Travis Head’s impressive body of work

Travis Head at Adelaide Oval ahead of the second Test starting on Thursday

When Travis Head aimed a couple of injudicious swipes at balls wide of the off stump after walking out at No. 5 for Australia, the batting mafia’s phone network lit up with messages that were cynical to say the least.

Two hours later Head raised his bat in acknowledgment of a century compiled within the confines of a single session.

Those who watch him from a distance struggle to see past his flaws, those that know him better know what he can do.

Greg Blewett, who was one of the more elegant batsmen in the game, gets a little frustrated when Head is criticised.

“I know people will think I’ve lost my marbles, but he reminds me of Steve Waugh,” he told The Australian.

“I know … I know … but there were plenty of times when Tugga didn’t make it look easy but gritted it out and made runs. Travis and Tugga both hit the ball really incredibly hard.

“People tend to judge him on his deficiencies and not his output and that’s been getting better all the time. In the last two years he’s learned to score hundreds not fifties.”

Jason Gillespie is a hug fan of the batsman who made his state debut as an 18-year-old and assumed the captaincy when he was just 21.

“I have no doubt he’s a future Australia captain,” the South Australian coach wrote in his Daily Mail column. “He finds that balance between being one of the boys and having that authoritative presence. He won’t put up with mediocrity. Or nonsense. So he’s happy to tell the boys exactly what needs to be done. It’s been an honour to see how he has grown.”

Teammate Alex Carey is part of the pit crew pumping air into the 27-year-old’s tyres.

“There is a little bit of chatter about the way Travis plays, but when he gets away he is unstoppable,’’ Carey said.

“So you ride the waves. You ride the lows. I have seen that in Shield cricket for a number of years. He might make an amazing 30. He might make 150. He is a matchwinner.

“If we see innings like that over the next 12 to 18 months, he is going to be one of the best players in the world. He is really confident.”

Admittedly all three singing Head’s praise are South Australians who have seen the player up close in conditions that suit first-class batters, but few know him better.

Head’s 85-ball hundred at the Gabba is the third-fastest by an Australian at Test level, but he has been threatening the sound barrier all summer.

He took off with a 163 from 215 balls in the first Sheffield Shield clash with Western Australia then crashed through the barrier with a 127-ball 230 in the one-day match against Queensland.

Yes, these land speed records were scored at the Karen Rolton Oval, which is cricket’s equivalent of the Bonneville Salt Flats, but the Gabba had a more difficult deck and traditional outfield measurement.

Head knows he is not pretty, but he says its what’s inside (the score book) that counts.

“Obviously I’m not traditionally the most technical batter going around,” he said. “I have to drive for runs in some periods and it won’t look pretty, but over the last four or five years I’ve been able to find a way to get consistent runs and that’s all my concern is — trying to be as consistent I possibly can.

“My work around my technique is trying to make it as consistent as I can. There will be moments that it doesn‘t look as pretty as it could. And there’ll be other moments where it looks pretty good. There‘s that balancing act.”

Head says the innings in Brisbane had its ups and downs as the game changed rhythms.

“It was obviously a pretty hectic couple of hours,” he said. “I thought I was in a great space. I was relaxed, calm consistent around my technique and really just was seeing the game come and play to how I saw it.

“There‘s probably moments when I felt like it was an opportunity to take the game down and I did that probably 50 or 60 runs into my innings for probably a 20 or 30 minute period there and then when the new ball came I sort of went the other way and then just tried to get to the end of the session and start fresh the next day.

“I felt like I used the tempos really well, there was moments I felt like I was going a million miles an hour, but there was other moments where I think I was really balanced and calm and summed up the conditions really well.”