Travis Head

Travis Michael Head (born 29 December 1993) is an Australian international cricketer.

He is contracted to South Australia and the Adelaide Strikers for domestic matches, as well as the team Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

He is an aggressive left-handed batsman who usually opens in limited overs and in the middle-order in Tests.

He is also a part-time right arm off-spin bowler.

Head had an early start to his career, making his first-class debut at the age of 18 and representing Australia in the 2012 Under-19 Cricket World Cup.

After making his name playing grade cricket for Tea Tree Gully Cricket Club, Head made his first-class cricket debut for South Australia in the Sheffield Shield at the age of 18 in early 2012.

He made a promising start to his career with three matches for South Australia, scoring his maiden half-century in his second match and falling short of scoring his maiden century in his third match with 90 runs against Tasmania.

He was rewarded at the end of the season with a rookie contract with South Australia.

Head went on to play 18 under-19 One Day International (ODI) matches for the Australian national team, including at the 2012 Under-19 Cricket World Cup.

He impressed with both bat and ball during the tournament, scoring 87 off 42 balls against Scotland and taking three wickets against Bangladesh in the quarter-final.

He showed leadership qualities when he captained South Australia to victory in the 2012–13 National Under-19 Championships, being named Player of the Championship for the second consecutive year.

Head remained a regular selection for the 2012–13 season, usually batting in the middle order.

He came close to scoring his maiden century with 95 against Western Australia.

Though he was not dismissed, he ran out of batting partners and was stranded at the crease five runs short of the milestone.

He subsequently played a single Twenty20 game for the Adelaide Strikers in the Big Bash League, replacing the injured Kieron Pollard in the team.

After his score of 90 in his debut season and his unbeaten 95 against Western Australia in 2012, he made it to the nineties three times in the 2013–14 Sheffield Shield season, against Western Australia twice more and once against Tasmania with scores of 92, 98 and 98 respectively.

Shortly after South Australia's Shield win against Victoria in January 2013, he was hit by a car outside a hotel in Adelaide, receiving injuries to his head and back, but he made a full recovery and was able to return for South Australia's next match.

Head was one of six young Australian players to be part of the inaugural Ageas Bowl International Cricket Academy during the 2013 season, training at the ground's facilities.

In the early part of Head's career, he struggled to reach his maiden first-class century, instead finishing with scores in the nineties on multiple occasions.

Despite this he was able to score a List A century for the National Performance Squad against South Africa A in July 2014.

He kept his place in South Australia's Sheffield Shield side consistently and became the team's captain in 2015.

Hailing from Craigmore in the northern suburbs of Adelaide, Head played at underage levels for the Craigmore Cricket Club and Trinity College, Head represented South Australia at both under-17 and under-19 level, making his debut in the National Under-19 Championships at the age of 17.

In February 2015, Head was named to replace Johan Botha as the captain of South Australia, though Botha stayed with the team for the rest of the season to assist with the transition.

At the age of 21 he was the youngest captain of the South Australian side in their 122-year first-class history.

As captain his fortunes continued to improve in the 2015–16 season as he shone in all three formats of the game.

At the beginning of the season he became the third Australian in history to score a double century in a List A match with 202 runs from 120 balls.

In doing so he helped South Australia to chase down the large target of 351 with three overs to spare.

He also finally scored his maiden first-class century, after 17 scores of 50 or more, in a Sheffield Shield match against Western Australia to lead South Australia to a thrilling one-wicket win.

On New Year's Eve he scored his maiden Twenty20 century against the Sydney Sixers, the first century ever scored for the Strikers.

With three overs left in the match, the Strikers needed 51 runs to win and Head needed 55 runs to score his century.

Head then scored 56 runs in the final three overs to score his century and win the match with three balls to spare, hitting Sean Abbott for three consecutive sixes in the last over.

His final score was 101 runs off 53 balls with 9 sixes and 4 fours.

Head's form was rewarded by national selectors when he was included in Australia's squad for a series of Twenty20 Internationals against India.

He made his international debut during the series on Australia Day at his home ground, the Adelaide Oval.

After the series he returned to the Sheffield Shield, scoring two more centuries, one against Western Australia to secure another one-wicket win and the other against Tasmania, scoring a career-best 192 to help give South Australia an innings victory in just two days.

He was formerly a co vice-captain of the Australian national team in Tests from January 2019 to November 2020 but then renamed again as co vice-captain alongside Steve Smith at the beginning of the 2023 series against Pakistan.

Head was a key member of the Australian team that won the 2023 ICC World Test Championship final, as he was the Player of the Match with his innings of 163 runs.

In the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup final, Head led Australia to victory over India with an impressive 137 off 120 balls.

He also became the second player ever to score a century when batting second in a World Cup final.

Head also became the first player to score centuries in 2 ICC tournament finals in a same calendar year.