{"id":751,"date":"2026-11-04T02:20:26","date_gmt":"2026-11-04T02:20:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cricketkidunyya.com\/index.php\/2026\/11\/04\/former-new-zealand-captain-hopes-australia-persist-with-travis-head-as-opener\/"},"modified":"2026-11-04T02:20:26","modified_gmt":"2026-11-04T02:20:26","slug":"former-new-zealand-captain-hopes-australia-persist-with-travis-head-as-opener","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cricketkidunyya.com\/index.php\/2026\/11\/04\/former-new-zealand-captain-hopes-australia-persist-with-travis-head-as-opener\/","title":{"rendered":"Former New Zealand captain hopes Australia persist with Travis Head as opener"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last Updated on 5 minutes ago by Charbel Coorey<\/a><\/p>\n

Former New Zealand captain Ken Rutherford hopes Australia will stick with Travis Head as opener for the highly-anticipated Test series later this year. Rutherford believes Head is most dangerous in the middle order against the older ball.<\/p>\n

\u201cHead\u2019s a very dangerous player but the chances of getting him out early are greater when he opens. Kagiso Rabada showed that in Cape Town (when he had him caught at gully),\u201d Rutherford said, as quoted by CODE Sports<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n

Head has a good record as a Test opener, with 1,200 runs at 48 including four centuries. However, things haven\u2019t been as smooth sailing since the 2025\/26 Ashes with an average of 30.1 across nine innings against Bangladesh and South Africa. He has chopped on numerous times as teams keep their lines tight.<\/p>\n

Rutherford said the extra movement with the new ball leaves Head in a precarious spot as he stays legside of the ball. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the plan to follow. Head tends to stand legside of the ball and bowler to him a foot outside off stump like Rabada did with you have a few slips, a backward point and a third man can work,\u201d Rutherford said. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou are no guarantee of getting him out but with a hard new ball at least you feel a chance. I sense he is more relaxed coming in down the order.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

New Zealand aiming to overcome horror record against Australia<\/strong><\/h2>\n

New Zealand\u2019s record against Australia is one of the more difficult things to explain in cricket. They have won just one Test out of their last 33, spanning over three decades.<\/p>\n

The Black Caps have had terrific teams over the years, including the experienced outfit that won the inaugural World Test Championship. However, they haven\u2019t been able to get over the line against Australia, with their most recent loss a heartbreaking three-wicket defeat in Christchurch courtesy of crucial contributions from Alex Carey<\/a>, Mitchell Marsh and Pat Cummins.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is almost a case of the closer we think we are the further away it gets,\u2019\u2019 Rutherford said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember on the last tour when Kane Williamson, Trent Boult, Tim Southee were in the squad which was really talked up and we got thrashed. It\u2019s almost as if it\u2019s better to do the Kiwi thing and play the underdogs.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s always hard when the first Test is in Perth. It\u2019s a lot different to the bounce over here. I remember on the last tour three days before the first Test there was a photo of the New Zealand team playing beach cricket on Rottnest Island among the quokkas. That worried me.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you are adjusting to a place like Perth you need to be in the nets. I hope that doesn\u2019t happen again.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

The first Test kicks off at Perth\u2019s Optus Stadium on December 9.<\/p>\n

The post Former New Zealand captain hopes Australia persist with Travis Head as opener<\/a> appeared first on CricBlog<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last Updated on 5 minutes ago by Charbel Coorey Former New Zealand captain Ken Rutherford hopes Australia will stick with Travis Head as opener for the highly-anticipated Test series later this year. Rutherford believes Head is most dangerous in the middle order against the older ball. \u201cHead\u2019s a very dangerous player but the chances of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-751","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cricketkidunyya.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/751","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cricketkidunyya.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cricketkidunyya.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cricketkidunyya.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cricketkidunyya.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=751"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cricketkidunyya.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/751\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cricketkidunyya.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=751"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cricketkidunyya.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=751"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cricketkidunyya.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=751"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}