Travis Head urges Australia to move on from WTC Final defeat ahead of West Indies Series

ANI June 23, 2025 210 views

Travis Head wants Australia to quickly move past their WTC Final loss as they prepare for the West Indies series. The team will be without Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne, but Head backs Josh Inglis to step up. He sees the quick turnaround as a chance to reset and build momentum. The focus now shifts to starting strong in the Caribbean.

"We’ve got two more years to build, and this is another first look at it." – Travis Head
Melbourne, June 23: Australia batter Travis Head has called on his teammates to swiftly put their recent ICC World Test Championship Final loss to South Africa behind them, as they prepare to kick off a new cycle against the West Indies in Barbados.

Key Points

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Head urges team to shift focus to West Indies series

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Australia missing Smith and Labuschagne for first Test

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Inglis backed to perform in Smith’s absence

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Quick turnaround seen as motivation for fresh start

The Aussies have little time to lick their wounds following their five-wicket loss to the Proteas at Lord's in the Ultimate Test earlier this month, with their new World Test Championship campaign commencing with a three-match series against the West Indies in the Caribbean on Wednesday.

Head believes a quick turnaround from the World Test Championship Final to the West Indies series is a positive for his side and has urged his teammates not to dwell on the loss to the Proteas when they take on the Caribbean side.

"There's added motivation to go out there and play well," Head said of the first Test in Barbados, as quoted from the official website of the ICC.

"We didn't play well (against South Africa) and it's unfortunate," he added.

"We put two years of hard work into one week and didn't quite go to plan and the opposition played really well, so there's another motivation," he noted.

"We've got two more years to build, and this is another first look at it so I think if you dwell on it for too long or if you look back you forget about what's moving forward," Head said.

"As hard as that is, we play so much cricket and are so used to that but of course we care and of course it's not ideal but at the end of the day you can't change it so you have to move on you have to get back on the horse and you have to play good cricket," he noted.

"I think a lot of guys are wanting to do that we've had a little bit of time to reflect and I've got time to prep and we're going to another Test series that we're hopeful to play well in," he added.

Australia will be without the services of key batter Steve Smith for the opening Test against the West Indies, with the veteran right-hander still recovering from the finger injury he picked up while fielding during the loss in the World Test Championship Final.

Former No. 1-ranked Test batter Marnus Labuschagne is also missing, having been dropped by the Aussies, with teenager Sam Konstas and fellow batter Josh Inglis named as their replacements for the first Test at Kensington Oval.

Head expects Labuschagne to work his way back into the Test setup quickly and is also predicting Inglis to thrive when filling in for the injured Smith.

Inglis scored a century on debut against Sri Lanka at the start of the year, and Head believes the 30-year-old is capable of performing well once more.

"It feels like he's played a lot more than he has for Australia as he has been in the squad for a long time and he has been around the group for a long time," Head noted.

"Once he gets his extended stay on the team I think he will excel," he added.

"He's been waiting for a good amount of time to get a crack and it's exciting for Josh," Head said.

Reader Comments

Here are 6 authentic Indian perspective comments for the cricket article:
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Rahul K.
Australia's resilience is impressive! After such a big loss in WTC final, they're already focusing on the next challenge. This is why they're always tough competitors. Hope our Indian team shows similar mental strength in upcoming series 🇮🇳🏏
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Priya M.
Interesting to see Labuschagne dropped! He was such a consistent performer. Shows no one's place is guaranteed in Australian cricket. Our selectors could learn something about bold decisions from this 👀 #Cricket
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Arjun S.
Head's right about moving on quickly. In cricket, especially test cricket, you can't dwell on past losses. But honestly, as an Indian fan, I'm still not over our WTC final loss to Australia last year! That one hurt bad 😅
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Sneha R.
West Indies at home are always dangerous. Don't write them off! Remember how they troubled England recently. Australia better not take them lightly despite their recent struggles. Exciting series ahead! 🏝️🏏
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Vikram J.
The Aussie team management is ruthless - dropping Labuschagne shows that. In India we tend to persist with established players too long sometimes. Need more merit-based selections in our system too.
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Neha P.
Interesting to see how Inglis performs. Australia always seems to have good backup players ready. Their domestic system produces such quality cricketers consistently. Something our Ranji Trophy needs to emulate more effectively.

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Tags:
Travis Head Australia cricket West Indies series WTC Final Steve Smith Marnus Labuschagne Josh Inglis