Aussies weigh up massive Head gamble

Head will not be available for selection until at least the halfway point of the tournament after fracturing his hand in the recent series against South Africa.

But such is the left-hander’s rare ability to win Australia the World Cup off his own bat, there is a growing temptation to risk carrying him through the early games in the hope he can return and play a tournament-altering role in the finals when the whips are cracking.

Australia’s World Cup preparations will go up a notch when they face hosts India at 6pm on Fox Cricket and Kayo on Friday night live from Mohali for the first of three warm-up ODIs.

Selectors can wait until after the Indian series to submit a final 15-man squad to the ICC by next Thursday, and plenty – including Head’s inclusion – may hinge on how key players pull up when they take the field in their return from injury over the coming week.

If Head was Australia’s only fitness worry, selectors would be rolling the dice on him coming good midway through the tournament without hesitation.

But the fact Steve Smith, Glenn Maxwell, Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc are yet to play a match and Ashton Agar and Sean Abbott are also carrying fitness concerns makes the decision over Head a much more precarious call.

Going into crucial early World Cup games against India, South Africa, Sri Lanka and Pakistan with only 14 players available (or less) is living dangerously when there’s no certainty how other batsmen like Smith (wrist) and Maxwell (ankle) will perform in their return to match play.

It’s especially risky if selectors can’t find a way to squeeze the in-form Marnus Labuschagne into the final 15.

Labuschagne is not currently in the World Cup squad, but the Test batting giant has knocked the door down with runs in South Africa and would appear a high percentage selection in these circumstances where so many players are under a cloud.

Smith could calm the situation considerably if he can return in Mohali on Friday night looking a million bucks at No.3.

If selectors can be confident that they have enough batters to win early group games without Head, then what a game-changing bonus it would be to be bringing the South Australian dynamo back into the fold at the business end.

But the flip side is the firestorm selectors would face if Australia lose early World Cup matches with Labuschagne watching from TV back home in Brisbane.

Is there a way for Head and Labuschagne to fit into the final 15?

Head is a crucial cog in Australia’s World Cup hopes, not only for his proven combination with David Warner at the top of the order as a fearless and fast-scoring opener in a World Cup where totals could be massive, but also for his handy off-spin.

As it stands, Australia don’t have a finger spinner they can rely on with Agar still in Australia for the birth of his child and separately struggling with a calf, while Maxwell isn’t expected to play in the first ODI against India and might have to be managed through the early games of the Cup.

Queenslander Matthew Kuhnemann might come into consideration as a late bolter if Agar can’t prove his fitness by next Thursday.