FEW cricketers manage to capture the imagination of the Australian public quite like a moustachioed larrikin that plays the game with gumption.
For many growing up it was the great David Boon, or casting minds back even further it was tearaway quick Dennis Lillee.
In many ways, Travis Head is more understated than both of those pillars of Australian cricket – until he picks up a bat, at least.
His recent form has been nothing short of mesmerising, taking on the touring Indian side with gusto and fearlessness on his way to two hundreds in as many test, plus a swashbuckling 89 in Perth.
There is a lot to be said about the context of these innings, with those above him in the order playing a vital role in setting a platform for Head to bat with relative freedom.
It must also be noted that the Indian attack is the cricket equivalent of dessert at Christmas time – Bumrah is the pavlova and the rest are fruit cakes and rockmelon.
With all that in mind, the fact of the matter is the nation can, potentially and probably for the first time in history, say that the first name on the Australian men’s team sheet is a bloke from South Gawler.
The north has largely become accustomed to feats of sporting excellence from its alumni, particularly with a number of exponents of the beautiful game going on to great things.
That is without mentioning the exploits of Darcie Brown, who continues to go from strength to strength in her young, yet already glittering, career.
However, the importance to the Australian cricket orbit of Travis Head at the moment is impossible to understate.
As Test cricket continues to wane across the globe, with every country bar the big three playing fewer matches than ever before, it stands to reason that the light is flickering on the format as a whole.
The majority of Aussies only care about the cricket when it is on in our preferred timeslot for about two months of the year.
For the future of the game in this country, cricket needs Travis Head, Australia’s heroic everyman, in order to remain relevant.
Good on you Trav, your hometown is proud.
