Last year’s second Test against Sri Lanka in Galle, contested amid nationwide anti-government protests, was an unforgettable spectacle for those in attendance — but for Travis Head, it marked a low point in his professional career.
After watching teammates Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne peel off centuries on day one, the left-hander misjudged a length delivery from Sri Lankan debutant Prabath Jayasuriya that held its line and flicked the top of off stump.
Head spun around and glared down at the pegs, genuinely baffled at how the ball had evaded his defences. The South Australian departed for 12, his highest score of the series.
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Amazon documentary series The Test captured the moment Head returned to the sheds and violently threw his bat across the room, pinging off the lockers onto the floor. Seething, he took off his gloves and arm guard before unleashing an ear-piercing scream in the adjacent room.
Head’s confronting blow-up came towards the back end of a disappointing winter campaign in the subcontinent, where he averaged 15.16 across five Tests in Pakistan and Sri Lanka. His susceptibility to the turning ball was cause for concern — of his six dismissals, he fell victim to spin five times, departing for less than 25 on each occasion.
After the Warne-Muralitharan Trophy, some pundits questioned whether national selectors should draw a red line through Head’s name for future Test tours of Asia.
Eight months later, Head returns to the subcontinent seeking redemption in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, a gruelling four-Test series against cricket powerhouse India in their own backyard.
The 29-year-old, who currently has a strike rate of 47.65 in Asia, has vowed to abandon the defensive mentality that plagued him last year; rather than rely on conservatism on India’s spinning wickets, he intends to switch to white-ball mode when the situation calls for a counterattacking cameo.
“In one-day cricket, I’ve had good success in Pakistan and Sri Lanka. You split the series up and my white-ball was really good, so maybe being a little bit more positive in red-ball cricket,” Head told foxsports.com.au.
“Being slightly more positive makes my defence a lot better.
“I was probably not quite as aggressive as I would have liked to be against spin in those series away … other than that, I think I worked really hard and had a sound game plan.”
Head currently averages 57.40 with the bat in home Tests, but that number dips considerably to 21.30 when he travels to Asia, the third-lowest figure for an Australian batter in history.
Nearly five years after making his debut in the United Arab Emirates, he’s yet to muster a Test century on foreign soil, which he’s determined to rectify over the coming six months.
Unfazed by the statistics, he implores his critics to wait until after the upcoming Ashes series before branding him a “flat-track bully”.
“The stats are slightly skewed at the minute,” Head asserted.
“I’ve got four Tests in India and hopefully six Tests in England with the World Test Championship. We’ll make a judgment at the end of that.
“I’m accountable for that, and whatever it will be, it will be.”
Head is coming off a record-breaking home campaign with the bat, where he became the first Australian to finish a Test summer with 500+ runs and a strike rate of 95+.
After embarrassing the West Indies’ understrength bowling attack in Adelaide, Head defied a terrifying green seamer in Brisbane by smacking an entertaining 92 against South Africa — he was named Player of the Match for both performances.
The swashbuckling left-hander was batting at a completely different tempo to his teammates; his strike rate of 95.10 across the five home Tests was unrivalled, quickly drawing comparisons to Australian legend Adam Gilchrist, one of his childhood heroes, and England’s recent “BazBall” revolution.
“It’s something that’s been highly talked about, but not something that I’ve tried to chase,” Head explained.
“Just seeing the situation, the way they were bowling, it comes very natural.
“I’ve batted on some really nice wickets and behind some really good batters.
“The one thing I always wanted to be is consistent, and I guess the role and the way I’ve been playing, it’s sometimes hard to be consistently doing that. There’s going to be moments where it doesn’t look as good as it could be, but I’m very comfortable with that fact.
“The way that Test cricket’s going and the wickets that we’re playing on, there’s a few teams that are taking that approach or have someone that can put their foot down.”
Head has benefited from the “own your space” team mentality endorsed by national coach Andrew McDonald and Test captain Pat Cummins, where players are encouraged to bat with freedom and embrace their unique brand of cricket.
Cummins has delivered a simple message to Head ahead of the India series — ignore the pundits and trust your methods.
“Trav just shows time and time again that he finds a way to score runs, whether it’s a seaming green top, like at Hobart last year, where no one else could score a run,” Cummins told foxsports.com.au.
“When a batter’s got that intent towards you, it’s really hard to be accurate. Your margin of error is so small.
“He can turn the game around in a matter of an hour. At times, even more so in India, that’s going to be really important. It might not be a hundred, but a really important 30 or 40 could be just as valuable.”
The next five weeks could prove career-defining for Head; if he comes close to replicating what he achieved against the West Indies and South Africa, Australia’s chances of winning back the Border-Gavaskar Trophy receive a massive boost.
But if he can’t conquer his subcontinent demons in India, national selectors may be tempted to look elsewhere when Australia tours Sri Lanka in 2025.
The first Test between India and Australia gets underway at Nagpur’s Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium on Thursday, with the first ball scheduled for 3pm AEDT.