Head firms grip on place with finet on

TRAVIS Head would have heard the hype as Cameron Green sounded a warning to Test selectors that he was ready to step into the big time.

But while the batting prodigy plundered 197 on a road in Adelaide, Head, the incumbent Test No 6, dug in and produced arguably an innings of way more substance on the oval next door to save his team with one of the best hundreds of his career.

Test skipper Tim Paine watched from behind the stumps as Head bat ted all day to score an unbeaten 171 and draw the clash with Tasmania in “good signs” for the series against India.

Having survived a big appeal for caught behind when he was on 99, he bat ted with the sort of stoicism the Test middle-order needs.

“Trav played a pretty exceptional innings and it was the difference between us getting through them and not ,” Paine said.

“We just couldn’t get rid of ‘Heady ’, if we had of a bit earlier it might have changed the game. He played a brilliant innings.

“It was good signs from an Australian point of view.

“He’ s one of those guys, he always seems to be batting well, but it was pleasing, now we have finished the game, to see him go on and bat big. I thought he controlled the game and batted with discipline.

“Sometimes Heady can give you a chance, that’ s what we were hanging on to as a group, but today he batted us out of winning the game.

“He’s still very young and he’s getting better and better, and he will continue to .”

Head said he knew he had to “bat all day” and was happy to have put his team in the position they ended up in.

“All you can control is playing well for South Australia and today I was able to contribute ,” he said.

“I knew I had to bat all day and it was nice to be able to do that. I was able to get a start and go on, and get a good score for the team, and, most importantly, put us in the position we were at the end of the day, that’s the most pleasing part. I feel like if I am able to bat the way I did today, and do it for long periods of time, runs will come.”

Paine, who made his own century, said he had changed a few things in his batting and was planning on having a “big Test summer”.

“No matter your age I think it’s important you try to get better, and that’s something I am trying to do,” he said.

“For me to battle away and score a hundred like that was pleasing.”