Hobart horrors no more for batters
Australia's batsmen believe the horrors of Hobart are a thing of the past as they prepare to make their first comeback there since the 2016 disaster.
Friday's fifth Test at the Blundstone Arena will be the first since a loss to South Africa five years ago, where four of the top seven batsmen were dropped immediately.
Only David Warner, Steve Smith and Usman Khawaja are left in Australia's top seven with their first innings score of 85 as the hosts were all out in just 32.5 overs.
The Bellerive venue has traditionally been one of the most difficult for Australia to bat at, with only the MCG low-scoring of all regular Test grounds in the country in this century.
It also remains a bowler's ground in the Sheffield Shield since the fall of 2016.
Batsmen have averaged 27.82 over the past five seasons, lower than the competition's average of 31.32.
But Travis Head insisted nothing could happen in Friday's Test with a score of 192 to his name in Hobart in March 2016.
Head said, 'Shield cricket will be very different from Test cricket.
"You look at the Gabba and it's probably a more bowler friendly wicket (in the shield) than Test cricket where it's a beautiful place to bat.
"I'm hoping Hobart might be similar to that.
"We see that it can be really good to bat on the third and fourth days at Bundtstone. Some big scores are chased.
"We've seen a few Shield finals there (over five days) where the wicket has been great to bat on."
Head's thinking also included how difficult it was for bowlers to pick up wickets with the pink ball during the day in Adelaide.
While it remained a threat into the night, bowlers struggled to move the Kookaburra in broad daylight, especially with England grappling with the issue.
Head have yet to play a day-night first-class match at Blundstone Arena, but they have traditionally been scoring more than red-ball affairs there.
Australia were also undefeated in the pink-ball Test, taking their record to 8-0 earlier this summer.
"It doesn't change much, which is the way I would go about it," Head said.
"We'll get the figures, go through the footage over the next few days. And then we'll have an idea of what we need to do to be the best preparation to be leading the training.
"What I'm looking forward to: Not different from every other pink ball we've played with.
"The ball will swing in stages, the ball will be great to bat in stages."
