How Travis Head Got Trapped In England's Short-Ball Ploy In 2nd ODI

Head dismissed by Carse [x]Head dismissed by Carse [x]

Travis Head is arguably the most feared batter of the modern era. He started as someone who was lost in the shuffle and was in and out of the Australian team for quite some time. However, the Ashes 2021 changed his fortunes for good.

A good showing in the Ashes meant that Head was drafted in the white-ball squad as well, and the rest, as they say, is history. In the last 3-years, the southpaw has terrorised the entire world with his breath-taking batting, and has proven to be a big-match player.

He was outstanding against the Indian team in the WTC finals in 2023, and a couple of months later, came back to haunt them once again with yet another century, this time in the 50-over World Cup final.

How English team exploited Head's major weakness in second ODI?

However, just like any other batter, Head also has his weaknesses, and it was wonderfully exploited by the English team in the second ODI on Saturday. In an analytical piece, published by OneCricket, we analysed the weakness of Travis Head and how the opposition team can use it to their advantage. We mentioned that a body-line tactic would be an ideal tactic against the Aussie opener, and the England bowlers did just that.

Anything short and wide and Head loves to free his arms. Even in the second ODI, Head started on an aggressive note, and England needed a miracle to dismiss him. This is where the planning comes in, and England skipper, Harry Brook deployed a perfect field setup to dismiss Head.

He had two fielder on the leg side boundary (deep square leg and deep fine leg), and provoked Head to target the leg-side region. Brydon Carse used a body-line technique, in which the bowler targets the rib-cage region, and doesn't provide enough room for the batters to free his arms. As a result, the batter has only area to target.

Head was cramped for room with this tactics as he whipped away on the leg side, and found the fielder at deep square leg, who took a simple catch near the boundary rope. Had the same delivery was bowled outside the off, Head would have flashed hard at it, but since it was targeting his body, the batter had nowhere to go.