From the scrap heap to the top: Travis Head’s road to AB Medal

There have been plenty of setbacks in Travis Head’s career, but he has ascended to three-format superstar. He talks to DANIEL CHERNY about the road to the top.

If the idiom that the darkest hour is just before the dawn holds true, then for Travis Head it came during a struggling County Championship stint with Sussex in 2021.

Head was 27, had been dropped from the Australian Test side over the summer and had lost his central contract. His career had reached a crossroads when he ventured to the UK, hoping to rediscover some runs.

Spoiler alert: He didn’t.

Head’s memory embellishes the story slightly. On Sunday in Galle he quipped that he had averaged 12. It was actually 18.30 across six first-class matches, still hardly the sort of form demanding national selectors recall him for the Ashes at the end of that summer.

Travis Head has won the Allan Border medal.

“I had a pretty rough trot at it, went to Sussex, didn’t get that consistency that I was after, tried to play a certain way, didn’t work,” Head said after being presented with the Allan Border Medal at Australia’s team hotel in Galle between the Tests against Sri Lanka.

“Probably that stint and coming home and realising I needed to sort of pull my finger out to be a chance to get back to Brisbane and the first Test.”

It was in that period that Head made a conscious choice. If he was going to go down, he would do so swinging. He would do away with inhibition, erring on the side of his naturally attacking ways rather than the watered-down version that had led to him being in and out of the Australian side across all three formats.

A strong start to the Australian domestic season led to him being given the nod for the first Test at the Gabba. In the space of four and a bit hours, Head turned his career trajectory, blasting 152 at better than a run a ball, catapulting the Aussies to an unassailable position.

Head was playing for the Strikers and Sussex in 2020/21. Picture: Brad Fleet

“I had clarity on how I wanted to do it. That was never ever guaranteed to have success. I was very fortunate, very lucky that was able to pay off on the first day. I guess I tried to make that shift. I’d obviously done it a bit in the domestic season leading up to that. But Test cricket is a different kettle of fish,” Head said.

“It quite easily could have been one more series and back to South Australia. So I understood that, I was fine with that. If it was 25 Tests and done, at least I gave it a crack. Very pleased it worked that day, and very pleased with how consistent I’ve been. Playing this role that I’ve played is not going to always come with as consistent as I want it to be. But in the same breath I want to pride myself on my consistency, I want to pride myself on being able to go out and bat and my teammates knowing what they’re going to expect.”

There have been setbacks since then, including his infamous omission for the first Test on the 2023 tour of India.

But by and large, Head has ascended to three-format superstar. A destructive force against red, pink and white balls, Head becomes the first South Australian to claim Australian cricket’s highest men’s individual honour on the back of a dominant 2024.

He posted three Test tons and a one-day international century across the qualification period, as well four Twenty20 international half-centuries.

The runs have rolled on for Head over the summer. Picture: DAVID GRAY / AFP

After years of being in and out across the various national teams, he is now a leader and a lock in the various formats.

“I couldn’t really bed down being in multi-format teams. I think the last couple of years have been very pleasing, the fact that I’ve been able to be in all three formats, play well, be consistent but also be durable enough to get through those,” Head said.

While Head was first appointed vice-captain of the Test side just three months after his debut, having also skippered South Australia at only 21, it was only last year that he captained Australia for the first time, filling in for Mitch Marsh in a T20 in England.

But there do not appear to be any long-term ambitions to lead the side.

“I’m happy to step in. I probably don’t see it as a long-term thing. Me and Pat (Cummins) are the same age, Pat’s doing a wonderful job.”

While the manic nature of the cricket calendar means Head and his Test teammates weren’t in Melbourne for the Australian Cricket Awards, he could at least celebrate with wife Jess and their two children, who are in Sri Lanka to accompany Head during the tour.

Originally published as From the scrap heap to the top: Travis Head’s road to AB Medal