Travis Head’s ODI, T20I strike-rates are through the roof; but is the S.R. head-rush dragging down his Test average?

A Test to ODI-T20I rekindling like Travis Head is the work of a marauding and instinctive outlier. None have aced a transition quite like the Aussie has this decade.

Head’s limited-overs international career was cast into the wilderness after two fledgling years between 2016 and mid-2018. He was not jettisoned altogether. Head made his Test debut against Pakistan in December 2018. Despite a duck in his maiden innings, Head was earmarked for a long rope in whites.

Five years later, the 30-year-old is Australia’s fourth-most successful World Test Championship batter with 2510 runs and six centuries, playing predominantly in the middle-order.

A white-ball return was inevitable but Head’s mind-spinning numbers as an opener were barely prophesied. Head went 52 T20Is before his return, the longest gap between two appearances for an Australian batter. Over the last week, Head smoked more than 25 runs in a T20I over twice against contrasting attacks in Scotland and England.

The hard-hitting blade has finally begun to reflect in the shortest format. On Wednesday night in Southampton, Head plundered England seamer Sam Curran for 30 runs in an over, the joint-highest by an individual for Australia.

A telling 20

Head’s last 20 innings in each format paint the story of his white-ball upsurge and a partial red-ball dip, probably stemming from the unfiltered aggression. His Test strike rate has moved into the 70s across the last 20 innings with the career SR going up to its highest at 64.71. However, Head’s average has taken a hit in this period – from 46.57 in his first 61 innings to 28.25 since – bringing the overalls down to 41.75.

His current T20I average (33.18) and strike rate (159.22) are at an all-time high. His ODI average-strike rate (42.73 and 102.61) splits were at their peak following the 120-ball 137 in the World Cup final against India in Ahmedabad last November.

In his first ODI after four years in 2022, Head cracked his second ton, a 72-ball 101 against Pakistan in Lahore. Head only played a solitary T20I that year before making a full-fledged return in 2023. Only a handful have matched up to Head’s frenetic scoring rates since.

From March 29, 2022, Head has racked up 1004 runs in 20 ODIs as an opener. 13 players have crossed the mark in the period, but only three have managed to acquire a 50-plus average and 100-plus strike rate – India’s Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill being the other two. But none have matched up to Head’s strike rate – a whopping 126.92 places him atop all the openers who have tallied at least 500 runs in the period.

Last week, the dashing southpaw came close to recording the fastest T20I hundred against Scotland in Edinburgh before he fell on 80 off a mere 25 deliveries. Head cantered to fifty in 17 balls, the joint-quickest by an Australian alongside Marcus Stoinis.

His T20I recalibration began in August 2023 on the road to the 2024 T20 World Cup in the Americas. The South Australian phenom has plundered 717 runs in 20 innings with a 175.73 strike rate – the best among all batters with a minimum of 500 runs.

The devastation has extended to T20 leagues too in the period, with none amassing as many runs as him with a strike rate above 181 over the last year. It was not bewildering then to witness the Sunrisers Hyderabad batter decimate bowling line-ups in the IPL earlier this year, scoring 567 runs at a 191.55 strike rate – an unprecedented high for anybody who has passed the 550-run mark across 17 seasons.

Head is not technical perfection but a modern flagbearer of maximising limitations at the highest level with immense self-belief. Tons culminating with ICC Test and ODI title triumphs have already been ticked. The T20I cabinet has yet to witness a century and a global title.

Head missed the cut for the 2021 T20 World Cup when Australia lifted their maiden crown. Perhaps, the 2026 edition in India and Sri Lanka offers the perfect opportunity to complete cricket’s greatest treble. By which time, the Aussie freak of nature would have advanced batting pyrotechnics to new uncharted territories.

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