Head wins fans as well as AB Medal by simply being himself

By his own admission, in his early iteration as an international cricketer Travis Head enjoyed the social side of the annual Australian Cricket Awards safe in the knowledge he was unlikely to be called upon to accept a gong.

Despite being installed as South Australia captain at age 21 in 2015 and elevated to the national ODI and T20I teams the following year, Head had never figured among the prizes handed out at the game's night of nights.

But like many things in the knockabout left-hander's life, that changed dramatically after he sunk to a low ebb in 2021 when he lost his Cricket Australia contract and endured a forgettable stint with English county Sussex as he looked to resurrect his game.

Within months of returning home early from the UK sojourn, mainly to serve out the then-mandatory Covid quarantine protocols before the start of a make-or-break Australia summer, Head became a fixture as well as a fan favourite in Australian cricket.

Not only was he named 2022 State Player of the Year for his efforts with SA, he also scored the prestigious Men's Test Player of the Year prize having starred in the 2021-22 home Ashes campaign after winning back his Test place.

Three years on, Head has become such a key figure across all three formats of the game he has now earned his first Allan Border Medal as the pre-eminent performer for the men's set-up.

And while he couldn't accept the accolade in person at tonight's presentation due to his ongoing Test commitments in Sri Lanka, he concedes it was far more his style to receive it while wearing polo shirt and shorts at the team's beachside hotel in Galle.

"It's nice to get as an individual award," Head said upon joining predecessors and contemporaries the likes of Steve Waugh, Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke, David Warner, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc and Mitch Marsh as a Border Medallist.

"But as a team we've done an exceptional job, and as I've said for a while that's the only thing that concerns me.

"It will be nice to look back in my career, something to reflect on."

Head's transformation from raw talent with flashes of brilliance to consistent match-winner in red and white-ball internationals began in that barren year of 2021 after he received a belated message he had missed out on a CA contract.

In the search for answers that might see him resurrect his game, Head signed with Sussex but in his own words "stunk it up" there with 183 runs from 11 innings, one of which was a final knock where he decided to simply slog and pocketed 49 from 46 balls.

It was after that innings he vowed to back his instincts and play his shots without worrying too much about the career implications that approach might carry.

His first Sheffield Shield outing for SA the next summer brought 163 against Western Australia in Adelaide, followed by 101 against Queensland a fortnight before the opening Ashes Test at the Gabba.

That campaign heralded a new era for the men's team, with George Bailey taking over from Trevor Hohns as national selection panel chair and Pat Cummins inheriting the Test captaincy when Tim Paine stood down.

And after Bailey noted Head's recall to the Test outfit for the first time since the previous Australia summer was due to his "ability to score quickly", the left-hander duly plundered 152 from 148 balls in Brisbane to launch his team's Ashes defence.

"Coming home (from Sussex) and realising I needed to pull my finger out to be a chance to get back to Brisbane in the first Test, it fell into place," Head said after receiving his Border Medal in Galle from men's team coach Andrew McDonald today.

"I played well in a couple of games leading up to that series, was able to get myself into the squad and that’s sometimes half the battle.

"Then once I was there and found out I was playing, it was just 'alright, let's have a crack at it and see how it goes'.

"It quite easily could have been one more series, then back to South Australia.

"I understood that, and I was fine with that – if it was 25 Tests and done, at least I gave it a crack.

"So I'm very pleased that it worked that day, and then very pleased with how consistent I've been at it.

"There's a lot of moments throughout period where it could have gone either way."

Head's evolution as a character has been almost as compelling as his development as an all-format batter who, in addition to his Test heroics during the recent India series at home, was Australia's leading run-scorer at last year's T20 World Cup in the Caribbean.

His dressing room celebration of Australia's ODI World Cup triumph in India in 2023 – where he was player of the match in the final – had also installed him as an instant cult figure.

And the 31-year-old concedes the fact he was charged with the responsibility of state captaincy at an age when most other emerging players are sowing a few oats has probably meant he's revisiting his youth now he's more confident and comfortable.

"I might have grown up too early, so I might be winding the clock back in the last few years," Head said of his public persona that suggests he enjoys a celebration as much as he does a slap over midwicket.

"Definitely I'm more relaxed, and I've been more me.

"I've spoken a lot about being a young captain and wanting to impress and earn respect within the group and, doing that at a young age, I was still myself but probably was withdrawn and always had a fear of missing out.

"I just didn't know where I stood and wanted everyone to like me.

"In the last three or four years, I understand that's not going to be the case.

"I'm not going to please everyone, I'm not going to keep everyone happy but it's also made me who I am and I've definitely enjoyed myself over the last three or four years in this cricket team.

"One thing I've been able to bring into the team is, I hope, everyone has a laugh every now and then and enjoys my company.

"They're not always going to, I know that but I think I'm just more relaxed over the last three or four years, that's transpired into my game and that's transpired into to my family life as well.

"A growing family (with wife Jess and children Milla and Harrison) has been amazing and, in the same breath, playing really good cricket.

"So work's good and family is good – it's a nice place to be."

Having started his journey in international cricket as a stroke-player seemingly earmarked for white-ball success, only to lose his place in Australia's limited-overs teams and instead find his feet in the Test game, Head is a poster-boy for contradiction.

An old-fashioned cricketer who relies on eye and timing in preference to interminable net sessions and time in the gym, he has also come to embody the modern game as he shifts seamlessly between five-day, 50-over and T20 competitions.

But as he learned at the end of the recent Border-Gavaskar Trophy series when he felt fully "cooked" after a year of almost non-stop cricket, he understands the need to balance his team-first ethos against family time away from the sport.

"I think the last couple years I've been very pleased with the fact I've been able to be in all three formats and play well, and be consistent," said Head who identified his 140 against India in front of family and friends at Adelaide Oval as the highlight of his memorable 2024.

"It is obviously bloody tough doing it with a young family as well, but I'm very pleased I've been durable enough to get through being a multi-format player because it's something I want to do.

"I don't want to miss anything for Australia, so other things (such as franchise cricket beyond the BBL and IPL) will have to give way.

"I feel like as a cricketer what you're looking for is consistency on and off the field, as a person and the way you play the game.

"I think over the last three or four years I've been that."

As a crucial component of Australia's Test and limited-overs teams, a charismatic character who draws fans to his exhilarating batting and his exuberant nature, and now as an Allan Border Medallist, Head is becoming more comfortable in the limelight.

He's also learning that, by not trying to please everyone and simply being himself, he's gaining growing approval among the global cricket community.

"Yeah, I'm turning a few," he said today, with the broad grin that's as much a trademark as his flashing blade.