Former Australian captain Ricky Ponting has suggested a bold change in Australia’s batting order for the upcoming home Ashes series, requesting the team to promote vice-captain Travis Head to No.3. Ponting believes that Head’s aggressive attacking style could help Australia take early control against England’s fast bowlers.
“As a young bloke you used to come into the side as a No.5 or No.6 player and eventually you worked your way up and found yourself in a No.3 spot,” Ponting said on radio station SEN on Monday.
Ponting explained how Travis could make a strong impact at No.3. “So they could think about doing that with Travis Head, they could move him up to No.3. The way England play their cricket, to have someone like Travis Head coming in at No.3 and be able to put some pressure back on the likes of Jofra Archer and Mark Wood and these guys, that’s another way they could look at it if they really want to get on the front foot and try and dominate England through this Ashes summer.”
Travis has scored 3,963 runs in 60 Test matches at an average of 41.71, which includes nine centuries and 20 fifties at a strike rate of 67.67. He also has 910 runs in 13 matches against England, including 357 in his last home Ashes series. Ponting believes moving Travis up in the batting order could help him perform even better, just like Ponting did when he moved from No.6 to No.3 in 2001, where he scored over 10,000 runs at that position.
Ponting also praised young opener Sam Konstas alongside his long-term partner Usman Khawaja, saying, “(Sam) Konstashas just done well and made a hundred for Australia A over in India, which is exactly what he needed, so I can see our top order being Konstas and Khawaja.”
The first Ashes Test will start on November 21 in Perth.
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