes for a single. Australia need 113 from 102 balls.
32nd over: Australia 200-3 (Head 106, Labuschagne 12) A quiet over from Potts, four from it.
Labuschagne is a perfect foil for Head, just as he was in last year’s World Cup final. He’s the forgotten man of that triumph, in which he made 58 not out from 110 balls. Tonight he has 12 from 19 balls and the best seat in house.
31st over: Australia 196-3 (Head 105, Labuschagne 9) England know that the game changes if they dismiss Head, especially as they are still ahead on the comparison.
Head backs away to flat bat Rashid through extra cover, and this time even the sprawling Bethell can’t save the boundary. Phenomenal batting.
Travis Head makes another thrilling century!
30th over: Australia 190-3 (Head 100, Labuschagne 8) Potts replaces Archer, whose figures of 6-0-53-0 are pretty harsh. Although he’s bowled more loose stuff than usual, with a bit more luck he could have a couple of wickets.
Head flicks Potts for two to move to 99; it would have been four but for a fine stop from Brook. No matter. Head belts a slow full toss for a single to reach another sizzling century: 92 balls, 14 fours, three sixes. He pops his helmet on his bat handle and raises it to the crowd in celebration.
It’s been an innings of two halves. He rode his luck to reach 41 from 47 deliveries, then played with increasing authority to hit the next 59 from 45.
29th over: Australia 184-3 (Head 97, Labuschagne 6) Labuschagne pulls Rashid fiercely towards cow corner, where Bethell saves three runs with a brilliant diving stop. He’s made three of those now, saving eight runs in the process.
Labuschagne is not out! It’s umpire’s call on height rather than line, so England do at least keep their review.
England review for LBW against Labuschagne! Rashid replaces Bethell, an aggressive move with Head so close to his century. A lovely delivery skids on to hit Labuschagne on the pad; it’s given not out but Harry Brook, a little reluctantly, takes matters upstairs. It’s very close, I’d say umpire’s call or out.
28th over: Australia 181-3 (Head 96, Labuschagne 4) Head makes room to glide Archer for another boundary, which takes him within one hit of a century. He’s not living dangerously any more.
I know I’m obsessed with Travis Head but how can you not be? When he was dropped from the ODI team in 2018, apparently for good, he averaged 34 with a strike rate of 90. He returned four years later, and since then he averages 61 and has a strike rate of 121. This is not remotely normal behaviour.
27th over: Australia 173-3 (Head 90, Labuschagne 2) Marnus Labuschagne is the new batsman. That little assault before Green’s dismissal means he has a bit of time to get his eye in; the required rate is around 6.2 per over. And Travis Head is batting.
WICKET! Australia 169-3 (Green b Bethell 32)
Jacob Bethwell takes his first wicket in international cricket! It’s a triumph for him and also for Harry Brook, who could easily have hooked Bethell after two slightly nervous overs. He didn’t and was rewarded with a key wicket. Bethell, darting it in from around the wicket, skidded one straight through Green to hit the stumps; Ravindra Jadeja would have been happy with that dismissal.
26th over: Australia 169-2 (Head 88, Green 32) Archer returns in place of Livingstone, who bowled a mixed spell of 5-0-30-1. His loosener (sic) zips past Head’s flashing blade.
That’s as good as it gets for England in that over. Green times a beautiful straight drive for four, then Head slashes a cut just over backward point for four more.
25th over: Australia 159-2 (Head 83, Green 27) Green sweeps Bethell very fimly for four, continuing this excellent little spell for Australia. Head tries to batter another boundary past mid-off, where the sprawling Jacks does superbly to save three runs.
Englad might need a change of pace. Australia have scored 32 from the last four overs and are in control.
24th over: Australia 152-2 (Head 82, Green 22) Now Livingstone starts his over by giving Green a free boundary. In fact he saw Bethell’s four-ball and raised it by bowling a full toss outside leg stump. An inside-edge past the stumps for two brings up a rapid fifty partnership, and then Head hammers a sweep round the corner for four.
Head chanced his way to 40-odd, and that’s not a criticism because how the hell can you play like he does and not take chances. But the last 40 or so runs, starting with that pressure-relieving pull for four off Will Jacks, have been scored with ominous certainty.
The numbers support the eye test: 41 from 47 balls until that boundary, then 41 off 30.
23rd over: Australia 143-2 (Head 78, Green 17) Jacob Bethell, an occasional but useful left-arm spinner in white-ball cricket, comes on for Adil Rashid. His first ball is a sweaty-palmed aberration, well outside leg stump and swept for four by Green.
It’s a good over after that, even if Head steers a boundary to third man off the final delivery. Nothing wrong with the ball, just superb batting.
Books will be written about Travis Head you know. He’s the assassin next door, an extraordinary cricketer.
22nd over: Australia 134-2 (Head 74, Green 12) Head pulls Livingstone viciously over midwicket for six. Livingstone replies with three dot balls in a row, including a quicker delivery that just – and I mean just – misses the off stump.
Australia need 182 from 164 balls.
21st over: Australia 127-2 (Head 68, Green 12) Australia have slipped behind the required rate, though they won’t mind that too much while they have so many wickets in hand. Rashid’s fourth over is a good one, two from it.
Green is not out!
20th over: Australia 125-2 (Head 67, Green 11) In fact it pitched outside off and turned further away, so that’s a rare poor decision from Alex Wharf.
REVIEW! Green given out LBW to Livingstone
19.6 overs: Australia 125-2 (Head 67, Green 11) Green tries to launch Livingstone towards the Bodega Social and gets an inside-edge just past the stumps. If England are to win they need to keep chipping away because Australia bat deep, with Sean Abbott at No9.
They might have the third wicket now! Green tries to sweep Livingstone and is given out LBW by Alex Wharf, but he reviews straight away. This might be turning past off stump you know.
19th over: Australia 122-2 (Head 66, Green 10) Rashid errs in line and is worked for three by Green, then in length and is blazed over extra cover for four by Head. Never mind WinViz; we need a Travis Head Danger-o-meter which shows whether he’s living dangerously, looking dangerous or both. In the last few overs it has swung towards looking dangerous.
18th over: Australia 113-2 (Head 61, Green 6) Spin at both ends is an OBOer’s nightmare, especially in white-ball cricket, so apologies for any short entries. Like this one, which exists solely to tell you that Liam Livingstone conceded only two runs from his second over. And that it’s time for drinks.
17th over: Australia 111-2 (Head 60, Green 5) When Rashid overpitches, Head pumps him down the ground for six with nary a hint of fuss. He’s just a postman delivering letters, so don’t you dare tell him it was a great shot.
The next ball is spot on and beats the outside edge, and Rashid does well to concede only three from the last five deliveries.
“After last year’s World Cup final,” begins Krishnamoorthy V, “the Times of India headline was ‘Head Breaks (1.4 billion) Hearts’. What is 67 million in comparison?”
I dunno. 0.47857 per cent?
16th over: Australia 102-2 (Head 51, Green 5) The new batter Cameron Green accepts a freebie, a nice pair of Garrett Leight Hampton 1001 glasses smacking Livingstone through the covers for four.
WICKET! Australia 96-2 (Smith ct and b Livingstone 32)
For the third time today, a quality batter is caught and bowled by an occasional legspinner. Smith tried to work to leg and popped the ball back to Livingstone, who leapt and stretched to take a good two-handed catch above his head.
Smith goes after an eye-catching cameo of 32 from 28 balls.
15th over: Australia 92-1 (Head 50, Smith 28) Rashid has a big shout for LBW against Smith turned down by Kumar Dharmasena. England decide not to review. It was certainly hitting the stumps but probably pitched just outside leg. The technology should tell us in a second.
It’s another terrific over from Rashid, full of mischief and imagination. He was always a brilliant bowler under Eoin Morgan but in the last couple of years he’s become a master of his art.
14th over: Australia 91-1 (Head 50, Smith 27) Jacks drops slightly short, which allows Head to release some pressure with a ferocious pull past mid-on for four. Head raises both arms in mock-celebration after finally hitting a gap rather than a fielder.
Maybe that will lubricate Head again. He steers Jacks past short third for four more to bring up a scruffy run-a-ball fifty. Imagine being good enough and bold enough to hit a scruffy run-a-ball fifty! He is one of the true wonders of world cricket.
13th over: Australia 80-1 (Head 41, Smith 25) Adil Rashid replaces Carse and concedes just a single from his first over. Australia are ahead of the rate, which means they can afford a few dry overs while they work out the safest shots against each spinner on this slightly awkward pitch.
One big-spinning delivery almost gets his through Head, who then edges a googly (I think) to safety on the off side. He’s really struggling to time it against the spinners: 13 balls, one run.
12th over: Australia 79-1 (Head 41, Smith 24) Another very tight over from Jacks yields only two runs. As during the England innings, it looks a lot harder to score freely against the slower bowlers. Harry Brook has four spin options today: Jacks, Adil Rashid, Liam Livingstone and Jacob Bethell. Oh, and Jofra’s left-arm spin.
11th over: Australia 77-1 (Head 40, Smith 23) Smith drives Carse for two to bring up the fifty partnership in 40 balls. But it’s another impressive over from Carse, including a cracking yorker that Smith just manages to dig out.
Correction: it was an impressive over, and then Smith pulled a length ball mightily over midwicket for six. It wasn’t a particularly bad ball, just an exceptional shot from a freakish genius.
In other news, Surrey are five Somerset wickets away from winning a third straight County Championship. They haven’t done that since winning seven in a row in the 1950s.
10th over: Australia 69-1 (Head 40, Smith 15) Will Jacks comes on to bowl the last over of the Powerplay. Head accompanied him to the cleaners at the T20 World Cup, taking 22 from one over, but on this occasion Jacks concedes just a single to Smith. Four dot balls in a row to Head will make him feel really good about life, and give Harry Brook more encouragement that his spinners can win this game.
9th over: Australia 68-1 (Head 40, Smith 14) Head punishes Carse’s first wide delivery, clobbering it inelegantly between extra cover and mid-off for four. Carse tightens his line agian, so Head improvises to flick the last ball for four. Tremendous batting. He’s such a boundary fiend: 34 of his 40 runs have come in fours and sixes.
8th over: Australia 60-1 (Head 32, Smith 14) Archer changes ends and is flicked spectacularly for six by Head, who has had plenty of good fortune but is looking really dangerous. He tries a not dissimilar shot later in the over, shouts “Awwww no!” when he mistimes it and is relieved to see the ball drop short of deep backward square.
Smith continues Australia’s Jofrassault with a top-edged hook for six off the last ball. Archer has unlikely figures of 4-0-35-0; there have been a few loose balls but he’s had no luck.
“I’m going to take issue with Daniel’s description of Archer as ‘England’s best bowler’ earlier in the piece,” writes Mike Daniels. “The two standout England ODI bowlers of the last ten years are Woakes and Rashid. Archer has had a short spell in the ODI side and showed promise but had missed so much cricket due to injury for him to be labelled as such by Daniel. It’s great to see Archer back but before being showered with such accolades he needs to stay fit for a couple of years and put in the performances.”
Isn’t this just the age-old longevity v peak debate? Those in Team Longevity pick Woakes and Rashid, those in Team Peak probably pick Jofra. You’re both right. We’ll all right. It’s all right.
7th over: Australia 47-1 (Head 25, Smith 8) Travis Head is batting, ergo Australia are ahead of the required rate. England turn to Brydon Carse, who bowled beautifully in Friday’s T20 international at Cardiff. In that game, from memory, he cramped Head for room and he starts with five successive dot balls. To Travis Head, in a Powerplay, on a weekday. That’s a superb start.
6th over: Australia 46-1 (Head 24, Smith 8) Smith clips Potts off the pads and over midwicket for six. That’s a cracking shot, especially as it’s only the second ball he’s faced. Head follows up with successive boundaries: one nailed, one edged.
“Why is Travis Head morphing slowly into David Boon?” asks Charlie Tinsley. “Has he been sinking [pejorative word for Australian beer] on the red-eye? Can you do your job and start asking some hard questions?”
Arf. My favourite detail from that Boon story is that, upon arrival, a sozzled Merv Hughes broke off from an official function to ring a radio station (I think) in Australia and announce: “The big news is that Boonie’s cracked the first fifty of the tour!”
5th over: Australia 30-1 (Head 15, Smith 1) This is an entertaining contest between Archer and Head. Of course it is: it’s Jofra Archer bowling to Travis Head FFS. An outswinger beats the edge; a half-volley is rifled for four; an utter jaffa squares Head up and bounces over middle stump; and then a poor ball is clipped past short fine leg for four more.
4th over: Australia 22-1 (Head 7, Smith 1) Travis Head is dropped! He slashed a very wide ball from Potts towards deepish backward point, where Carse – maybe 15 yards in from the boundary – leapt but couldn’t hold on to a very difficult one-handed chance. That was a weird fusion of Ben Stokes’s catch v South Africa at the 2019 World Cup and his drop at Edgbaston last year.
WICKET! Australia 20-1 (Marsh c Carse b Potts 10)
Matthew Potts takes the important wicket of Mitchell Marsh, who mistimes a one-handed pull straight to Brydon Carse at deep square leg. That’s a fine comeback from Potts, who had been launched slightly ominously over mid-off two balls earlier.
3rd over: Australia 16-0 (Marsh 6, Head 6) A mixed second over from Archer includes three wides and a short delivery that is butchered through the covers by Marsh. Head also fiddles an edge not far wide of second slip, although it would have bounced just short. Bethell does superbly to save the boundary, then hits the stumps with his throw from third man. Head was home but it was an eye-catching piece of fielding.
Archer ends the over with a gorgeous outswinger that beats Head’s awkward grope.
“Well that felt about 40-50 runs light to me, notwithstanding the slightly tiring pitch,” says Brian Withington. “Could be a fascinating chase though, as Australia aren’t forced to adopt turbo nutter ba$tard mode from the off. That’s not to say they won’t consider it, mind.”
Travis Head has another mode?
2nd over: Australia 6-0 (Marsh 1, Head 4) Marsh is beaten by two of Matthew Potts’ first three deliveries. Both moved off the seam, with the first a particularly seedy seed. Marsh mistimes a pull onto the body before flicking through midwicket for a single to get off the mark. This is a good start from England.
1st over: Australia 5-0 (Marsh 0, Head 4) Archer’s first ball jags back sharply to hit Marsh on the pad. He enquires for LBW but it would have missed leg stump. Marsh gets the scoreboard going with a leg-bye, then Head edges a big drive over the slips for four. Head is the poster boy for living dangerously, which makes his assaults even more thrilling.
That was a very good over from Archer, with nothing loose and a couple of false strokes.
Jofra Archer, playing his first ODI since March 2023, will open the bowling to Mitch Marsh and Travis Head.
Thanks Daniel, hello everyone. Travis Head, the destroyer next door, feels like the key to this runchase. Australia will want to get ahead of the rate on a required slightly tired pitch, and nobody in the world – not even Rohit Sharma – is as dangerous as Head in the first 10 overs.
