Darwin [Australia], August 8 : Australia's Travis Head may have established himself as a formidable Test opener after his match-winning exploits in the Ashes, but the left-hander insists he is "not an opening batter" in the traditional sense and is simply focused on fulfilling the team's requirements.
Head was promoted to open in the second innings of the first Ashes Test in Perth last November after Usman Khawaja was ruled out, and responded with a blistering 123 off 83 balls to help Australia complete a two-day victory.
He followed that with centuries in Adelaide and Sydney to finish the Ashes with 629 runs, playing a key role in Australia's series triumph and subsequently winning his second successive Allan Border Medal.
Despite his success at the top, Head said his first-class career does not fit the conventional profile of an opening batter.
"I don't know exact stats, but what have I played: 170, 180 first-class games. I might have opened in ten [12] of them," Head said, according to Cricinfo.
"I think it would suggest that I'm not an opening batter, a true opening batter, [in terms of] what Australian cricket is known [for], I guess. Guys that have come through the grades opening the batting and played state cricket opening batting, and played Test cricket as opening batters," he added.
He further added, "I think my game is conducive to playing well. I feel like I can do a role at the top. I'm at the top, but it's not [as] that true opening batter, if that makes sense. I know that I've still got to work continuously hard at the new ball. I know I'm going to make mistakes. That's okay. I'm very comfortable with where my game's at."
Head had previously opened in specific conditions in India and Sri Lanka and is also a regular opener in Australia's white-ball teams. His success during the Ashes, however, has strengthened the case for him to remain at the top of the Test order through Australia's demanding schedule.
The 32-year-old said his assessment of his performances goes beyond statistics and is instead based on his contribution to Australia's victories.
"I'd love to score hundreds, I'd love to be in the runs column all the time, but at the end of the day I'd just love to contribute to winning Test matches," he said, as per Cricinfo.
"I look at Barbados [against West Indies] earlier in the year where I was able to get a couple of 50s and win a Test match on a challenging wicket. It didn't look like hundreds and didn't look good, I guess, on the stat sheet, but I think I was able to really contribute to Test match wins," he added.
"Very pleased to be able to back it up and be consistent in an Ashes. I think that's what everyone's comparing themselves to in Australian cricket over your whole career, how good you are in Ashes cricket. So to be able to put out those sort of numbers, not in a million years I thought I would be able to do that, but also in the same breath I would expect myself to do that. So hard place to be in terms of that, but just very pleased that we're able to win the Ashes this year," he further added.
Head is now preparing for a packed period in Australia's Test calendar, beginning with the two-Test series against Bangladesh before assignments against South Africa and New Zealand, a five-Test tour of India and a one-off 150th anniversary Test against England.
The Ashes in England will follow next June and July, with a possible World Test Championship final also part of Australia's schedule.
Head said he was not setting himself statistical targets for the demanding run and would instead adapt his approach according to the conditions and the team's requirements.
"I'm always happy just to do what the team needs and what's required, and I just want to contribute to every Test match," he said, as per Cricinfo. "So we've got a lot of opportunities to do that over the next 21 Tests over the next ten months. I don't sort of pigeonhole myself or expect anything in terms of performance. I just want to go out and play my role, whether that's setting a tone at the start, whether that's big hundreds, whatever sort of the series needs and is tailored to."
"We're going to play in a lot of different conditions over the next 12 months. It's going to require different efforts. It may not look like the traditional thing all the time. I just want to be able to play a role that ends up winning Test matches. So I'm very comfortable in the fact that it's not going to work every day. I'm not going to perform every day, but when I am able to, I hope it means that we're winning games of cricket," he concluded.
Travis Head has made 4592 runs in 65 Tests and 3007 runs in 79 ODI matches. In 53 T20Is, he has made 1335 runs with an average of 28.40.