德班，10月7日：澳大利亚队的首发球员特拉维斯·海德批评了那些曾担任测试赛球员、如今却转为评论员的批评者。周三，他指责这些人“向当前球队开了枪”，而澳大利亚队将于周五在德班开始与南非队的首场测试赛。
DURBAN, Oct 7 : Australia opener Travis Head has taken to task former test players turned critics whom he accused on Wednesday of “putting a bullet” through the current team, who start the first test against South Africa in Durban on Friday.
海德并未直接点名任何评论员，但他在新闻发布会上发表的强硬言论，是在马修·海登提出批评的次日。海登曾保持着测试赛单局得分最高的纪录，他指责选委会“提拔了我们在这一代板球运动中见过的最平庸的一批球员”。
Head did not single out any pundit directly, but his strong remarks at a press conference came the day after Matthew Hayden, one-time holder of the record for the most runs in a test innings, accused selectors of “promoting the greatest pile of mediocrity that we've seen in a generation of cricket”.
这一言论出自一档播客节目，指的是尼可·马德森被重新召入国家队。马德森已近10年未参加测试赛，但在乔什·英格利斯手指骨折、卡梅伦·格林腹部受伤后，他加入了在南非参赛的阵容。
The reference, made in a podcast, was about the recall of Nic Maddinson, who has been out of test cricket for nearly 10 years, but who joined the squad in South Africa after Josh Inglis fractured his finger and Cameron Green suffered a stomach injury.
“我认为，一些前球员对当前球队的评价有失公允，他们几乎是在向许多球员开枪，这在我看来是不公平的，”海德说。
“I think it’s unfairly judged a fair bit from a group of past players, pretty much that put the bullet through a lot of players, which I think is unfair,” Head said.
“但这也是他们的工作。他们中的一些人需要工作，所以他们会批评我们，这完全没问题。
“But that’s what they’re paid to do. Some of them need a job, so they go after us, and that’s totally fine.
“这支球队足够强大，能够应对这类言论。现实就是如此。有时，从我们深表尊敬的这一代球员那里听到这样的反馈确实令人遗憾，但这就是现实。”选委会被指不尊重板球运动海登指责选委会“不尊重一级板球运动”，并强调击球手在考虑入选测试队之前，应拥有至少45分的平均得分。
“This group is strong enough to deal with those sorts of things. That’s how it is. It’s unfortunate sometimes to have some of that feedback from a generation of players that we have huge respect for, but that’s the caper.”SELECTORS ACCUSED OF DISRESPECTING CRICKET Hayden accused the selectors of "disrespecting first-class cricket”, asserting that batsmen should have an average of 45 runs or more before being considered for test selection.
不过，海德对马德森的能力表示赞赏，并认为在测试赛中选择经验丰富的球员具有积极意义，尽管这位34岁的替补球员在一级板球中的平均得分仅为37.11分。
But Head praised Maddinson’s abilities and the benefits of choosing experienced players for test cricket despite the 34-year-old replacement having a first-class average of 37.11.
“我们需要那些知道自己该做什么的成熟球员,” 希德说。“我认为这正是我们长期以来一直表现出色的原因，也是澳大利亚板球在那个时代如此出色的原因，因为你会像麦克·哈瑟这样的球员加入进来，他们30岁了，已经经过检验和测试，知道自己需要做什么。”前澳大利亚队长阿兰·博登建议说，32岁的希德在面对南非的 bowling attack 时将面临着作为 opener 的最艰难考验，可能更适合排在第五位击球。
“We need mature guys that know what they need to be doing,” Head said. “And I think that revolves back to why we’ve been so good over a period of time, and why Australian cricket was so good back then in that era, because you’d bring in the Mike Husseys of the world, who are 30, who are tried and tested and know what they need to do.”Former Australia captain Allan Border suggested that the 32-year-old Head would face his toughest test as an opener against the South African bowling attack and would perhaps be better batting at number five.
“我确实笑过很多，因为如果一位传统的 opening batter 在他最初的 20 次击球中打出这样的数字，我认为他会相当安全，不会被这样讨论,” 希德说。“这其实只是头版头条的事情。”
“I have laughed at a fair bit of it because if a traditional opening batter had pushed out the same sort of numbers in his first 20 innings, I think he’d be pretty safe and not talked about in the way that it has been talked about,” Head said. "It’s a lot of headline stuff."