Good news for Australia as star batter eyes return to 15-man squad for 2023 ODI World Cup

Five-time champions Australia have had a terrible start to their 2023 ODI World Cup journey. Suffered a six-wicket loss to India in Chennai, followed by a 134-run hammering from South Africa in Lucknow. As Pat Cummins' side aims to turn things around quickly, they've got some positive news in the form of Travis Head. 

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The versatile batter, who can play the role of opener or bat in the middle order, was dealt a hammer blow during the ODI series against South Africa in September. Head sustained a fracture to his left hand which resulted in him being ruled out for the three-match ODI series against India prior to the ODI World Cup. 

The injury was a major setback for Australia, but despite its severity, Cricket Australia included the southpaw in the 15-man World Cup squad. The decision was based on an understanding that Head would not play in the first leg of the tournament. Meanwhile, as expected, the 29-year-old has resumed his batting practice and a World Cup debut is just around the corner. 

According to the report, Head is expected to leave Adelaide on Thursday and join the team in India for their upcoming matches. In an interaction with cricket.com.au today, the aggressive opener provided an update on his health, stating that the recovery is faster than expected. 

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“It’s coming along well, and probably better than we hoped When we decided not to go with surgery, which would have meant a 10-week recovery, we were told it would be a minimum six weeks with the splint before we could look at playing again.” 

Head hopes to make his World Cup debut against Netherlands

Asked about his comeback, Head said he is hoping to make his World Cup debut against the Netherlands on October 25 at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi. Before that, Australia will play two matches, one against Sri Lanka on the 16th and the other against Pakistan on the 20th.

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"Going by that plan, the Netherlands game will be just under six weeks from impact which is a pretty aggressive date so everything would have to go perfectly from here to make that deadline," Head said.

"But we'll just see how it progresses over the next few days and I'm excited by the prospect of joining the boys over there later in the week," the opener concluded. 

Australia World Cup squad: Pat Cummins (c), Steve Smith, Alex Carey, Josh Inglis, Sean Abbott, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Marnus Labuschagne, Mitch Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, David Warner, Adam Zampa, Mitchell Starc.