Head: Staying in team harder than getting in

Australia

Australia batsman Travis Head says that making the national team is no guarantee of staying there in the long term, and he is aware of the amount of work it takes to keep gaining a place.

Australia’s selectors are not shy about dropping players that under-perform, as Glenn Maxwell and Usman Khawaja can attest, and though Head did alright in the limited overs series in Sri Lanka, he’s not over confident of keeping a place.

Head, who top scored with 45 across five ODIs and two T20s, said of the challenges facing him now that he’s in the squad: “Probably the hardest thing is to stay in the side.

“Once you get in there, there’s a mountain of guys sitting on the sidelines that are class players and getting a lot of runs and putting pressure on you.

“There’s always nerves and what-not being the young guy in the side and playing for Australia, it’s a dream to do it. I’m just loving it at the minute.

“The more pressure will come once you try to stay in the side with guys breathing down your neck. At the early stage you don’t quite feel that, you’re just going out and trying to express yourself.”

The batsman conceded that a Test call up was still a step too far at this point: “I am probably a little bit off still.

“I have got to get a lot of runs. I think the Test side that was in Sri Lanka, they all average 50, they have got a lot of runs under their belt and a lot of experienced players in that side.

“So for me it’s just about doing what I can do well – get runs, be consistent. To play Test cricket, it’s the goal. (But) a lot of hard work still needs to happen.”

Head is part of the squad for the ODI series against South Africa, which starts on 30 September at Centurion.

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