Travis Head has issued a stinging broadside at former Australian greats for being too eager to “put the bullet” through representatives of the current Test team ahead of the highly-anticipated series against South Africa beginning on Friday.

The dual-Allan Border Medallist’s rebuke came after former star opener Matthew Hayden’s stinging critique of the selection of Nic Maddinson on a podcast earlier this week.

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It also follows some strong criticism from an array of former players about the Australians performance against Bangladesh in Darwin, with Head determined to make a point.

“I think it’s unfairly judged a fair bit from a group of past players, pretty much that put the bullet through a lot of players, which I think is unfair,” Head said.

“But that’s what they’re paid to do. Some of them need a job, so they go after us, and that’s totally fine. This group is strong enough to deal with those sorts of things. That’s how it is.

“It’s unfortunate sometimes to have some of that feedback from a generation of players that we have huge respect for, but that’s the caper.”

The divide between the current crop of stars, which have won 14 of their past 17 Tests despite a dip in the batting averages of several top order stars, dates back to Justin Langer’s axing as coach.

Hayden was among those bemused that Langer, who he opened the batting with, was moved on in what was said to be a player-driven campaign back in 2022.

In his latest missive, he declared Australian cricket was “promoting the greatest pile of mediocrity that we’ve seen in a generation of cricket”.

Travis Head has blasted Aussie greats for their criticism.Source: FOX SPORTS

“If we continue to lay that out and expect that a bloke averaging 35 is going to average 55 in Test match cricket, George Bailey and Tony Dodemaide, you are dreaming,” he said on the All Over Bar The Cricket podcast.

“I will just put it that simply. You are frigging dreaming. And you are piling up this dog shit explanation, and you are, in my opinion, disrespecting first-class cricket.”

Several former champions, including those who broadcast the cricket for Kayo Sports, have noted the pressure players including Marnus Labuschagne are under after a run of outs.

Head said he could understand why past players including Hayden wanted to stick up for their former coach, but also stressed the current generation were dealing with trickier pitches.

“They’re a very proud bunch of guys who went through a bit of a sticky situation … a few years back where they stood up and were pretty proud about one of their own,” Head said.

“But in saying that, we’re playing for the same cause. We have huge respect for it.”

Head noted with bemusement the calls for him to return to No.5 after missing out in the Bangladesh series, saying his record when opening has been strong.

“I have laughed at a fair bit of it because if a traditional opening batter had pushed out the same sort of numbers in his first 20 innings, I think he would be pretty safe and not talked about in the way that it has been talked about,” Head said.

“But I think that that’s a bit of the media these days: it’s not so much a good day, bad day (assessment). It’s a lot of headline stuff.

“(I) had a great summer (but) missed out that first day in Darwin and I’m no good at it again? So that doesn’t bother me in the slightest. If people want to read it and are happy and not having a dig (so be it), but people are going to click on it if it’s drawing the line through someone.

“I’ve played more than enough to know that that happens. More of that will happen on Friday if I open the batting and miss out. The same question marks. Vice versa, if I play well, they’ll probably still think I should go to five. But that’s up to you guys.”