Travis Head took a cheeky swipe at former Australian batter Ed Cowan on Sunday as his facet clinched a 2-0 collection victory towards Sri Lanka.
Cowan, who scored 1001 Take a look at runs throughout 18 matches for Australia had beforehand joked that Steve Smith’s facet’s journey to the UAE previous to their tour of Sri Lanka was merely a ‘golf journey’.
Cowan had made comparable feedback final 12 months on The Grandstand Cricket Podcast in September.
However after sealing a nine-wicket victory towards Sri Lanka on Sunday, Australia’s gamers celebrated backstage with a couple of chilly drinks with Head posting an image on his Instagram story of their celebrations.
He captioned the story: ‘One other golf journey @EddieCowan.’
After his brilliance in Adelaide and Brisbane towards India, Head has struggled to succeed in triple figures in every of his final 4 Take a look at matches, however has moved up the order to bat alongside Usman Khawaja throughout this collection in Galle.
Travis Head took a cheeky swipe at former Australian batter Ed Cowan on Sunday as his facet clinched a 2-0 collection victory towards Sri Lanka
Head took to Instagram to submit an image of the Australia workforce celebrating their win within the altering rooms, and took a dig at Cowan, writing: ‘One other golf journey @eddiecowan’
Australia claimed a 2-0 collection victory towards Sri Lanka on Sunday following a nine-wicket win within the second Take a look at
Head managed 57 runs within the first Take a look at earlier than hitting 21 and 20 within the second Take a look at to assist Australia seal victory on Sunday.
In the meantime, Steve Smith was named the participant of the collection on Sunday however insisted he had not critically aggravated his elbow damage earlier the identical morning.
The stand-in captain beat the collection’ main wicket-taker Matt Kuhnemann (16 scalps at 17.18) to say the honour after Australia clinched a nine-wicket win within the second Take a look at in Galle.
Smith underlined his standing as Australia’s grasp of the subcontinent, scoring two centuries from as many innings to assist the vacationers seal a primary collection win in Sri Lanka since 2011.
The 35-year-old stays not sure whether or not he’ll play on Australia’s subsequent tour of the subcontinent to India in 2027, when he will likely be 37.
‘I am having fun with it in the intervening time, so I am going to maintain enjoying, maintain having fun with it and take it day-to-day,’ Smith mentioned.
An obvious recurrence of Smith’s elbow damage formed as a worrying postscript, with an already depleted Australia heading to Pakistan for the Champions Trophy this month.
Smith appeared to hyper-extend the elbow he injured in final month’s Massive Bash League mishap that delayed his flight to Dubai for the Take a look at squad’s coaching camp.
Stand-in captain Steve Smith admitted this was the very best Aussie facet in his profession to have performed on the subcontinent
However Smith had appeared to drag up with an damage on Sunday after having carried an elbow damage into the collection
Smith had performed down fears over an elbow damage having struck two centuries through the collection
On Sunday’s day 4, he pulled up sore after throwing from level and tried to shake out the problem as he remained fielding.
‘I threw one once I should not have. There was nothing on. (It is) onerous once you’re within the second to drag your self again,’ he mentioned.
Smith was in clear discomfort after the throw however insisted he would bounce again for the Champions Trophy, the place he may captain Australia in Pat Cummins’ absence.
‘It is higher than it was a few weeks in the past after the Massive Bash. Fairly certain it will be a reasonably fast restoration,” he mentioned.
The information will likely be a reduction to Australia, with Cummins (ankle), Mitch Marsh (again), Josh Hazlewood (facet) and Marcus Stoinis (retirement) already unavailable for the 50-over match.
In Sri Lanka, Smith made 272 runs at a mean of 136 to complete because the second-top run-scorer within the collection.
He blasted 141 runs in his first knock as Australia made probably the most of profitable the toss within the first Take a look at, slapping their option to victory by an innings and 242 runs.
However his second ton (131) was arguably extra essential within the second match as Australia sought to shut out a collection whitewash.
Smith got here to the crease when Australia had been in hassle at 2-37 on day two, having misplaced each Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne cheaply.
He stabilised the vacationers’ reply to Sri Lanka’s 257 and cast a 259-run partnership with Alex Carey (156) that finally proved decisive within the nearer second match.
It has been fairly the turnaround for Smith, who was lukewarm in his stint as an opener to complete the 2023-24 summer time and managed solely 19 runs throughout his first three innings within the latest house collection towards India.
However Smith has now scored centuries in 4 of his previous 5 Assessments.
‘Even once I wasn’t getting the runs I wished, I used to be nonetheless saying to all you guys (the media) that I used to be truly batting fairly properly,’ Smith mentioned.
The victory means Australia now maintain all bilateral collection, having additionally crushed India earlier in January
On day one of many first Take a look at, Smith reached the coveted 10,000-run milestone after memorably ending the house summer time one run quick
‘There is definitely plenty of luck concerned, significantly in these situations.
‘You have to benefit from it, which I’ve executed, I suppose, within the final little bit.’
Smith watched as data tumbled through the Sri Lanka collection.
On day one of many first Take a look at, he reached the coveted 10,000-run milestone after memorably ending the house summer time one run quick.
Through the second Take a look at, Smith additionally turned Australia’s main run-scorer in Asia with 1994 runs, and the primary non-wicketkeeping Australian to succeed in 200 catches.
Moreover, the right-hander has scored extra centuries (seven) in Asia than any of his countrymen.
