Warner’s spiritual successor Head reaps benefits of Australia’s wealth

Travis Head punched a drive to the cover fence in front of the members and greeted the standing ovation from his beloved Adelaide Oval with a mixture of elation and relief.

He’d made a hundred of top quality, on a tricky pitch against a committed West Indian bowling attack, reviving the swashbuckling style he has made his own over the past couple of years but momentarily misplaced against Pakistan.

Travis Head celebrates his century in Adelaide.Credit: AP

By doing so, Head also capitalised on the blessings of being a Test cricketer for Australia, where the primacy of the long form is underlined by the players’ ability to manage their seasons. So it is that Head is at his best for the same matches that the likes of the West Indies and South Africa can no longer commit their best teams to.

Head’s innings gave Australia the buffer they needed before the fast men set about pushing for victory – a scenario that did not look likely when Shamar Joseph and company were slicing through the top order with seam and pace.

Though he will only seldom open the batting for Australia, Head is David Warner’s spiritual successor in the national side – and not only for the way he has taken over the role of organising golf rounds and social occasions.

Since his recall in 2021, Head has been the most dangerous counterpuncher in world cricket, a role he played most perfectly with a century in the World Cup final that humbled India and silenced Ahmedabad.

It is a highly entertaining approach for spectators, but priceless for Australia. And it does not take place without considerable thought and preparation from Head himself.

In the days between the Sydney and Adelaide Tests, Head requested and was granted some time off, meaning he was unavailable for the Adelaide Strikers in the Big Bash League. This was a rare luxury in cricket in 2024, as South Africa and the West Indies have demonstrated by picking touring sides that were denuded of enormous resources by the Twenty20 franchise circuit.

As Head told this masthead before the Test began, a disappointing series against Pakistan gave him pause to ensure he could keep in Test-match mode ahead of Adelaide, fashioning his technique and mindset to be clear and crisp for the red ball.

“I didn’t really want to go out of that, play Big Bash and lose the work I’d done by going out to play a different format,” Head said. “It just felt like I needed a couple days to get ready for the Test match. My biggest priority at the moment is Test cricket.

“I want to contribute for the Strikers, it was great they’re winning, great they’re in the finals. But with Test cricket the priority, I felt like I wasn’t giving myself the best chance in this Test match if I was to go out of the environment, go into another one, come back and have two days’ prep’.”

Relative to the huge difficulties facing Test cricket’s smaller entities, these are first-world problems. But Head showed the benefits of his preparation by shrugging off a typically scratchy start to flow into his innings with a volley of shots.

To his 24th ball, Head very nearly dragged a delivery from Kemar Roach onto his stumps. But Head’s clarity of mindset was made plain by how he laced his 25th to the square leg boundary. From there the runs came at swift tempo, even allowing for a few more nervy moments: an lbw appeal that was umpire’s call, and a tickle down the leg side missed by the wicketkeeper.

Head’s hundred, and the adulation he received from another ample gathering of the South Australian faithful – 23,698 in all – was followed by a classic set piece. Joseph, striving for his fifth wicket, tried the short stuff with men out on the fence. Head, having brought a devastating hook shot home from the Ashes, took it on.

Travis Head carves a boundary on day two in Adelaide.Credit: Getty

Twice in as many balls he crashed sixes into the members’ reserve on the western side of the ground, delighting the spectators and momentarily pausing Joseph’s dream debut. It was to be Alzarri Joseph who finally prompted a miscue – beautifully held by Kavem Hodge, hovering over the mid-wicket boundary rope, but Head walked off with the game well and truly turned.

He turned it further with the sharpest of catches at short leg to dismiss the West Indian captain Kraigg Brathwaite, as Josh Hazlewood added another armful of wickets to his princely Adelaide record. Batting has never been easy this game.

In years to come, readers of the scorecard may dismiss Head’s innings as one achieved against a weakened West Indies. But for those who were there, this had been something special in difficult circumstances – Head is making a habit of such innings.

Nevertheless, it was made more possible by the many advantages of playing Test cricket for Australia in the era of T20. Head is the kind of humble character who would not take that fact for granted.

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