An elated Travis Head reckons he's had a long, patient wait to become Australia's ODI hit-man opener - but after his triumphant World Cup comeback ton, he's ready to savour the spearhead role alongside David Warner.
The left-hander hadn't played an innings for six weeks after breaking his hand but returned decisively to action on Saturday by cracking a brilliant 59-ball century in a 19-over, 175 partnership with Warner that laid the foundations for Australia's dramatic five-run win over New Zealand in Dharamshala.
It was a win that's put Pat Cummins' side firmly in sight of the semi-finals and left 29-year-old Head confident he's nailed down his place at the top of the order after he missed the first five games of the tournament with his injury.
When asked after his 67-ball 109, which featured seven sixes and 10 fours, whether he needed much persuasion to fill the opener's role alongside his fellow evergreen southpaw Warner on Saturday, Head smiled: "No, definitely not.
"That's been a spot that I guess I've waited for, obviously, with (previous captain Aaron) Finch playing for such a long period and his partnership with Davey being so good.
"The limited chances I had, I was able to take and sort of wait a couple of years for that spot to open up.
"But that spot's never guaranteed and I've got to perform and I've been lucky enough to put a string of a few performances together that hopefully make it where Dave and I have got a great partnership."
Between them, they crashed 13 of the team's 20 sixes in their total of 388 - Australia's most number of maximums ever in an ODI - with Head enthusing about how he and Warner thumped 11 over the boundary markers in just the first 13 overs.
"Davey's the same as me. If the runs are going to be presented, we're going to try and take them, try and be positive. So, yeah, awesome start," said Head, who reckoned he felt no pressure despite the fact Australia had broken up the Warner-Mitch Marsh partnership to accommodate his return.
"It's a beautiful place to bat at the top of the order. We want to be as positive as we can be if the wicket allows it and I think over the last 12 months the wickets have allowed it, they've been pretty good, especially here.
"Hopefully it continues. At some stage, you want to step up and it's nice to do it straight away. Hopefully, I can roll that into the next three matches and then the finals.
"I didn't really feel the pressure, I just wanted to come out and play and contribute."
