Young gun Travis ahead of his time

The blazing fulfilment of a talent that has resided within Travis Head since his teenage years might have taken many cricket watchers by surprise, but national selection chair Rod Marsh asserts he is not among them.

Marsh today named Head, who turned 22 just days after Christmas, as one of two uncapped players in a 17-man squad for the three-match KFC T20 International series against India that begins at Adelaide Oval next week.

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But while Head most volubly announced himself as a batting force through the remarkable century he clubbed for the Adelaide Strikers against the Sydney Sixers on New Year’s Eve, Marsh has known for years what only a close coterie of the game’s aficionados have understood.

Watch: Head's New Year's Eve miracle

That the left-hander who hails from the same Adelaide northern suburbs zone that yielded Australia coach Darren Lehmann and attended the same secondary school as former fast bowler Ryan Harris has the necessary hybrid of mettle and mercurial to follow both into the international arena.

“He’s been on the radar for a few years,” Marsh said today when announcing a squad that contains fellow stars of BBL|05 Chris Lynn (Brisbane Heat), who had two T20 internationals to his name, and Andrew Tye (Perth Scorchers) who is also in line for an international debut.

“Even when (Marsh’s predecessor as chair) John Inverarity was a national selector, John saw him get a brilliant 90 against Mitchell Johnson in Perth and he put a tick against his name then.

“He said 'this kid can play', and I’ve seen quite a lot of him being based in Adelaide.

“I’ve seen some terrific innings but he’s just starting to realise his potential.”

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Indeed, there were two occasions when the former Australia Under-19 captain took the fight to Johnson when the former Test spearhead was making a rare appearances for the Alcohol. Think Again Western Warriors.

The first came in 2012 when Head was aged 18 and found himself pitted against an international-strength attack of Johnson, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Michael Hogan and Mitchell Marsh on a typical WACA pitch in only his third Sheffield Shield outing for South Australia.

Watch: Head blasts crucial fifty

He would likely have become the youngest SA player to score a century since Tony Handrickan more than 35 years earlier had Johnson not scythed through the bottom half of the West End Redbacks’ innings to leave the teenager unbeaten on 95.

A year later at the same venue and still in search of that breakthrough first-class century, Head fell to Johnson for 92 in the second innings of a match where no other SA batsmen (including the late Phillip Hughes) reached 60 in either dig.

“Yeah, I got a couple of 90s in a row,” Head said today as he reflected on an inability to reach a century in first-class company that haunted him until his breakthrough 113 against a Johnson-less WA at Adelaide Oval last October, by which stage he had been installed as SA skipper.

“Me and Mitch had good battles – I keep getting him and Coults (Coulter-Nile) at the WACA each year early on (in the summer) and it was good fun.

“I enjoy playing against them boys, I really got tested and he (Johnson) sorted me out a few times but it’s the enjoyment of playing against the best players.”

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While it was his pre-New-Year-fireworks pyrotechnics that made many aware of his pure hitting ability, Head had served notice that this might be his breakthrough summer in his maiden Matador One-Day Cup appearance as Redbacks captain last October.

Elevated to the role in an upheaval at Adelaide Oval late last summer that saw the hard-nosed coach-captain partnership of Darren Berry and Johan Botha dissolved and former SA captain Jamie Siddons return as coach, Head blasted 202 from 120 balls in his team’s first 50-over match.

Once more against Western Australia, at Sydney’s Hurstville Oval.

But consistency continued to elude the cricket-obsessed youngster who had captained SA at junior level and led them to their first national under-19 title of the 21st Century three years ago.

Even though SA reached the final of the Matador Cup, he failed to reach 40 in the six innings that followed his double-century (only the second to be posted in Australia’s domestic 50-over competition) and it is that flaw he has sought to address in the BBL.

“I still think I’ve got some (improvement) left in the tank,” Head said today as he prepared for the top-of-the-table Adelaide Strikers’ final BBL preliminary match before they host a sold-out semi-final at Adelaide Oval on Thursday evening.

“I think I’ve been a little bit inconsistent this (Sheffield) Shield season so I’m looking to the second half of that to get underway and get some good runs on the board.

“I know we’ve got a lot of games in Adelaide.

“I’ve worked really hard in the off-season and taking the captaincy over and having new leadership (responsibilities) I guess that’s lifted me a little bit in the way that I’ve been playing my cricket.”

Watch: Head's 53-ball ton

Now that upsurge has been recognised by Marsh and his national selection panel that includes Lehmann.

But while he needs just a couple of runs against the Melbourne Renegades this evening to overtake Sydney Thunder veteran Mike Hussey as the second-highest runs scorer of BBL|05 thus far, Head recognises he is yet to arrive at the front of the queue should a vacancy arise for Australia’s 15-man World T20 squad.

Despite posting his career-high first-class, 50-over and T20 scores within the past three months, Head believes there is a young, uncapped batsman in even rarer form who deserves to be elevated – 25-year-old Queenslander Lynn, who leads the BBL|05 batting aggregate.

“There’s so many batters (in contention for the World T20 squad), I’ve been looking at the list before and the (Strikers) boys have been chatting about it,” Head said today.

“It’s hard to see myself getting in there, I guess just keep getting runs and try to put pressure on.

“But Lynney’s in a different world at the minute, he’ hitting everything out of the ground and it’s good to see him get an opportunity.

“I get along with him really well so it’s fantastic see him going so well.”

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