‘It’s time’: Call for Australia to take bold selection ‘risk’… but Travis Head isn’t so sure
Test Recall? Konstas smashes 149 | 03:43
Courtney Walsh in Cape Town from Fox SportsOctober 25th, 2026 5:19 am
It is a measure of the strength of Australia’s Test team that the next most likely men into the XI are in their 30s
As former Victorian and New South Wales coach Greg Shipperd said Sam Konstas had mounted a strong case to reclaim his spot in the Test team, Head said history suggested that the older a newcomer is, the stronger the Australian team is.
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While the Australians were thrashed in the second
And while the Australians were thrashed in the second Test of the series against South Africa in Gqeberha, Head is adamant the current team is a strong one, pointing the fact the Aussies remain the top-ranked Test team in the world.
Coming off a century in Gqeberha, the South Australian said he believes his introduction to the Test team arguably came too early as a result of the debacle that unfolded in Cape Town on Australia’s last visit there for a Test in 2018.
With Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft banned after the Sandpapergate saga, Head debuted under new captain Tim Paine later that year. But he doubts it would have happened so swiftly if not for the scandal here eight years ago.
I wouldn’t have made my debut if those
“I wouldn’t have made my debut if those things didn’t happen,” he said.
“I was, what, 24 at the time. I was probably a couple of years off and the different circumstances sort of sped that up.”
He believes there is a benefit to introducing harder-edge veterans, pointing to the success Fox Cricket expert analyst and current Victorian coach Chris Rogers had when brought into the Australian side after honing their craft in Sheffield Shield.
I think what we’ve seen with a really
“I think what we’ve seen with a really good team over the last four or five years is that as the team gets older, you look at whether you are either going to skip a generation and go really young, or whether you go to the harder edged first-class cricketer who has grinded away over a period of time,” Head said.
“I think we’ve seen that numerous times over decades of cricket, the Mike Husseys of the world, the Chris Rogers of the world, guys that have come in late in their careers who are tried first-class cricketers who know their game.
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“It depends on where you’re at as a Test team. The times that we haven’t been strong over 10 to 15 years, then you’ve seen younger players come in. The times you’ve seen strong Australian career teams, you’ve seen older guys come in because I think it’s a by-product of how strong the Test team is.
It’s great that we’ve got a strong Test
“It’s great that we’ve got a strong Test team. It’s great that that means that we know that our next guys are hardened first-class cricketers.
“If you look at the guys that you guys talk about, the Kurtis Pattersons of the world, the Peter Handscombs – I’m going to miss people – but they are guys that have played a lot of first-class cricket.”
That does not mean Head is close-minded on younger talents including Konstas, who has had a brilliant week for New South Wales, or other fresh-faced Australians coming in.
He said it depends on how the national
He said it depends on how the national selectors assess the team balance at a time when it remains a leading contender to feature in the World Test Championship decider for the third straight cycle.
“You skip a generation and you go to Konstas and the Peakes and the Kellaways and the guys that again you guys are talking about,” Head said.
“It’s about ‘Where does this team fit and where can it fit and where can we continue to be where we want to be, which is in Test Championship finals and what’s that person going to bring?’
So you see someone like Nic Maddinson, who’s
“So you see someone like Nic Maddinson, who’s very versatile, who knows his game, who’s experienced. The selectors think he was the best person to come into this team to win games of cricket, and I think we’ve spoken a lot about that over the last few weeks in terms of batting orders and where we’re at, which is that they’re going to pick the best team to win each Test match.
“Next week might look different to this week, and it’ll purely begin with winning a game of cricket. I think that’s the way they’re selecting a team, and I think I have confidence in the first-class system.
“I have confidence that if that’s the next man in, being an experienced 32-year-old like a Jake Weatherald or Pete Handscomb or a Kurtis Patterson, who have done well, great.
If it’s the other one and Konstas did
“If it’s the other one and Konstas did really well this week and got 150 … you jump on board that. That’s for higher powers and the important people that look at it a lot more and have a scope on where they can get the team.
“But I think right now we’ve got a strong Australian career team – we haven’t played very well, and people will doubt that over this week – but it’s a strong cricket team and it has been over a period of time.
“We’ve had a shit week (in Gqeberha). That’s okay. But the selections show that we’re trying to slot guys in to continue to be the world number one.”
Head’s ton can’t prevent Aussie defeat | 04:15
The experienced Shipperd, however, believes a case can
The experienced Shipperd, however, believes a case can be made immediately for Konstas, who was discarded after failing in the Caribbean in July last year.
Konstas, who made a brilliant half-century on debut against the Jasprit Bumrah-led Indians on Boxing Day in 2024, failed to flatter after that at the international level but Shipperd said he showed late last season he was starting to tighten his technique.
He subsequently made an unbeaten century for the Blues against Western Australia in Sheffield Shield cricket last week and followed it with another dynamic ton in a one-day game on Saturday in Perth.
He’s a sharp young fellow and he’s been
“He’s a sharp young fellow and he’s been through the turmoil of that last season and he shifted that around quickly within the season,” Shipperd told SEN on Friday.
“He’s started off this season beautifully, played Australia A and did quite well in India. I think it’s time, if you like, for that next generation to start to show its faith.
“If they’re prepared to take a risk on some of the choices they’ve made, there is a risk that could serve you well for the next 15 years, I think it’s a risk worth taking.”
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Source: www.foxsports.com.au
