Head start
This was such an impactful innings from Travis Head; even if there was no doubt England were smashed and stuttering when he was at the crease. But the game was at a point it could have gone either way. And he smoked the ball.
In a knock like this, you can see why he's so highly regarded.
But, something quite helpful happened to him. Other than the obvious that he came in when the pitch and ball had settled down and with Australia in front. Oh, plus the fact he plays left-arm finger spin well and Leach was bowling his second tentative spell.
But it was the right-arm seamers I was most interested in; England has four. And Head made it to 50 runs, having faced all of them. But he also made it to 50 having faced only six balls of seam from around the wicket. Only Mark Wood tried it early on, as we saw Woakes, Robinson and Stokes prefer over the wicket.
The problem is - so does Head. His major weakness in Tests has been right-arm seamers coming around the wicket to him. And it's not just him; lots of lefties feel the same, and I think England probably made similar errors with Warner.
But for Head, teams bowl over two-thirds of the time around the wicket to him. And he's actually improved against it, but he averages 28 when teams do it and has been dismissed 15 times from that tactic. So facing only six balls from that angle was probably a massive help to Head in this innings.
Next Test Broad will start around the wicket to him.

Rory's first ball the second time
Rory Burns opened the batting for the 264th time in first class cricket in the second innings of this Test. And for only the fourth time he didn't face the first ball.
Now, this could have absolutely nothing to do with the fact Mitchell Starc took him first ball. But it's suspiciously close to that. And not only was it the fact that Starc took him but also that Starc is known for taking wickets early on.
So there are three choices; Burns just decided to not face the first ball, like he does about one every 80 odd innings. It just happened to coincide with the Starc delivery seen around the world.
It is possible that looking at Burns technique against Starc's unique gifts that England thought it was in their best interest not to let him face. I can't imagine that is the real reason. As an analyst/coach, that is a tough conversation, even if you are sure you are right. To say to your opener, you are not equipped to handle the first ball, when he's done it so much.
Then there is the fact he realised that he wasn't picking Starc early when it was swinging and wanted a few extra moments to settle himself. This is the most likely I would say.
Usually, we wouldn't see this at all; Alastair Cook thought it was just a routine switch. It's just that I had looked this up before, so when he was at the non-strikers, it was clearly not an accident. What will be interesting is to see if it happens again.
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