{"id":39095,"date":"2025-01-30T06:25:00","date_gmt":"2025-01-30T06:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newstimers.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/30\/head-will-replace-kontas-as-opener-in-test-matches-against-sri-lanka-smith\/"},"modified":"2025-01-30T06:25:00","modified_gmt":"2025-01-30T06:25:00","slug":"head-will-replace-kontas-as-opener-in-test-matches-against-sri-lanka-smith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newstimers.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/30\/head-will-replace-kontas-as-opener-in-test-matches-against-sri-lanka-smith\/","title":{"rendered":"Head will replace Kontas as opener in Test matches against Sri Lanka: Smith"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

\n

Gaul<\/strong>
Australia captain Steve Smith has confirmed that in the first Test match against Sri Lanka starting today, Australia’s batting will play Travis Head as the partner of Usman Khwaja in place of Sam Costas. Meanwhile, Australia has not confirmed his play and Smith said that the continuous changing position of Gaul’s pitch would delay the finalization of line-ups. Constas impressed in its first two Tests and helped Australia win the series for the first time in India in a decade. But while replacing the injured opener David Warner in the last two Tests of Australia’s tour of India in 2023, Head’s efforts gave him a place as an opener.<\/p>\n

Smith told reporters before Australia’s final pre-test training session, “Travis will go to the top, in addition it will be quite stable. I don’t think it will change much. He liked what the selectors saw in India, when he (Head) got a chance. He grabbed the new ball, scored fast and put pressure immediately, so I think the same thinking is here. “<\/p>\n

It is not clear whether the Contas will maintain his place as a middle-order batsman. Nathan McSvini and Josh Iglis are both contenders for the middle-order vacancy arising out of the head promotion of the head. Smith said, “If he does not play, he will have to practice a lot, which is great for development in itself. I only have to think about 2013 (in India), when I did not play two Tests the first, and how many balls I played on the net and how many skills I developed by facing net bowlers. So whether he played or not, I think it will be a great experience for him. “<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

GaulAustralia captain Steve Smith has confirmed that in the first Test match against Sri Lanka starting today, Australia’s batting will play Travis Head as the partner of Usman Khwaja in place of Sam Costas. Meanwhile, Australia has not confirmed his play and Smith said that the continuous changing position of Gaul’s pitch would delay the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":39096,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thekhabars.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/hed-1-780x470.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-39095","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\nHead will replace Kontas as opener in Test matches against Sri Lanka: Smith - News Timers<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/newstimers.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/30\/head-will-replace-kontas-as-opener-in-test-matches-against-sri-lanka-smith\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Head will replace Kontas as opener in Test matches against Sri Lanka: Smith - News Timers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"GaulAustralia captain Steve Smith has confirmed that in the first Test match against Sri Lanka starting today, Australia’s batting will play Travis Head as the partner of Usman Khwaja in place of Sam Costas. Meanwhile, Australia has not confirmed his play and Smith said that the continuous changing position of Gaul’s pitch would delay the […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/newstimers.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/30\/head-will-replace-kontas-as-opener-in-test-matches-against-sri-lanka-smith\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"News Timers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-01-30T06:25:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/thekhabars.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/hed-1-780x470.jpg\" \/><meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/thekhabars.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/hed-1-780x470.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1152\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"newstimers.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/thekhabars.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/hed-1-780x470.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"newstimers.com\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/newstimers.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/01\\\/30\\\/head-will-replace-kontas-as-opener-in-test-matches-against-sri-lanka-smith\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/newstimers.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/01\\\/30\\\/head-will-replace-kontas-as-opener-in-test-matches-against-sri-lanka-smith\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"newstimers.com\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/newstimers.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/eedb09e776755c468967c45aea40c71d\"},\"headline\":\"Head will replace Kontas as opener in Test matches against Sri Lanka: Smith\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-01-30T06:25:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/newstimers.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/01\\\/30\\\/head-will-replace-kontas-as-opener-in-test-matches-against-sri-lanka-smith\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":301,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/newstimers.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/01\\\/30\\\/head-will-replace-kontas-as-opener-in-test-matches-against-sri-lanka-smith\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i2.wp.com\\\/thekhabars.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/01\\\/hed-1-780x470.jpg?ssl=1\",\"articleSection\":[\"Sports\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/newstimers.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/01\\\/30\\\/head-will-replace-kontas-as-opener-in-test-matches-against-sri-lanka-smith\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/newstimers.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/01\\\/30\\\/head-will-replace-kontas-as-opener-in-test-matches-against-sri-lanka-smith\\\/\",\"name\":\"Head will replace Kontas as opener in Test matches against Sri Lanka: Smith - 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