To Get To 100 In Ashes Was A 'Crazy Moment', Says Travis Head

Australia left-handed batter Travis Head described his moment of reaching a century in the first Ashes Test at Brisbane 'a crazy moment'. In his whirlwind knock of 152 off just 148 balls, Head smashed 14 boundaries and four sixes while slamming England bowlers all around the park.

His knock eventually propelled Australia to win by nine wickets and set the base for a 4-0 Ashes win. "I said to (Mitchell Starc) Starcy 'what the hell just happened?'. I never in my wildest dreams felt like I was going to walk out and get 100 in a session. For the first 15 balls I didn't know where my next 10 runs were coming from," said Head in a chat with SEN SA Breakfast show.

"The wicket did have a bit in it, and it was a tricky little phase, but I was lucky enough to have Alex Carey at the other end and we've batted heaps together. Those runs to get to 100, it was just a crazy moment… you can see from the celebration, the emotion that I couldn't quite believe what was going on," added Head.

Despite missing the fourth Test due to being positive for COVID-19, Head was named 'Player of the Series' for scoring 357 runs at an average of 59.5 with a strike rate of 86.02, including two centuries and a half-century.

Bagging the Compton-Miller medal led to him rising to a career-best number five in the ICC Test Rankings for batters, tied with India opener Rohit Sharma. Head explained his haste in getting runs during the Ashes.

"This series was just a different kettle of fish. I know Joe Root talked about leaving the ball in Australia and how leaving the ball is important. Going into the fifth Test, our batting coach got the stats up about how important it is.

"Marnus had left the ball 180 times in the series, and Zak Crawley who played really well in Sydney left it 38 per cent of the time. I didn't really think about who would be at the bottom… I'd left it 22 times for the series, or roughly 10 per cent. The boys found it funny."

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"All the teams attack my stumps, and I (also) walk across my stumps so I'm hitting balls on fourth or fifth stump. I give myself a lot of scoring opportunities with my technique, and I like hitting the ball, I like feeling bat on ball. But if the opportunity arose where I had to dig in, I feel in Melbourne I played really well on a challenging wicket. I got 27 or 28 and I felt like I was really in, my technique held up," concluded Head.