Australia relaxed despite Champions Trophy travel mess

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Australia relaxed despite Champions Trophy travel mess

Travis Head says Australia are trying to stay relaxed as they remain in the dark over whether they’ll be playing their Champions Trophy semi-final in either Pakistan or 2000km away in Dubai.

The in-form left-hander sounded perfectly chilled following their qualification despite the uncertainty over where, when and against whom they’ll play their last-four contest.

The difficulties for both Australia and South Africa, who’ve both qualified from group B, is that they must wait until Sunday evening, following India’s match with New Zealand, to know which of the two teams they’ll be playing.

Following the Proteas’ seven-wicket hammering of England on Saturday, the Australians have finished second behind South Africa in group B, and will face the winners of Sunday’s clash in Dubai in the last-four.

If that’s New Zealand, then the trans-Tasman rivals will be playing back at Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore in Pakistan on Wednesday.

But if India, who’ve refused to play in neighbouring Pakistan, emerge victorious, then Australia must take the three-hour flight to the UAE to play the favourites in Dubai on Tuesday, where India have been based all tournament.

That means if South Africa and Australia don’t travel to UAE before Monday, they could miss out on their only chance to train at the Dubai International Stadium, where conditions are very different to those they’ve been experiencing in Pakistan.

Reports have suggested Australia planned to travel to Dubai on Saturday to be on the safe side – although that would only mean they’ll have to fly back to Lahore on Monday should India lose.

The potential travel headache didn’t appear to be fazing the ever laid-back Head, though.

“We’ll watch the next couple of days, stay relaxed and then get to work. I guess there’ll be two different scenarios where it could be two different conditions,” he shrugged.

“Whether we go to Dubai and play there, which looks like it’s a little bit more more difficult or more challenging pitch than is here (in Lahore). It’s little bit more low-scoring.

“So we’ll see how we go.”

The situation, though, has again highlighted the uneven playing field of a competition in which India has enjoyed a huge advantage because of the team’s refusal to play in Pakistan on security and political grounds.

“If you can stay in one place, stay in one hotel, practice in the same facilities, play in the same stadium, on the same pitches every time, it’s definitely an advantage,” noted Rassie van der Dussen, who guided South Africa to victory and a top-of-the-table spot in the win over England in Karachi on Saturday.

“I don’t think you have to be a rocket scientist to know that.”

Head, whose unbeaten 59 in the washed-out match against Afghanistan showed he’s in fine nick, shrugs that he believes Australia are equipped to lift the title wherever they play, even with their relatively inexperienced outfit.

“Yeah, I feel like we’re playing well. I guess the first point is getting to the semis. I feel like we’ve done an extremely good job with the inexperience that we’ve got in the side,” he said.

“It’s huge for us moving forward as well, when you look at what’s to come over the next couple of years with two World Cups around the corner, with guys getting experience in a tournament like this.

“This is important, because we’re now into a semi and I think the style that we’re playing, if we continue to keep doing it, there’s no reason why we couldn’t win it.”

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