Fit and firing Australia send World Cup warning shot

This Australian cricket team has a presence about them, with Pat Cummins and his squad arriving at the business end of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup in scarily good shape.

If there’s a fitter 15 at the tournament it’ll be hard to find them, with Australia’s physios and strength-and-conditioning team clearly having worked something special to get this group of players peaking at the right time.

Even 37-year-old David Warner looks in fine fettle, as do the crop of heavyweight fast bowlers who have never looked better as a group.

It’s not just conditioning work that Australia can point to, but patient selection too, with no better example than Travis Head.

Many teams could have panicked after losing their opening two games and opted to rush back their star opener from injury. But Australia bided their time, allowed Head to recover at home, and even gave him an extra game off after arriving in India.

Head repaid that faith in spades at Dharamsala, smashing a brilliant century in what proved to be the highest-scoring game ever seen at a Men’s Cricket World Cup.

“At some stage, you want to step up; it’s nice to do it straight away,” Head said after his POTM performance against New Zealand.

“Hopefully I can roll that into the next three and then hopefully finals.”

Drafted in for the sixth game of Australia’s campaign, Head said that the clarity of the decision-making from the selectors ensured that he felt totally at ease coming back into the team.

“I didn’t feel any pressure and I think it just sums up the way the decision was made (to leave me out) for the Netherlands game,” Head said.

“Everyone’s pretty keen and the decision-making and the expectations were there. If I wasn’t right, I wasn’t playing… I understood a lot of things had to go right, personally and with the team.

“I didn’t really feel the pressure today. I just wanted to come out and play and contribute, whether that be tonight, whether that be against England or in the last two games.”

Head’s 67-ball 109 did not have the air of a batter who was worried about an injury.

But the opener revealed there were some nerves for him on his comeback, even if they quickly disappeared out in the middle.

“There was obviously that part of the mindset I guess leading into the game, where there’s been little aches and pains throughout. Funnily enough, once we got the toss and were batting, the adrenaline pumped up and it felt pretty good,” Head said.

“Batting hasn’t been an issue for the last couple of weeks. It’s about how I move in the field and how it reacts and now how it pulls up. So, no, we’re in a good space.”

Head’s stunning hundred proved crucial in setting up a total of 388 which just eluded New Zealand in the chase.

Australia might be fit and firing, but it’s also a hugely positive sign that they were able to hold their nerve in such a tense finish.

Head says that the nature of the win will give the team huge confidence for potential crunch moments to come.

“We held our nerve really, really well in a high-pressure situation, so it was nice,” Head said.

“To get over in close ones is very, very important in this stage of a tournament – so it’s nice we were able to do that and hold our chances in the end, make a couple of plays and be really calm.”

Arch-rivals England await Australia next Saturday in Ahmedebad, by which time Head, Cummins and company could be looking to fine-tune their preparations for November’s knockout stages.