Travis Head's counter-punching century has rescued Australia in the final Ashes test against England, but the in-form middle order batter is disappointed he could not convert it into a big hundred.
Australia were reeling at 12/3 inside 10 overs, when Head - back in the team after recovering from COVID-19 - walked out to bat in the day-night contest at Hobart's Bellerive Oval.
The left-hander added 71 quick runs with Marnus Labuschagne (44) and forged a 121-run stand with Cameron Green (74) to steady the Australian innings.
Head raced to a 112-ball century, but fell immediately, when trying to hit Chris Woakes over mid-wicket, offering a leading edge to Ollie Robinson at mid-on. His 101 contained 12 boundaries.
Head is unsure if it was his finest test hundred: "Wait and see how the game pans out.
"I'm disappointed that I wasn't able to go on and get a big score. I felt like I worked really hard to get to that position and to give it up that easily, I'm pretty disappointed."
Head's matchwinning 152 at Brisbane set the tone for Australia's domination in the series and the 28-year-old has eclipsed Labuschagne as the leading scorer of the series, with 349 runs from five innings.
Head attributed his success to a more relaxed approach.
"I spoke about leading into Brisbane, and the fact that [captain] Pat [Cummins] and JL [coach Justin Langer] have backed me over a period, and asked me to go out and play the way I see the game."
"I'm also coming off some strong Shield seasons to know that my game is in good order. I've definitely come in with an expectation of what's required and I'm happy to have been as consistent as I have been."
Australia, who enjoy an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five-match series, will resume on 241/6 on day two of the pink-ball contest - the first Ashes test at Tasmania.
Reuters
