It appears that Head’s earliest return will be in the Netherlands match on October 25, although things could still work out before that.
“It’s going well and probably even better than we expected,” Head told cricket.com.au. “When we decided not to have surgery, which meant a ten-week recovery, we were told it would take at least six weeks with a splint before we could play again.
“According to that plan, the Netherlands game will be in just under six weeks from effect which is quite an aggressive date, so everything will have to be perfectly in place from here on out to meet that deadline.
“But we’ll see how it progresses over the next few days and I’m excited at the prospect of joining the boys there at the weekend.”
The importance of Head in Australia’s plans was emphasized when the selectors chose only 14 available players for the first half of the tournament and replaced Ashton Agar with a specialist in the form of Marnus Labuschagne to help cover for Head’s absence. Batsman included.
“Sometimes it’s not the number of runs he scores but the pressure he puts on the opposition because they know he will work hard, they can get nervous and be a little defensive in their mindset and then (David) Warner Survive, and if (Mitchell) Marsh comes, he also goes,” Finch told ESPNcricinfo.
Australia are yet to score a half-century in the tournament and have been bowled out for 199 and 177 in their two matches. But it’s going to take a lot of heads to come in and perform straight away.
Although the selectors have placed considerable emphasis on Head’s ability, there remains a possibility that they may still opt to replace him and that possibility may increase if Australia are unable to win against Sri Lanka on Monday, which would be a tough task for them. Will be a difficult task. Climb to reach the semi-finals.
“There are still some hurdles we need to clear, and everything needs to be in place from my end and the team’s point of view before we make a final decision,” Head said.