New Delhi: Australian batter Travis Head has laughed off the sledging he received from the English team during the exciting Ashes opener at Edgbaston, and issued a cautionary message to Ollie Robinson.
Australia took a 1-0 lead in the five-match series with a thrilling two-wicket victory at Edgbaston, but there are certain members of the England squad, fueled by their aggressive ‘Bazball approach, seem to have overlooked the defeat.
England seamer Ollie Robinson, who was criticised by Australia greats Matthew Hayden and Ricky Ponting for his expletive-laden farewell to Usman Khawaja at Edgbaston, expressed his surprise at how ‘defensive’ Australia were, and claimed the visitors must change their style to come out on top during the five-match series.
Read the story: Ollie Robinson ‘does not care’ about how Usman Khawaja send-off is perceived
England opener Zak Crawley, meanwhile, predicted recently that the hosts would win the upcoming second Test at Lord’s by 150 runs.
“We’re only going for the lunch, apparently. Yeah, they have got this mantra they’re going at,” Travis Head told 9News Sydney.
“Not just on the field but off the field they are throwing some nice chat out, but this team is truly just worried about what we need to do to win the second Test to go 2-0 up and put some pressure on them,” he added.
Head said he enjoyed his verbal battle with Robinson during the Ashes opener and insisted that the England seamer will have to improve if he wants to retain his position in Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes’ team.
“I find it pretty fun. I had a few quiet words, jovial words, to him out there. It all makes for good fun and we’ll see where the next four Tests go. It didn’t go his way in the first one but he’s very competitive and he will want to step up. But if he doesn’t, I think they have got a few people at home that might want to get up his back,” he said.
Head trained with his Australian team-mates at Lord’s Sunday ahead of the second Test getting underway Wednesday.
IANS
