Head backs Oz bowlers to surprise England

Australia batsman Travis Head is confident a new-look bowling attack will have the “firepower” to trouble England in an upcoming one-day international series.

Head made a century as Australia completed their preparations with a 101-run win over Middlesex at Lord’s on Saturday.

Despite his 106, Australia were held to a total of 283 for six. It was the second time in two warm-up games they had failed to reach the benchmark score of 300, having made 277 for nine against Sussex at Hove in their touropener on Thursday.

But they still beat Sussex by 57 runs and the bowlers were even more dominant against Middlesex, who slumped to 182 all out with nine overs to spare. The tourists will likely need to raise their game when a fivematch series with England starts across London at The Oval on Wednesday but Head was unconcerned by their recent failure to break the 300 barrier. “It depends, if we bowl the way we have... We’ll find that out pretty quickly, what’s a good score,” Head said after Saturday’s match.

Head backed pacemen Kane Richardson, Jhye Richardson, Billy Stanlake and Andrew Tye to fill the void. “They are all nasty in the nets, both Richardsons, Billy, even Nes [Michael Neser] can bowl quite sharply,” he said.

“We’ve got firepower and the control on that side, mix that with AJ Tye, he’s got unbelievable skills at the back end with (left-arm spinner) Ashton Agar, who is bowling as well as he probably has in his career,” Head added.