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Travis Head has hit back at the former Australian players who have been criticising heavily the current players. Travis Head feels the present generation is sometimes judged too harshly by the former players, even though cricket has changed a lot over the years.
His comments came after Matthew Hayden brutally criticised Australian selectors over the return of Nic Maddinson. As Australia prepare for the first Test against South Africa in Durban, the vice-captain made it clear that the current players are strong enough to handle criticism from former cricketers.
Travis Head hits back at former Australian players over criticism of current team
Travis Head did not name any former player or point towards any particular comment. However, the explosive Australian batter made it clear that he was not really impressed by the criticism faced by the current Australian batting setup.
He feels some former players have been too quick to question the current generation and their performances. However, Head understands that former cricketers are doing their jobs as commentators and analysts. Amid this, Todd Greenberg gives update on 12-team WTC, wants AUS vs SA 5-match Test series.
Travis Head said in Durban, as quoted by AAP, "I think it's unfairly judged a fair bit from a group of past players, pretty much, that put the bullet through a lot of players. But that's what they're paid to do. Some of them need a job, so they go after us, and that's totally fine.”
He added, “This group is strong enough to deal with those sorts of things. That's how it is. It's unfortunate sometimes to have some of that feedback from a generation of players that we have huge respect for, but that's the caper.”
Travis Head recalls Australia’s ‘Sticky Situation’ after Justin Langer’s exit
The Australia opener recalled the tough phase the team went through when Justin Langer left his coaching role in 2022. Langer resigned as the head coach after Australia had won the 2021-22 Ashes, as he did not accept a short six-month contract extension and eventually left the job.
This created some tension between the current players and a group of former Australian stars who supported Langer. However, Head stressed that there is still huge respect between the generations, but dealing with outside opinions is always a balancing act.
He added, “They're a very proud bunch of guys. We went through a bit of a sticky situation a few years ago where they stood up and were pretty proud about one of their own (Langer). But in saying that, we're all one of each. We're all like each other. We play for the same cause. We have huge respect for it. It's always a balancing act with, I guess, what they say and how you take it.”
Travis Head explains why batting averages have dropped
Travis Head also shared the reason behind the fall in batting averages. Test batting averages have dropped by nearly 20 per cent compared to the end of the 2010s. A similar decline has also been seen in Sheffield Shield cricket since the mid-2000s.
Many former players have blamed the rise of T20 cricket for the decline, but Head believes that the conditions have changed significantly and that batting is now much harder than it was earlier. Head signed off by saying, “It's pretty obvious to see what the wickets were like back then to now. We have huge respect for what's come before us, but it's a completely different game.
Sometimes it's commented around unfairly on some of the wickets that teams have played on, whether that be Sheffield Shield or Test cricket. We've seen games go quicker than ever. We've got a lot of stats that suggest that the ball's doing a lot more.”
