He’s been cautious with fielding and catching drills,but his right,bowling arm is unaffected.

Head said the prospect of rejoining the squad only crystallised in his mind when the splint came off at four weeks and a scan showed that the broken bone was mending at the necessary rate. He resumed by facing tennis balls,then on Saturday power-assisted throwdowns from the Australian coaching panel. He said his progress was necessarily day by day.

“I had a really good hit yesterday,” he said. “I think each session is getting better but[I’ve] got to be mindful of the fact that it was five weeks[only] a couple of days ago.

“Everything seems to be going well. But it’s how I wake up this morning. It’s how I can potentially back up tomorrow and train and there’s still a few things I need to tick off.”

Head said he’d never been one to torture himself mentally in these circumstances and the physical pain was bearable. “You can deal with it as long as I’m not doing any damage to it,and I’ve got the confidence to know that I’m not doing damage to it,” he said. “A little bit of pain’s OK.

“It feels a lot better than it did last week after a hit. There’s obviously some stiffness here but[it] feels pretty good. It’s important to understand that like the process and not trying to rush it too much because that can set us back,but it feels good.”

Australia face the Netherlands on Wednesday and the selectors must decide whether this relatively straightforward fixture is best used to reintroduce Head,or give him further time to rehabilitate before Australia take on New Zealand next Saturday. When Head does return,the most likely player to make way is Marnus Labuschagne.

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