Steve Smith sucks momentum out of the opposition: Travis Head

Australia batsman Travis Head has praised Steve Smith for his match-winning twin centuries against England that helped them take a 1-0 lead in the five-Test Ashes series.

Smith, playing in his first Test since his ball-tampering ban last year, scored 144 and 142 that put Australia on course of a big 251-run win at Edgbaston. Smith walked in to bat at 35/3 and saw his team reduce to 122/8 before shepherding the tail to guide them to a respectable 284-all out.

Head was involved in two important partnerships with Smith. After losing three wickets early, Head and Smith helped settle the nerves with a 64-run partnership for the fourth wicket with the former contributing a solid 35 off 61. In the second essay, they added 126 runs together with Head scoring hitting a half-century.

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“It’s fantastic to bat in a partnership with him. “He sucks the momentum out of the opposition with his batting. I was glad to be with him in this game. Nice to get a couple of good partnerships,” Head said.

He continued, “Happy with the way I started off. Obviously disappointing not to go on in the first innings. I was a bit flat about leaving Smith at that time (first innings). Fortunately, the tail were able to stay with him. Frustrating to not be able to go on to make a big one but it felt good to get that partnership in the second innings. The way I’ve been able to start in both the innings, I guess I’ve been able to adapt to the conditions.”

The 25-year-old Head is looking forward to batting with his senior partner and hopes the solidity Smith provides from one end will help him in settling into a rhythm.

“Him (Smith) at the other end obviously takes pressure off me because they’re trying hard to get him out and I was glad to be away from the radar. Hopefully a lot more batting to do in the remaining four Tests together. I know I can get into a rhythm with him at the other end. I know he isn’t going anywhere,” he said.

Australia are currently playing a three-day practice match against Worcestershire ahead of the second Test at Lord’s. “I’m looking forward to the game. Missed a chance to play there during the A tour. Might be a similar type of wicket, quite slow and quite good for batting. I think they’ll field a pretty strong team. I think they’re in the midst of One-Day cricket but they’ve got a few guys who’re more suited to red-ball cricket than white-ball cricket. They’ve got a split divide in that. Their bowling side should be used to red-ball cricket,” Head said.