Head laughs off England’s ‘nice chat’ in Ashes

LONDON: Australia batsman Travis Head is unconcerned by England’s “nice chat” ahead of the second Test at Lord’s.

Head’s team are 1-0 up in the five-match contest after a thrilling two-wicket win in the series opener at Edgbaston although for some members of the England side, buoyed by their aggressive ’Bazball approach, it is as if the defeat has not registered.

England seamer Ollie Robinson, criticised by Australia greats Matthew Hayden and Ricky Ponting for his expletive-laden send-off to Usman Khawaja at Edgbaston, spoke this week of his surprise at the tourists’ “defensive” approach and suggested they would need to change to win the series.

And home opener Zak Crawley predicted on Times Radio recently that England would win at Lord’s by 150 runs.

“We’re only going for the lunch (at Lord’s), apparently,” Head jokingly told 9News Sydney. “Yeah, they (England) have got this mantra they’re going at.

“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.”

Australia trained at Lord’s on Sunday, where the second Test starts on Wednesday.

One concern for Australia is that star batsmen Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith managed a mere 35 runs combined across four innings at Edgbaston.

Labuschagne also suffered a painful blow to a finger on his right hand while batting in the nets on Saturday.

Meanwhile Ponting, one of the outstanding batsmen of his generation and now working as a broadcaster during the Ashes, said he would be happy to help Labuschagne if the batsman asked him for assistance.

“I would like to catch up with him (Labuschagne) and have a chat about his batting, because I think what I’ve seen over the last couple of weeks, as far as I’m concerned, I think he’s over complicating things a little bit,” Ponting told the ICC Review.

“I think he has to trust and believe in what’s made him the No. 2-ranked Test batsman for the last couple of years and go back to trusting that. I would actually tell him to watch some video of when he’s actually played his best, and remember those things and do that all over again.”