Lurking will be a key part of Travis Head’s preparation as Australia gear up to take on little-known Oman in their opening Twenty20 World Cup clash in Barbados.
Australia are the holders of the World Test Championship and the one-day World Cup, meaning they would become the first nation to hold global trophies across all three formats if they can claim the T20 crown.
Their campaign begins on Wednesday night (Thursday AEST) against minnows Oman.
Australia will start as red-hot $1.01 favourites for that match – but one thing counting in Oman’s favour is their anonymity.
The Australian squad has been watching videos of Oman players to help them prepare.
Head has only seen “bits and pieces” of Oman, with the star opener preferring to use his own tried-and-tested spying technique to analyse the opposition.
It’s a method that worked a treat during the recent Indian Premier League, in which Head smashed 567 runs at an average of 40.5 and a strike rate of 191.6 for Sunrisers Hyderabad.
“Guys have different prep – mine’s pretty relaxed,” Head said.
“We get heaps of footage, but I just watch a little bit in the warm-up … to get a rough idea of who’s who.
“A little bit like I was in India – just see the ball going through, stand somewhat near them in the warm-up and have a look at what’s going on around that bowling stuff.
“I’ll talk to Tom, our analyst here, about how they stack up in the powerplay.
“I’ll try to get a lead-in on how they use guys and what they’ve used in the past, try to get a rough idea who those guys are, and then watch them live in the warm-up.”
The exact make-up of the Australian XI for their tournament opener remains a mystery, with the big call surrounding whether to include a second specialist spinner in the form of Ashton Agar to partner Adam Zampa.
Head, speaking with tongue firmly in cheek, said new captain Mitch Marsh was to blame for the uncertainty.
“I’m dirty Mitch isn’t doing the pre-match media. I had to come down. He’s off to a bad start,” Head said with a laugh.
“Pat (Cummins) would have been down here giving you a team, but we’ll have to wait for Mitch tomorrow at the toss.”
After taking on Oman, Australia will get their first big test when they face arch-rivals England in Barbados on Saturday (Sunday AEST).
Matches against Namibia and Scotland follow, with the top two nations in each five-team group to advance to the Super 8 stage.
The tournament stretches until June 29, and Head said it was imperative for Australia to peak at the right time.
“We start tomorrow, but also we want to do the right things, get to the Super 8s and be peaking at the back-end,” Head said.
“We did that really well at the one-day World Cup. You want to be firing at the right time.
“We want to get everything right in these first few games and make sure we’re in the right position to accelerate in the back-half of the tournament.”
Content Source: www.perthnow.com.au