by BIG BASH LEAGUE, 2024-25
Travis Head has signed a one-year contract with the Adelaide Strikers © Getty
Senior T20I batsman Travis Head has signed a new one-year contract with the Adelaide Strikers. Due to national commitments, the left-hander was not available for the entire 2023/24 season and the extent of his use for the coming season has not yet been determined.
Australia have a high-profile five-match home Test series against India and although the Strikers have three games left after that series, the availability of Australia’s national team players is unknown given their upcoming tour of Sri Lanka in February.
Head’s retention adds to the Strikers’ batting line-up, which already boasts firepower with Matt Short, Chris Lynn and Alex Carey alongside England’s Ollie Pope. Head’s signing completes the Strikers’ squad as the South Australian franchise builds on a strong BBL season.
“I’m delighted to be signing with the Strikers for another year and can’t wait to get back into the group under our new coach Tim Paine,” said Head. “I love playing blue every chance I get and I’m looking forward to helping the boys go one step further after their fantastic run to the final last season last summer.”
Since winning the BBL title in 2017/18, they qualified for the playoffs in four of the next six seasons, but failed to make it to the final after that. Former Australian captain Paine, now head coach of the Strikers men’s team, expressed optimism about Head’s whereabouts.
“We know ‘Trav’ has a hectic international schedule, but we also know how much he loves getting back in the blue whenever he gets the chance,” Paine said. “He has been in amazing form across all formats over the last year or more, as we saw in the recent ODI against England with his brilliant 154 and 129 balls.”
It has been a phenomenal 2024 for Head so far with 539 runs from 15 innings and an astonishing strike rate of 178.47 with four fifties. It is the second year in a row that Head has managed to score over 175 points, but unlike last year, 2024 saw Head close the gap between extreme aggressiveness and consistency, making a devastating impact at the top of the rankings for Australia exercise.
The most recent example of this was during Australia’s tour of Scotland and England, where the left-hander was unstoppable, especially in the power play.
© Cricbuzz
