‘Travis Head is almost like Adam Gilchr’: Matthew Hayden, Ricky Ponting heap praise for Day 1 century-maker

Travis Head had a day to remember on Day 1 of the World Test Championship final as he piled on an unbeaten 146 from just 156 deliveries after arriving at the crease with Australia reeling at 76/3.
Head clobbered the Indian bowlers for 23 hits to the fence, including one six, as he stitched a 251-run partnership with Steve Smith. So dominant was Head on Day 1 at The Oval, that former Australia players like Matthew Hayden and Ricky Ponting could not help but make comparisons with destructive southpaw Adam Gilchr, who was their teammate in the Australian team back in the day.
“One of the things we have seen over this World Championship cycle (since 2021) in Tests, is that not only did Head score over 1000 runs, but he did so at a strike rate of 80+. That’s really hard to do, especially when you’re playing in such pressure. Right now, he’s in the prime form of his career. He’s almost like Adam Gilchr was in his day. Somehow able to put so much pressure on opposition simply because they do not know where to bowl. I do think he’s under-rated,” Hayden told ICC.
Head had been dropped in the opening Test in the recently-concluded series against India, but was later brought back as an opener.
“One of the criticisms of him is that in the sub-continent, he’s not the best player of spin. My personal opinion of that view is that it was complete nonsense. You saw after he was selected later on in the India series, the impact he made on the Australian team, that too in difficult conditions in India,” Hayden added.
Meanwhile, former Australia captain Ponting also saw the similarities between Head and Gilly after the former scored his first Test century in England (the sixth of his career).
“He probably is (similar to Gilchr). In fact he is probably scoring quicker now than Gilly probably ever did. His strike-rate through this (World Test Championship) qualification period is 81, which is higher than anyone else in the world to have scored more than 500 runs,” Ponting told the ICC.
“His confidence is growing the game, his strike-rate keeps going up, he hits boundaries early on in his innings which puts pressure back on the bowlers which is what you want from your middle order players, and his last two years have been quite remarkable.”