Travis Head

A talented, aggressive left-hand batter earmarked for big things at a young age, Travis Head earned his first call-up to Australia's squad at the age of 22 for a series of T20Is against India in early 2016 and it was initially the white-ball game where he established himself before Test cricket took over following a debut in 2018.

He had made his Sheffield Shield debut at the age of 18 in the 2011-12 season and over the next few summers he established his place in the South Australia batting line-up and was a consistent contributor, though a maiden century proved elusive despite his regular scores in the nineties. In February 2015, Head was named captain of the Redbacks and at 21 became the state's youngest captain of all time. He had been viewed as a future leader ever since he captained South Australia to the Under-19 National Championship title in 2012-13 and was named Player of the Championship. As captain of South Australia he showed maturity beyond his years, and in 2015-16 steered them to their first Sheffield Shield final in 20 years, along the way scoring 721 runs himself at an average of 36.05.

In 2018 he earned his first Test call-up of part of a new look Australia side which faced Pakistan in the UAE. He played 16 consecutive Tests, scoring a maiden hundred against Sri Lanka in Canberra, before missing the final match of the Ashes series but returned for the home season and notched a second ton in the Boxing Day Test against New Zealand.

He was dropped again midway through the 2020-21 series against India but remained prolific at domestic level. The following season he was preferred ahead of Usman Khawaja for the final middle-order spot and produced a thrilling, match-defining 85-ball century which came within a session. Another blistering hundred followed in the final game in Hobart to secure the Compton-Miller medal as Player of the Series despite missing the Sydney Test with Covid.
ESPNcricinfo staff