DURBAN: Australian opener Travis Head has taken to task former Test players turned critics whom he accused on Wednesday of putting a bullet through the current team, who start the first Test against South Africa in Durban on Friday.

Head did not single out any pundit directly, but his strong remarks at a press conference came the day after Matthew Hayden, one-time holder of the record for the most runs in a Test innings, accused selectors of promoting the greatest pile of mediocrity that we’ve seen in a generation of cricket.

The reference, made in a podcast, was about the recall of Nic Maddinson, who has been out of Test cricket for nearly 10 years, but who joined the squad in South Africa after Josh Inglis fractured his finger and Cameron Green suffered a stomach injury.

“I think it’s unfairly judged a fair bit from a group of past players, pretty much wthat 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.”

SELECTORS ACCUSED OF DISRESPECTING CRICKET

Hayden accused the selectors of “disrespecting first-class cricket”, asserting that batsmen should have an average of 45 runs or more before being considered for Test selection.

But Head praised Maddinson’s abilities and the benefits of choosing experienced players for Test cricket despite the 34-year-old replacement having a first-class average of 37.11.

“We need mature guys that know what they need to be doing,” Head said.

“And I think that revolves back to why we’ve been so good over a period of time, and why Australian cricket was so good back then in that era, because you’d bring in the Mike Husseys of the world, who are 30, who are tried and tested and know what they need to do.”

Former Australia captain Allan Border suggested that the 32-year-old Head would face his toughest Test as an opener against the South African bowling attack and would perhaps be better batting at number five.

“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’d be pretty safe and not talked about in the way that it has been talked about,” Head said. “It’s a lot of headline stuff.”

Published in Dawn, October 8th, 2026