Australia vice-captain Travis Head escaped a serious injury on Tuesday after being hit on the shoulder by a dangerous beamer bowled by Pakistan pacer Shaheen Afridi late on Day 1 of the Boxing Day Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
Head escapes nasty injury
Head was welcomed to the crease by a shoulder-height full-toss late in the day. Head's reflexes saved him as he managed to move his head in time to miss the ball which made impact flush on his right shoulder.
Head took his eyes off the ball which could have been disastrous for the batter. He was lucky that the ball hit him on the shoulder and not on the helmet.
Afridi apologises for the beamer
Afridi immediately apologised to Head for bowling the beamer which was adjudged as a no-ball by the on-field umpire at square leg.
The Aussies were 162 for 3 from 59 overs at that stage with Head yet to open his account while Marnus Labuschagne was batting on 35* at the other end.
Honours even on day 1 as rain plays spoilsport
The batters added another 25 runs to the total before the close of play after just 66 overs as rain played spoilsport and curtailed the day after Pakistan won the toss and elected to bowl first in Melbourne.
Labuschagne was unbeaten on 44 while Head made 9 runs till stumps on Day 1. Openers Usman Khawaja and David Warner got Australia off to a solid start but they couldn't go on to score big.
Khawaja made 42 while Warner scored 38. Steven Smith suffered another failure in the series as he got out for just 26 to Jamal. Hassan Ali, Agha Salman and Aamer Jamal got their names on the wickets column with one each for Pakistan.
Australia lead the 3-match series 1-0 after their comprehensive victory in the first Test in Perth by 360 runs.
