Head thriving on extra responsibilities

Dec 5, 2016 - 9:25 PM In South Australian cricket's darkest hour Travis Head accepted a role that belied his first-class experience.

During one of the most tumultuous times in SA's proud history, Head was handed the captaincy at 21.

But the left-handed batsmen not only grew into the position of responsibility, he thrived.

Head is on the cusp of consolidating his place in the national side with his place in the Australian one-day middle order strengthening with each innings.

A seat on the Test tour of India beckons if he continues to impress this summer.

In early 2015, three months after the death of Phillip Hughes, Head was announced as South Australian captain.

The next summer Head scored his maiden Sheffield Shield century and he led them to their first final in more than 20 years while being named the competition's best player.

"It's a great honour to captain your state," Head said.

"In a pretty tough position where we were at that stage. We'd gone through some stuff personally and as a team.

"To come in - and I'm not taking all the credit, the whole squad has been fantastic and it's quite an easy group to lead - the steps we've taken forward in the last 18 months have been fantastic.

"It's definitely been a change in my career and I'm very fortunate."

Head, 22, last month made a century on the second anniversary of Hughes' death - scoring 130 against Victoria.

He is continuing to evolve and has worked hard to develop his part-time offspin, taking seven wickets in his last four Shield games.

Head's potential earned him a call-up to the Australian Twenty20 and ODI sides earlier in the year.

In his most important international innings so far, Head posted his second ODI half century when he and Steve Smith saved Australia against New Zealand at the SCG on Sunday.

In his first 13 ODI games he has made several starts but never really gone on with the job.

It's this facet of his game that Head describes as the next frontier for his development.

Source: AAP