PEARS overseas star Travis Head has revealed his twin aims this summer – to help his adopted county win as many games as possible and push for a spot in the Australian Test match line-up.
The left-hander will be part of the squad at New Road in all formats right through to the middle of September – apart from Australia’s ODI Series against England in June.
Head has shown more consistency than most batsmen in the country in the seam-bowler friendly conditions which have launched the season. He has hit 174 runs at an average of 34.80 from the first three Championship matches and is currently the seventh highest run-scorer in Division One.
It continues on from a successful season Down Under for Head who captained South Australia in the Sheffield Shield with a return of 738 runs at 46.12 – the sixth best tally in the 2017-2018 competition.
He also skippered the Adelaide Strikers to the Big Bash title and is a regular member of the Australian white ball side with 34 ODIs and 10 T20Is under his belt.
But Head also wants to play the long format for his country, especially with an Ashes series on the horizon in England next summer.
“It’s a lot more fun winning. If I can win as many games as possible, that’s what I’m here to do,” he said.
“Do I want to get into the Test team? From a personal point of view, the main objective is that and experiencing the conditions [in England]. I had done that briefly with Yorkshire with some success.
“With my red ball cricket, I want to keep nailing that and trying to keep getting better and more experienced.
“I’m still a young cricketer and I’m still trying to develop my game. I’m in that white ball team at the moment with Australia so I’m just honing my skills and want to get as many runs as possible.
“That’s the currency at the minute. We’ve been told if you want to get picked for Test cricket, you’ve got to get runs so hopefully I get a few and get some good momentum and good consistency throughout the year.
The 24-year-old Head said he can sense the same sort of team spirit in the Worcestershire squad as with South Australia.
“We’ve got a great bunch of guys at South Australia, a real core group of guys who get on, and play a really exciting brand of cricket and we enjoy each other’s company,” he said.
“It is moulding into something and we’ve got that same mix here of really young guys with really good experience.”