Run machine Head convincingly wins first Border medal

Sheer weight of runs was the key as Travis Head became the first South Australian to win the Allan Border Medal.

Currently playing on the Test tour of Sri Lanka, Head accepted the prestigious award as the best Australian men’s cricketer at the Australian team’s beachside hotel in Galle.

That’s some 8,000km away from the awards ceremony on Monday night at Melbourne’s Crown Casino.

The 31-year-old – who also claimed the one-day international award for the first time – had been the favourite to claim the AB Medal for the first time.

Test and One Day International captain Pat Cummins appeared his closest competition, having been named skipper of the ICC’s Test team of the year for 2024.

But Head was clearly Australia’s form batter of the past 12 months with 1427 runs across the three formats at an average of 42.24.

Steve Smith had the next-most with 806 between Australia’s home Test series against West Indies last January and the recent Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

Head posted three Test centuries during the voting period, as many as the remaining Australian batters.

Perhaps most memorably, Head made 140 runs in front of his home crowd in Adelaide to help reignite Australia’s series against India after a heavy loss in the first Test.

Asked for the highlight of his past 12 months, head said: “I feel like the Indian series, the Test series that’s just gone.

“Nice to contribute. It’s such a big five or six weeks.”

Head becomes the first South Australian to win the Allan Border Medal, a little more than three years after storming back into the Test team during the 2021-22 Ashes.

He made 152 runs at better than a run a ball in his comeback knock in Brisbane, flagging his reinvention into an aggressive ball-striker the summer after being dumped from Cricket Australia’s contract list.

“It quite easily could have been one more series and back to South Australia. So I understood that. I was fine with that,” Head said.

“If it was 25 Tests and done, at least I gave it a crack. Very pleased it worked that day.”

Head has continued to provide Australia’s batting order with much-needed aggression, whether as an opener in Asia or in the middle-order at home, and credited that Ashes knock in Brisbane for sparking the success that has followed.

“I was very fortunate, very lucky that was able to pay off on the first day,” he said.

“Very pleased with how consistent I’ve been at playing this role that I’ve played.”

Head was equally proud to have found success as a multi-format player, having returned to the international white-ball frame in 2022 after more than three years in the wilderness.

He was memorably player of the match in the triumphant final of the 2023 one day international World Cup and was third top scorer at the Twenty20 World Cup last year despite Australia failing to make the semi-finals.

“The last couple of years have been very pleasing, the fact that I’ve been able to be in all three formats, play well, be consistent but also be durable enough to get through,” Head said.