Injury to Australia all-rounder Cameron Green opens up a chance at number five for Cooper Connolly, or a fairytale return for \u200c34-year-old \u200cNic Maddinson after recovering from cancer.<\/p>\n
Head hits back at former Australia players in defence of Test team<\/p>\n
Australia opener Travis Head has taken to task former Test players turned critics whom he accused on Wednesday of \u201cputting a bullet\u201d through the current team.<\/p>\n
Head did not single out any pundit directly, but his strong remarks at a news conference came the day after Matthew Hayden, one-time holder of the record \u2060for the most runs in a Test innings, accused selectors of \u201cpromoting the greatest pile of mediocrity that we\u2019ve seen in a generation of cricket\u201d.<\/p>\n
The reference, made in a podcast, was about the recall of Maddinson, who has been out of Test cricket for nearly 10 years, but who joined the squad in South Africa after Josh Inglis \u200cfractured his finger and Cameron Green suffered a stomach injury.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s 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,\u201d Head said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut that\u2019s what they\u2019re paid to do. Some of them need a job, so they go after us, and that\u2019s totally fine.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis group is strong enough to deal with those sorts of things. That\u2019s how it is. It\u2019s unfortunate sometimes to have some of that feedback from a \u2060generation of players that we have huge respect for, but that\u2019s the caper.\u201d<\/p>\n
Why have Australia selectors been accused of disrespecting cricket?<\/p>\n
Hayden accused the selectors of \u201cdisrespecting first-class cricket\u201d, asserting that batsmen should have an average of 45 runs or more before being considered for Test selection.<\/p>\n
Head, however, praised Maddinson\u2019s abilities and the benefits of choosing experienced players for Test cricket despite the 34-year-old \u2060replacement having a first-class average of 37.11.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need mature guys that know what they need to be doing,\u201d Head said. \u201cThat revolves back to why \u2060we\u2019ve been so good over a period of time, and why Australian \u2060cricket was so good back then in that era, because you\u2019d bring in the Mike Husseys of the world, who are 30, who are tried and tested and know what they need to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Former Australia captain Allan Border suggested that the 32-year-old Head would face his \u200ctoughest test as an opener against the South African bowling attack and would perhaps be better batting at number five.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have laughed at a fair bit of it because if a traditional opening batter had pushed out \u200cthe \u200csame sort of numbers in his first 20 innings, I think he\u2019d be pretty safe and not talked about in the way that it has been talked about,\u201d Head said. \u201cIt\u2019s a lot of headline stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"South](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/7525651-1791382439.jpg\")
South African fans hold up a banner with reference to the sandpaper scandal during the fourth Test against Australia in 2018 [File: Gavin Barker\/EPA]Smith still traumatised by Sandpapergate<\/p>\n
In the build-up to the series, Smith has admitted he is still traumatised by \u201cSandpapergate\u201d \u2013 the series he oversaw as captain.<\/p>\n
The prolific batter was sent home in disgrace, banned for a year and sacked as captain for his role in the ball-tampering scandal during the third Test in Cape Town eight years ago.<\/p>\n
David Warner, considered the ringleader, was suspended for 12 months and stripped of all leadership roles, while Cameron Bancroft was slapped with a nine-month ban.<\/p>\n
Smith said he still suffers flashbacks to a traumatic period of his life, haunted by memories of leaving Johannesburg airport, with cameras clicking furiously around him, and a harrowing Sydney news conference on his return when he broke down in tears.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not a big fan of cameras \u2026 I get anxious around cameras to be honest,\u201d he told News Corp.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was a traumatic experience in my life, and when I hear the flash of a camera it makes me revisit that in a way.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe 24-48 hours of being told by James Sutherland [then Cricket Australia chief executive] that I was getting banned for a year. That and going through the airport in Johannesburg getting absolutely mobbed, and then flying back and doing that press conference.<\/p>\n
\u201cI still have little flashbacks here and there of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Smith bore the brunt of the scandal that is considered one of Australian sport\u2019s darkest moments, but bounced back emphatically.<\/p>\n
He smashed a superb century against England on his return and has gone from strength to strength, with 10,920 Test runs so far at an average of 56.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was certainly a difficult period, particularly the initial period a few days after,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe mental state I was in was not great. That\u2019s somewhere I\u2019d like not to get to again, but I certainly learned from that and have been able to move forward with my life.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve tried to kind of erase a lot of 2018 and what happened,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t remember a lot about the series. I\u2019ve tried to block most of it out of my memory bank.\u201d<\/p>\n
Smith has been back to South Africa for a white-ball series since 2018, but not for a Test, and he is bracing for hostile crowds.<\/p>\n
But the 37-year-old is unperturbed, having negotiated multiple Ashes tours to England since 2018, where the Barmy Army abused him relentlessly.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s something I\u2019m kind of used to. I\u2019ve copped a lot at times away from home at different venues across my career and it\u2019s something that I take in my own stride,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI use it as motivation to try and go out and do well and try and take a positive from it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Australia play their first Test in South Africa since the 2018 ball-tampering scandal when they start a \u2060three-match…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":795531,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[3711,1296,428,1721,4247,217,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-795530","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-africa","tag-asia-pacific","tag-australia","tag-cricket","tag-south-africa","tag-sport","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/795530","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=795530"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/795530\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/795531"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=795530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=795530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=795530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}