Head's funny reply leaves journalists in splits

• Head jokes about never scoring a Test double century despite multiple 150+ scores.
• Head enjoys opening for Australia in the Ashes, filling in for injured Khawaja.
• With Khawaja retired, Head hints he'll likely continue opening for Australia.

Australian opener Travis Head expressed his displeasure in a light-hearted manner after being told that he has never scored a double century in Test cricket, following his latest innings in the ongoing Ashes series.

Head scored 163 off 166 deliveries againstEnglandin the fifth Test of the Ashes 2025-26 at the Sydney Cricket Ground. The knock marked the seventh time the left-hander crossed the 150-run mark in Test cricket. Despite that, he has never gone past the 175 in the format, a statistic pointed out to him during a media interaction on Tuesday, January 6.

Reacting to the observation, Head responded labelling it a “pretty s**t stat”, which prompted laughter among those present in the press conference. The Australian batter made it clear that the statistic does not bother him and explained his perspective during the interaction.

“Beggars can’t be choosers. Pretty s**t stat, isn’t it? I’d much rather [score] 160-170 than 0-10, so I can’t complain about that. I probably had a couple of chances this series, but yeah, pegs up and watch the boys go about it. I’m not too worried," Head said.

The comment about “beggars can't be choosers” was in reference to Head’s current role as an opener. Opening the batting in Test cricket is widely regarded as one of the most challenging positions, often involving difficult batting conditions and frequent low scores.

Head was promoted to the opening slot on an emergency basis during the Ashes series after Usman Khawaja suffered an injury. Since then, the left-hander has produced consistent performances at the top of the order.

Speaking after registering his 12th Test century, Head reflected on his experience opening the innings.

“I’ve enjoyed it, it’s been good and very pleased to be able to contribute the way I have here," Head said after hitting his 12th Test century. “Something like 600 runs now (in the series). I’m not normally the one that’s doing the heavy lifting as such. The likes of Marnus (Labuschagne) and Smudge (Steve Smith) over the last period of time have been the heavy-lifters and the guys that have really, really driven games, and Davey (Warner). I’ve been very lucky to bat around those guys. So nice to pull my finger out and help them out on the other side," he said.

As Khawaja announced his retirement, the fifth Ashes test being his last Test, Head suggested that he was ‘probably likely’ to continue as an opener, though Australia doesn’t have a Test match scheduled till mid-2026.

“Probably likely. But again, this rolling order and where we think guys are going to match up and where we’re going to fit guys in is still where my head’s at. And I think the leadership of the group, the selectors, we’ve been pretty open about that — how we match up and how we want to best suit this team," he said.