George Bailey Provides Update On Travis Head's Potential Return
Published - 01 Oct 2023, 12:59 AM | Updated - 23 Aug 2024, 12:19 AM
![Travis Head,](https://static.cricketaddictor.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Travis-Head.jpg?q=80)
Australia National Cricket Team chief selector George Bailey has provided an update on the potential return of the star batsman Travis Head, who is currently out with an injury, but is part of the ICC World Cup 2023 squad.
Head sustained a fractured hand against South Africa earlier this month. However, he was still included in the final 15-man squad of Australia for the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 as he didn’t require surgery.
Travis Head is all set to miss the first half of the World Cup, but there is a possibility of him recovering and playing later in the round-robin stage. While talking about the potential return of the Head, Bailey said that there is no specific date for the comeback of the batter, but they are hoping that he will recover well and make an impact with the bat in the back end of the competition.
“First and foremost, it’s about him recovering and that’s the hurdle he’s got to overcome. There’s not a specific date in terms of a game (for his return),” Bailey told reporters on Friday.
“We are aware of the risk that if there is a setback there at some point then it makes it really challenging for Trav.”
“He’s a really important player for us. He is certainly a player who is on our first-choice XI. Hopefully, when he does come online, he can have a really important impact for us towards the back end of the tournament.”
I think it’s unfair on ‘Maxi’ to say he’s not a specialist spinner – George Bailey on Glenn Maxwell
George Bailey also said that Australia are backing batting all-rounder Glenn Maxwell to be the specialist spinner for the side in the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023. Notably, Australia currently only have one specialist spinner in the squad in Adam Zampa as Ashton Agar was ruled out of the competition and he was replaced by Marnus Labuschagne.
“I think it’s unfair on ‘Maxi’ to say he’s not a specialist spinner,” Bailey said.
“I think his white-ball spinning record is pretty handy and I think you could very much consider him a frontline option. We certainly consider that we have two frontline spinners within our first choice XI.”
Australia recently took part in a 23-over-per-side warm-up game against the Netherlands, which got washed out due to rain. They will next face Pakistan on October 3 in a warm-up fixture before starting their World Cup campaign against India on October 8.