{"id":258782,"date":"2025-11-03T02:27:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-03T02:27:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/258782\/"},"modified":"2025-11-03T02:27:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-03T02:27:10","slug":"india-t20-team-news-as-travis-head-leaves-bazball-admission-after-new-zealand-odis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/258782\/","title":{"rendered":"India T20 team news as Travis Head leaves, Bazball admission after New Zealand ODIs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In stark contrast to England\u2019s preparation, all of Australia\u2019s likely first Ashes Test XI will have a Sheffield Shield tune up after Travis Head prioritised red-ball preparation over the Twenty20 series against India.<\/p>\n<p>Head, who faced just 89 balls across five white-ball internationals against India, has withdrawn from the final two matches of the T20 series to play in South Australia\u2019s next Shield match against Tasmania.<\/p>\n<p>Head joins Steve Smith, Josh Hazlewood, Mitch Starc, Nathan Lyon, Cameron Green, Usman Khawaja, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Beau Webster and Marnus Labuschagne, who are all expected to feature in the Shield round.<\/p>\n<p>Watch The Ashes 2025\/26 LIVE and ad-break free during play with FOX CRICKET on Kayo Sports | New to Kayo? <a href=\"https:\/\/kayosports.com.au?pg=cricket&amp;extcamp=fsaeditoriallinkcricket-edt-fsp-lnk-awr-grc-cri-kyo&amp;channel=fsa&amp;campaign=fsacontra&amp;voucher=\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Join now and get your first month for just $1<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>Reserve quicks Brendan Doggett, Sean Abbott and Michael Neser are also all expected to play with the squad for the first Test against England, starting November 21 in Perth, to be confirmed this week. <\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s a similar Test build-up for Head to last summer. The left-hander played just one match of Shield before being the dynamite leading run-scorer across the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series against India. <\/p>\n<p><img class=\"i-amphtml-fill-content i-amphtml-replaced-content\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/1761200708_112_poster-fallback.png\"\/><\/p>\n<p>READ MORE <\/p>\n<p>WHAT WE LEARNED \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxsports.com.au\/cricket\/australia-v-india-2025-third-t20-live-updates-blog-how-to-watch-start-time-hobart-weather-team-news-squads-latest\/news-story\/a8d0f2363361bc780b55bcdbdf7bda9c\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Stunning blow exposes staggering \u2018waste\u2019 of star; Aussies\u2019 only real threat <\/a><\/p>\n<p>HEARTBREAK OVER! <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxsports.com.au\/cricket\/womens-cricket-world-cup-final-2025-india-beat-south-africa-for-first-title-in-50over-odi-tournament-shafali-verma-and-deepti-sharma-star-news-video\/news-story\/09d465655ba7a25a62f6aa7633d6babd\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">India romps to first Women\u2019s World Cup title as spinner snares huge haul<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2018NO EXCUSES COME AUSTRALIA\u2019: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxsports.com.au\/cricket\/no-excuses-come-australia-england-coach-puts-bazballers-on-notice-after-nz-humiliation\/news-story\/79945b05125d4f5f233c4eba8744aa77\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">England coach puts Bazballers on notice after NZ humiliation<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Travis Head has withdrawn from the Twenty20 series to focus on the Ashes. Picture: Asanka Ratnayake\/Getty ImagesSource: Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>Australia\u2019s focused preparation comes as England endured a horrific whitewash by New Zealand in a three-match One-Day International series.<\/p>\n<p>Most of England\u2019s Test batters played in that series, including Jamie Smith, Ben Duckett, Joe Root and Jacob Bethell, and produced record-low numbers.<\/p>\n<p>Harry Brook was the only English Test star to fire, with an unsupported century in the second match.<\/p>\n<p>But England coach, Brendon McCullum was unconcerned by a run of poor scores from Test mainstays including Ben Duckett and Joe Root declaring they would be \u201cbetter for the run\u201d. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey\u2019ve marked centre a few times and gone through the process and I\u2019m sure they\u2019ll be better for it,\u201d he said before leaving New Zealand. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith the prep that we\u2019ve had with the other Test guys who\u2019ve been here for a while too, we\u2019ll have no excuses come Australia.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think when we do come across the trickier conditions in Australia and Test cricket, we have a pretty good understanding of how we\u2019re going to go about it. It doesn\u2019t guarantee us anything but it gives us a level of confidence going into that series.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Australia vs India: 3rd T20I Highlights | 15:44<\/p>\n<p>Nonetheless, McCullum did offer a surprising admission about how the batters have fared in anything other than benign conditions. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think when we\u2019re confronted with good, flat wickets, we\u2019re a very, very good cricket team. I think we play a high-octane style of cricket and those conditions suit us,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen the wickets have a little bit in them and they\u2019re a bit more challenging, whether that be spin or seam or swing, we probably can\u2019t quite adapt our tempo quick enough.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ve got some talented players but, unfortunately, our performances at the moment in this form of the game aren\u2019t quite up to scratch and we need to rectify that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>McCullum added that once the Ashes kick off, England will \u201chave no excuses\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>That is despite the fact that England will play just one red-ball match between now and the first Test \u2013 a three-day game against the England Lions at Lilac Hill in Western Australia.<\/p>\n<p>That decision has proven controversial among past English players, such as Sir Ian Botham who said the team will be undercooked. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re going to wander in and have a little game with the \u2018A\u2019 team,\u201d Botham said on the Old Boys, New Balls podcast. <\/p>\n<p>MONSTER David 6 hits the roof! | 00:57<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNot one (state match), which borders on arrogance. You\u2019ve got to give yourself the chance. They are saying we play too much cricket. I don\u2019t think you play enough.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe conditions are different when you play cricket in Australia \u2014 the sun, the heat, the bounce, the crowd, the Aussie players \u2014 you\u2019ve got to get used to all that. You\u2019re not playing against the Australian cricket team, you\u2019re playing against Australia &#8211; 24.5 million people.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Former England captain Michael Vaughan has also expressed concerns over how the nation is preparing ahead of the Ashes. <\/p>\n<p>Vaughan wrote in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.telegraph.co.uk\/cricket\/2025\/10\/29\/michael-vaughan-england-have-given-australia-template\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">The Telegraph <\/a>that \u201cwhat is true in ODIs will be true in Ashes\u201d with England\u2019s batters showing a difficulty in shifting gears when required. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou have to be able to react when the ball is nipping around a bit, and it is not just, \u201coh, we\u2019ll dance down and try to hit them off their length\u201d. The better teams will just see through that \u2013 you will end up losing four or five quick wickets, and there\u2019s your Test match gone,\u201d he wrote. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe worry is that Australia will look at what New Zealand have done and think that is the template for how to beat England in the Ashes. Remember that Australian pitches have offered the seamers a lot more in the last few years.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Tanveer Sangha was also released from Australia\u2019s T20 squad while Ben Dwarshuis was added for the final two matches.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In stark contrast to England\u2019s preparation, all of Australia\u2019s likely first Ashes Test XI will have a Sheffield&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":258783,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[18761,1724,64,63,689,56117,152421,60167,20341,26811,60165,14675,18762,740,152418,152414,152417,20850,3738,2105,152416,152412,24167,1209,38709,33835,17066,44227,124996,17055,125981,29547,1736,677,46,38399,152415,152413,152420,1934,22478,116221,1124,12540,152202,85,18784,20439,2801,11740,23037,44867,70541,3439,152419],"class_list":["post-258782","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-alex-carey","tag-asia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-australian-cricket-team","tag-australian-pitches","tag-beau-webster","tag-ben-duckett","tag-ben-dwarshuis","tag-brendan-doggett","tag-brendon-mccullum","tag-cameron-green","tag-cricket","tag-cricket-team","tag-day-international-company","tag-dynamite-leading-run-scorer","tag-english-players","tag-fox-sports","tag-getty-images-inc","tag-head-leaves","tag-hometown-stadium","tag-ian-botham","tag-india","tag-jacob-bethell","tag-jamie-smith","tag-joe-root","tag-josh-hazlewood","tag-michael-neser","tag-michael-vaughan","tag-mitch-starc","tag-nathan-lyon","tag-new-zealand","tag-oceania","tag-perth","tag-real-threat","tag-record-low-numbers","tag-red-ball-match","tag-red-ball-preparation","tag-scott-boland","tag-sean-abbott","tag-sheffield-shield","tag-south-australia","tag-southern-asia","tag-spinner-snares","tag-sports","tag-steven-smith","tag-talented-players","tag-tasmania","tag-team-news","tag-tim-david","tag-travis-head","tag-usman-khawaja","tag-western-australia","tag-white-ball-internationals"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258782","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=258782"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258782\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/258783"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=258782"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=258782"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=258782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}