Where does Travis Head's 2025/26 rank among the best Ashes batting performances?

Travis Head responded to being asked whether it irked him that he missed out yet again on reaching a Test double-century. Twice in his last three Tests, Head has been dismissed between 150 and 199, both his centuries burying England deeper into the Australian soil. It was a response which reflected Head's personality, mirrored in his batting, as relaxed and easy-going, easily able to deflect with a bat of an eyelid. When asked about reaching 600 runs in the series, he responded – "It's probably 400 more than I expected".

While the double-century still awaits, Head has racked up an extraordinary number of runs this Ashes, still with potentially one more innings to play. His series was flipped by a twist of fate, Usman Khawaja's back-spasm in Perth, after which he coolly stepped up to open and played the first of his extraordinary knocks in the last six weeks. Now, he stands on the brink of sealing one of the truly great individual Ashes performances.

Head was dismissed in the first innings at the SCG for 163, giving him exactly 600 runs in the series. His average neatly sits at 66.66, with three hundreds. His strike-rate (87.59), however, is what's felled England. His 69-ball ton in Perth floored them, and set a tide England were never able to reverse. While England's attack certainly could have bowled better to him, in truth Head has just been better – too sharp, too destructive and too skillfull.

"He makes your margins very small and he's got such incredible hand-eye coordination," said Joe Root in Sydney. "He's very good at putting bowlers under pressure at the right time, and making it very difficult to build a sustained period of pressure over the partnership. He's always looking to throw punches back in his own way, and he's got a very clear method of how he wants to do it and trusts it."

Beyond the innings in Perth, the 170 he made in Adelaide came to grind England into the dirt and set them a hefty chase. And in Sydney, alongside Steve Smith, he's set up a scenario from which Australia will be hard-pressed to lose. At the MCG, his 46 in Australia's second innings on the most challenging surface of the series was the highest score of the game.

Where does Head's Ashes rank among the all-time greats?

Firstly, Head's series won't be remembered among the true elites in terms of runs. He is, however, only the 11th player to score 600 or more runs in a five-Test Ashes series. In terms of hundreds, he's the tenth Australian player to score three hundreds in an Ashes series on home soil – none have scored more. Only Don Bradman, among Australia players, has scored more than three centuries in any Ashes series, and Herbert Sutcliffe and Wally Hammond are the only England players to do so.

Most runs in Ashes series

*Five Test match series only

His average, too, will not be counted among the most exclusive of clubs, the likes of Bradman, ever present, and even more recent entrants like Steve Smith and Alastair Cook, boasting series averages over 100. Nevertheless, whittling those stats down starts to show how extraordinary Head's series really has been.

For a start, in order to compare there must be at least some historical cut-off. Post-war is normally judged as the break between the modern and a previous era, even if that does mean most of Bradman's exceptionalism gets cut. In terms of competitors in the modern era, Head is more equal, if still below the top-brass.

Most runs in post-war Ashes series

You can also account somewhat for the discrepancy in averages. Head has scored 579 of his runs during this series as an opener and, when discounting his first innings in Perth, his average for the series jumps to 72.37. Steve Smith played both his stand-out Ashes series from No.4, not only prime position once the new ball has been seen off but with more scope to finish an innings unbeaten, thus boosting your average. Among openers with a 500-run cut off, only five have averaged more than Head during an Ashes series.

The obvious area Head wins out is strike-rate. No one with more than 500 runs in an Ashes series has scored them quicker than Head has, and it's not even close.

Highest Ashes series strike rates

*500 runs minimum

Series context is also important. This series has not been a high-scoring one – it currently ranks 42nd out of 68 on the list of most runs scored by one team (Australia) in an Ashes series. Given that two of the Test matches have lasted just two days, this series stands out as having been a particularly unsuccessful one for batters.

Most telling is the difference between the leading run-scorer and the next highest scorer in the series. Joe Root, in his most successful series in Australia, second in the run-scoring charts, finished exactly 200 runs short of Head, who still has one more innings left. The next highest Australian run scorer is Alex Carey, who Head has nearly double the runs of. Should the final innings' in Sydney not alter the stats too much, Head would only be the third player to finish with a gap of more than 200 runs to the next highest scorer in a five-Test post-war Ashes series (with a leading run-scorer cut off of 600 runs).

Ultimately, in pretty much every area bar strike rate, Steve Smith's two standout series (2017/18 and 2019), will best Head's. Smith finished 333 runs clear in 2019, scored 421 runs more than his closest teammate (Marnus Labuschagne), and was 242 runs clear of next-highest scorer Shaun Marsh in 2017. Alastair Cook's 2010/11 effort is also statistically better, with more runs, as many hundreds, an average of over 100 as an opener, and 196 runs more than the series next-highest run-scorer (321 runs more than his closest teammate).

So where does that leave Head's 2025/26? Realistically, he's shy of the true standouts, those who blasted close or more than 700 runs averaging three figures and head and shoulders above the rest. However, he's one of the leaders of the pack below, and with potentially one innings to go, he could bridge the gap.

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