The former Australian Test captain credits Travis Head’s success in international cricket to head coach Andrew McDonald and captain Pat Cummins, who have given him the freedom to play his natural game.
Paine says that, under Justin Langer, Head did not flourish as a cricketer due to differences of opinion.
“I don’t think either of them like me saying this, but I think there was a real difference between him and JL (Justin Langer),” Penn told Sean Breakfast.
“You’ve got Test greats in commentary and you’ve got Test greats (Langer) who are coaching and Graeme Hick who scored 101 first-class centuries as his batting coach (providing advice).
“They were working hard for him to work on his defense and it wasn’t the way he wanted to go about it, but he was a young Test player trying to make an impact and stay in the team, so he was. Trying to please everybody. doing
“I think it’s made a big difference in his output because he’s staying true to the way he wants to play.
“Sometimes he’s going to fail and sometimes he’s going to have lean patches, but he’s going to be super aggressive, he’s going to play his shots and he’s going to try to be a game winner and we’re just seeing him blossom. Moments in all formats of the game.”
Travis Head scored a match-winning 140 against India in Adelaide, which saw Australia level the five-match Test series 1-1.