“Pat’s giving me the confidence to go out and play”: Travis Head praises Pat Cummins for his Man of the Series performance in Ashes 2021-22

Ashes 2021-22: Travis Head won the Man of the Series trophy, and he has a lot of praise for the captain Pat Cummins.

Ahead of the Ashes 2021-22, Australia had a call to take between Travis Head and Usman Khawaja for the number five spot. Australia chose Travis Head, and he proved their selection right. Head scored 152 runs in the 1st innings of the Brisbane test and won the Man of the Match trophy. He then again scored a half-century in the Adelaide Test. However, he got Covid positive and missed the Sydney Test.

Usman Khawaja, who broke the door by scoring runs in the Sheffield Shield finally got his opportunity. Khawaja scored centuries in both innings and forced his selection in the side. However, Head was again trusted at the number five spot when he came back in the last test.

Travis Head, then again proved his class in Hobart on the seaming track. Australia lost three wickets for 12 runs in the first innings, and Head proved his class from there. He played an exceptional counter-attacking knock of 101 runs in 113 balls. In the end, Travis Head was awarded the Man of the Series trophy.

Ashes 2021-22: Travis Head praises Pat Cummins

Travis Head had a good record in the Sheffield Shield, but he was mostly scoring on the batting tracks. However, George Bailey and Cummins always favoured Head. Head won the POTS trophy, and he praised the backing of Pat Cummins.

“Pat’s giving me the confidence to go out and play,” Head said.

“He said look, if you take the game on and you get [caught] at third man a couple of times and you’re playing the right way it’s no skin off his nose and he backs me in 100%. And that probably gave me the confidence going into the series to be myself and play the situation as I see it.”

Pat Cummins also said that Travis Head plays differently and he needs a different type of backing to perform well.

“He goes about it a little bit differently to most other batters, which is his biggest strength,” Cummins said.

“So, as a captain, I don’t care if he gets out in non-traditional ways. I just want him to go out, be free and play his game.”

“I think being dropped last year and coming back in this year, he came with a real calmness about him, a real confidence, and you saw that straightaway in the Gabba.”