Sydney [Australia], January 6 : Aided by a magnificent 163 from Travis Head, Australia ended Day 3 with a masive 518/7 against England's 384 in the first innings of the fifth Ashes Test.
His latest knock, having helped him to the 600-run mark in the ongoing Ashes series, Head expressed his emotions on a stellar run with the bat.
"It's nice to contribute the way I have in the series like this. I am not normally the one who is doing the heavy lifting as such," Head told the reporters as quoted from the ICC website.
Head felt lucky to bat alongside heavy hitters like Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith. He feels fortunate to have contributed to the team's success, acknowledging that he didn't expect to have such a standout series.
"The likes of Marnus (Labuschagne) or Smudge (Steve Smith) have been the heavy lifters. The guys who have really driven the game. Davey (David Warner) in the past as well. I have been very lucky to bat around those guys. Nice that I have put a finger out and help them out on the other side. But yeah, I wouldn't have come into the series thinking that I will have a series that I have," Travis Head said.
Head has amassed 600 runs from nine innings so far in the series, averaging 66.67 with three hundreds to his name.
A series-defining moment for Australia came in the first Test in Perth, when Head was promoted to the opening spot. The swashbuckling left-hander immediately repaid the faith of the management with a match-winning ton.
Asked if he believes his runs as a Test opener now seal the spot for him, Head replied that there is still time for the two-time WTC finalists to take that call.
"We have got a lot of time, haven't we? Right now, you sit here and go, yeah, the next test we play, I will have come off a hundred while opening the batting. It's probably got to look likely," Head said.
"But this role and order and where we think guys are going to match up and where we are going to fit the guys in, I think, is still where my head's at. And I think with the leadership of the group and the selectors, we have been pretty open about that. How we match up and how we want to best suit this team. This series is the most important thing right now," Head added.
Casting his sight back to the promotion up the order in the Perth Test, Head added, "I feel it was the right call in Perth to go that way, very pleased that I was able to get an opportunity to do that. There are never guarantees that I'm going to get the job done, but I feel like it helped set our team really well."
Australia currently lead 3-1 in the ongoing five-Test series, and sits at the top of the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) standings with six wins from seven Tests in this cycle so far.
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