Australian cricket star Travis Head has celebrated the team’s baby boom as a motivating factor ahead of a blockbuster summer against India.
Sitting down with 7NEWS reporter Tom Wilson ahead of the first Test in Perth, Head said he “needed” his time off with family — after the birth of son Harrison earlier this month — before getting back to work.
Watch the best bits in the video above, or scroll down for the full Q&A
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TOM: Travis, how are you feeling? Are you refreshed after a nice little break?
TRAVIS: Feeling good. Yeah, a little break. A few people were talking about it like I’ve been out of the game forever but a nice little break, nice to be with the family. Obviously an exciting time for us but nice to have a couple of weeks at home and feeling good, feeling ready to go. It’s a good buzz. The next few days are exciting.
TOM: How much did you need it?
TRAVIS: I needed it from a family point of view. They’re moments that I’ll never get back. I’m in a fortunate position, very privileged position to be able to play and work in an environment I love and I’ve loved doing for a long time. But to experience a second child and to spend some time at home is moments I’m not going to get back and I wouldn’t give them up. I’m lucky to have the support from CA.
I could play cricket every single day. You get tired and you get fatigued and it’s hard, but whose day-to-day job isn’t. Yeah, that’s the grind and you work through it but on the flip side I want a family when I get home, so time out and being around my family is hugely important to me and it’s nice to see how CA has been able to give me that, the last couple of weeks.
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TOM: How special was that? Was he doing cut shots in the womb?
TRAVIS: (Laughs) We’ll see. His big sister is very excited about things and he’s going amazingly well. He’s a big boy so maybe in 2043 draft he might come in as an inside mid, without my tank. But no, he’s going good so it’s an exciting time. Everyone’s going well and healthy and very excited about things.
TOM: So Port Adelaide or cricket for Australia?
TRAVIS: We’ll see, we’ll see! Whatever they want to do, everyone says that but we’ll wait and see. He might be a bit bigger than his old man so he might be able to hit it further, but he might be good at the other stuff as well.
TOM: What is it about the Indian series that always, there’s always intrigue around everything. What is it?
TRAVIS: It’s always hype about everything I think. And Ashes now and this, are the two that build up and the weeks leading in and there’s always talk about the past history and what’s happening and what we’re doing up the road at the WACA and what both teams are up to and who’s doing what. It all makes for good fun. I guess being around and experienced enough that those things don’t matter when we get to the first morning. I think everyone’s looking forward to that and both teams will be keen just to crack on and whatever’s written about over the next few weeks, will just purely be hopefully on the performances of two teams and we go from there.
TOM: I know you like to look forward, but you’ve had some interesting experiences with the Indian series. One here, obviously five years ago you got dropped and then dropped before you even got a chance over there. What did that teach you about yourself and about your game?
TRAVIS: Oh that can be taken away pretty quickly and it’s pretty fickle and you can be in situations where you feel good, or contributing or not contributing and you work through that and that’s the game and that’s your career and I understand that I’m in a very lucky position to be in the Australian cricket team. It’s not going to happen forever so I’m at a stage now where I’ve come back and want to try and do the job and want to be as consistent as I can be, but knowing that it’s not going to happen forever so I’m trying to enjoy it. I’ve played in India a lot over the last couple of years. We’ve had some great performances and not so good ones and I’ve been out of form and what not and no doubt that will happen again over the course of five Test matches, which is going to be extremely difficult now to go into a fifth Test. It’s amazing how much more difficult they do get with form and match-ups and storylines, so it’s exciting.
TOM: You must feel you’ve got their mettle now though, in terms of what you did in the World Cup and the Test Championship.
TRAVIS: All changes within a week doesn’t it, so we’ll wait and see. I’m hoping I play well. I guess a lot of people have spoken about some of the performances I’ve had and my sort of reply has been it happens to be that we pop up against India a lot. We play against India a lot. There’s going to be a lot of times I miss out. There’s hopefully a few times that I play well and I’ve been fortunate enough to play well in situations where it may have meant the most. But no doubt this series means a hell of a lot and over the course of six or seven weeks that storyline could be a lot different, or it could hopefully mean that I’m continuing the path, but we’ll wait and see.
TOM: How important is this series to you personally and for the team to get the trophy back?
TRAVIS: Yeah, hugely important, but I guess every series, like we said, every series is tough. Every series is important. I guess that World Test Championship is moving. I don’t know what the actual results need to be, but there could be still a chance that we play each other and at Lord’s in a few months’ time or down the track, early next year. It’s massively important for us to win, to be there and so it is for them. There’s a fair bit riding on this Test series trophy-wise. So yeah, it makes for an exciting next few days and an exciting first Test.
TOM: Everyone knows everyone now at T20 Cricket. How much do you keep an eye on what they’re doing and what you know about them and can you use that?
TRAVIS: I can’t keep an eye on them. All the fences are all barricaded in and no-one’s allowed in. No, we’ve got some good relationships with a few of the guys. There’s a couple of guys who I played IPL with and then obviously there’s a lot of people, everyone you play against and you come across guys over the time. So yeah, I’ve had fun with a couple of them. A few of them I don’t really know, but there’s a few guys like Nitish Kumar Reddy who was with us in the Sunrisers last year, who looks likely that he’s going to debut.
We can have a bit of fun with him. He’s a good guy. I guess a guy going into his first Test series who will be nervous. I’ll come from a funnier side of things and poke some fun at him a little bit. But yeah, I guess the relationships and what they’re doing and like you said, whether it be a shutout session or not, everyone knows everything that’s going on. No-one misses anything. So that’s all the fun and games of it all.
TOM: And the fans from both sides. We know that Indian fans come out in a big way, but it means a lot to the Aussies too.
TRAVIS: Yeah, I’m excited about the summer. I feel like there’s going to be some huge crowds throughout. I’m looking forward to the second Test in Adelaide. I’m looking forward to getting home. I’m looking forward to that build-up. I’m excited around the fact we’ll have 10 or 15 days in Adelaide purely around a Test match and what that Test match brings. I think it’ll be a good week this week and the crowds and the excitement around it all, I think is going to be throughout all five Tests and I think the cricket will show that and it’s going to be great series to watch.
TOM: It’s obviously a bit of a baby boom in the team. It has been nine months since you guys played. Is there anything in that?
TRAVIS: Yeah, oh mate, they’re popping out of everyone aren’t they!? (Laughs) So I guess me and Mitch Marsh and then Pat (Cummins) has got one on the way. The boys, I guess, we’ve been together a long time. All of our families have grown. We’re in a great space and it’s been nice to look back over sort of five, six years and longer, that we’ve been together and guys from early in their relationships into marriage, into children and a few of us have all been to each other’s weddings and whatnot, and I’m looking forward to Christmas, looking forward to Melbourne. They’ll get a year older and they’ll run amok and Milla will definitely be running amok in Melbourne. I’m looking forward to that. She wasn’t a terror too much last year, she was a bit young, but this time round she’s going to be carnage, so I’m looking forward to that. That’s the fun part about it all so yeah, next few Tests are going to be a good fun.