Sometime during the 2019 Ashes, there was an announcement at St Johns Wood tube station: "Mind the gap. Also, does anybody know how to get Steven Smith out?" The moment stands out in "The Test", Amazon's documentary about the Australian team. There might be some places in India sending out a similar SOS about Travis Head. The irony is that he came into this Test having been dismissed for 0 off 1 three straight times at the Gabba.
Getting a bogey batter out early is the ideal scenario, and also maybe a slightly easier one, when compared to getting them out after they're set. And Head is not without his weaknesses. There is one that India failed to exploit rather famously at the WTC final in 2023. And they might be guilty of something similar here too. According to HawkEye data only 10% of the fast bowling he faced was bouncers.
When Head came in at No. 5, Jasprit Bumrah was fairly fresh and he was brought on pretty quickly. His first over included one that rose up towards Head's chest. He went for the pull and made no effort to keep it down because there was nobody at deep square leg. He was happy to hit it in the air. Because there was nobody down at deep square leg. The field wasn't set for that ball.
India had reason to explore more traditional lengths on this Gabba pitch. Even at 54 overs, Akash Deep was getting the ball to bounce past the shoulder of Smith's bat. Normal Test-match bowling was working in Brisbane… so long as Head wasn't the one facing it. This is what his talent to hit a cricket ball - not meet it under his eyes, not defend it close to his body but hit it - does. It breaks a game in two.
Morne Morkel, the India bowling coach, in explaining their plans to Head, hinted at just how easily he forces oppositions on the defensive. "The margins to him were just so small. And like I said, once he's in, you know, what is the best way for the team and for you to maybe slow down the scoring rate? Because you know he's going to be aggressive. What is the best way of bringing a little bit of control into the game?"
Morkel was still talking about getting Head out but the way to do it had changed from targeting him to tying him down. India had a deep point in very early into Head's innings. They had discovered that unlike most left-hand batters they come across, he enjoyed the ball coming into him from around the wicket. "Our plan going into this game was to bowl a little bit more over the wickets, just to bowl a straighter line," Morkel said.
Australia scored 130 runs in the middle session at 4.8 an over with Head scoring 80 of them to bring up his fourth century against India across formats. Bumrah went to a bouncer and actually cramped him once, but Head adjusted by leaning back from the ball and just letting it glance off the face of his bat which he had propped up like a ramp. It was deliciously intentional.
The ball that most people think brings him down, bowled by one of the best in the world, simply flew off the middle of his bat. That's how Head brings the opposition's shoulders down. He doesn't just score runs, he scores them quickly, and often against balls that aren't all that bad.
"The way he's able to put the bowlers under pressure from the outset is quite incredible," Smith, a fellow century-maker and his partner over the course of 241 runs, said. "You know, he's got an unbelievable eye and the areas in which he scores, it's tough to put fielders in those positions in a way.
"You know, you see them put the deep point out and stuff, but he just finds ways to just put it past him. Yeah, he's batting beautifully, he's confident and it's nice to get in a partnership with him because the scoreboard moves extremely fast. And I was just in the sheds with him then and he goes, 'geez, that went quick today.'"
Ravindra Jadeja thought he had Head caught behind in the 55th over. It was a lovely ball, spinning into the batter against the angle from around the wicket. But he couldn't bowl it again. One of the most accurate spinners in the world couldn't back up a good ball with another good ball because when he tried he was hit for two successive boundaries, which forced Jadeja into bowling darts. Head faced them with ease, off the back foot, with all the time in the world. He had thrown the bowler off what he wanted to do and made life easier for himself seconds after being in trouble.
India weren't at their best on Saturday. Morkel admitted that there is a lot of work they still need to do on bowling between the 30th and the 50th overs and that finding the right length at the Gabba has been a bit of a challenge. They had a scare with Mohammed Siraj grabbing his left knee and walking off the field (he came back though). As they waited for the second new ball, cycling through their change bowlers just before tea, and leaking three fours in 12 balls, they turned to Bumrah sooner than they might have liked. He had two balls' notice to warm-up. Every ball, every over, every session, Head kept pushing India to the brink and now they are teetering.