Travis Head, the left-handed batsman, has earned a late call-up and will now join the Australian squad for the five-match One-Day International (ODI) series in Sri Lanka, Cricket Australia announced on Monday (August 8). The 22-year-old has represented Australia in one ODI and two Twenty20 Internationals.
Head has been in good form in the domestic circuit, hammering 175 for Yorkshire against Leicestershire last month. He then followed it up with scores of 49 and 53 in the Royal London Cup games against Durham and Warwickshire respectively. He scored a crucial 54 in tricky conditions for Yorkshire last week in their 48-run win over Warwickshire in the Division 1 game of the county championship.
After playing a solitary ODI in the tri-series in West Indies, which also involved South Africa, Head was left out of the limited-overs squad. However, he has now been summoned in the 11th hour, and will join the ranks ahead of the third and final Test in Colombo, starting on August 13. However, Darren Lehmann, Australia’s head coach, confirmed he wouldn’t be considered for selection in the last Test.
“He’s not going to play. There’s no doubt about that,” Lehmann said. “We see him as a really exciting young player for the future … give him as much experience around one, our Test group, and two, our one-day group as we possibly can.
“We’ve been impressed with him. That’s why he has come in a bit early. He’s a young player who has the attributes we think are quite important here. We want to give him as much experience, because he’s a young guy who has had some success. He hasn’t had enough international exposure and we think it’s a really good time to do that, with an eye on the future as well.”
Rod Marsh, the national selector, said the experience will help Head in future. “Travis is a long-term prospect for Australian cricket in all formats and we think he will benefit greatly from working in the conditions we have here in Sri Lanka,” he said. “He will arrive here a few days earlier than the other ODI players so he can take the opportunity to work with the Test team as they prepare for the third Test.”
Australia ODI squad: Steve Smith (c), David Warner, George Bailey, Nathan Coulter-Nile, James Faulkner, Aaron Finch, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Moises Henriques, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Shaun Marsh, Mitchell Starc, Matthew Wade, Adam Zampa
 series in Sri Lanka, Cricket Australia announced on Monday (August 8). The 22-year-old has represented Australia in one ODI and two Twenty20 Internationals.){kind=link}