Travis Head Calls Perth Victory One of His Greatest Career Highlights

Travis Head produced a scintillating performance in the first test of the Ashes series. He scored a brilliant century at a rapid pace that left England searching for answers. Due to this, Australia completed the chase of 205 runs briskly, ending the Perth in just two days. It was a brutal display of batting that was applauded not just by the Australian team, but by the English captain as well.

Due to Usman Khawaja’s sudden injury, Travis Head was asked to open the batting for Australia in the second innings. The left-handed batter came up with a performance that will be remembered for years. He scored a quick century off 69 balls, giving the England team a crushing defeat at Perth.

Speaking after the match, Travis Head admitted that his preparation before the start of the series was not ideal. His recent performances were certainly not up to the mark, however, he kept following the right process.

"Probably not the prep that I would have liked going into the test, but the process was right, the method was right. I did a lot of training. I trained all four days here, which is unheard of for me. I just found a little bit of rhythm.” said Travis Head while speaking to the media.

He further said that keeping belief in yourself is important in cricket. It doesn’t matter how long your gap in test cricket is, if you follow the right process, you will always get results.

"I'm never going to doubt my own ability, but I think when you have a big gap in Test cricket and you're lying in bed a couple of nights before, you're like, can I do it? Can you still produce it? Can you, as a cricketer each year, keep rolling out good scores in big moments? It's not going to get much bigger than this.” said Travis Head.

He then described his satisfaction after playing a match-winning knock against England. He is happy to score such a big amount of runs at the start of the series, which has given Australia an early lead of 1-0.

"I think your mind just takes you to, am I good enough to still do it against the absolute best? I'm pleased to slap around a little bit today and get a score and get into the series and to be 1-0 up is a great way to contribute. But I wasn't worried too much." said Travis Head.

When asked whether he felt any nervousness while opening the batting in the second innings, Head said that he was eager to take on the challenge without thinking too much. He felt it was the right moment for him to make an impact, as Australia needed a strong start in the chase.

"I was pretty keen to do it. Just felt like the moment was right. I felt like if I could get away, obviously the plans that they've had over the years with me, with short-pitch bowling where they've come to me, I thought that if I could get away with a new ball, [that could] probably take a little bit of sting out of it.” said Travis Head.

“It could help Weatherald at the other end…I feel like when we stack Marnus and Smudge at three and four, it just feels right. So nice that I could move up.” added Travis Head.

Smith Applauds Phenomenal Travis Head

The stand-in captain of Australia, Steve Smith, also applauded the breathtaking innings of Travis Head at the post-match presentation. He said Head was happy to open the batting when Usman Khawaja was held back due to injury. He applauded the attitude of Head, saying that the batter was eager to do it in his own way.

"He played some outrageous shots, even when he shanked it he got it in the gaps. One of those days when you're on, you're on and you make the most of it and he got us home. We probably did quite like how it [the top order] worked in the first innings and Travis was like 'I want to do it' and I was like 'go for your life'…that was just incredible to witness.

He further added that Head’s batting performance was simply phenomenal, something he usually does not see in test cricket.

"It's right up there with knocks I've seen from anyone. Fourth innings, albeit day two, the wicket was probably almost at its best to bat at the end there, but the way he went about his business, played some really nice shots early, and when they went short he played the way he wanted to and was kind of toying with them I suppose." concluded Steve Smith.