Tea Tree Gully: A place where you will find Head’s heart
A trip to the neighbourhood off Adelaide where India’s tormentor learnt the game, and ditched the keeping gloves
For some time now, Indian players and fans have been asking themselves the same question over and over again because Travis Head finds a way and shows the will to scupper India’s hopes over and over again: “Where has this guy come from?”
There are some easy answers to that question but perhaps the most accurate one takes you on a 40-minute drive from Adelaide CBD (Central Business District). The flat roads give way to hilly terrain, the relatively crowded city landscape gets sparser and quieter with every passing kilometre. A left at the 170-year-old pub, The Gully, gets you closer. And when the trip finally ends you reach the Pertaringa Oval, the home of the Tea Tree Gully Cricket Club.
Tea Tree Gully is affiliated with the South Australian Cricket Association and is one of 13 premier clubs in the SACA competition. It is also Travis Head’s club — the place where he learnt his cricket; the place where the then coach, former Australia all-rounder Peter Sleep, asked him to abandon wicketkeeping because “there’s only one slot for a keeper but six for a batter”, and the place where he would return to till recently to work on his game.
On Monday, the Oval itself was a sight. A beautiful, clear day had dawned and a few kids were playing a casual game of cricket. They weren’t talking about Head though. Rather, they were trying to replicate Rohit Sharma’s bat swing.
“That’s not how Rohit hits it,” said one of the boys. “It is much smoother and the ball goes so much further. It is the timing, not the power.”
That may be a sign of how Indian cricket has grown. But just as the boys wanted to learn from Rohit, many in India would like to learn from Head — a batter whose fearless approach to batting has driven fear into India in major competitions.
The early signs were all seen at the Pertaringa Oval. Head trained here from the age of 10 till 18, when he broke into the state ranks; even now many remember the sound of the ball hitting his bat.
In 2013, Head (then a 19-year-old) was celebrating a Sheffield Shield triumph over Victoria with his South Australia (SA) team-mates at the Old Lion Hotel in North Adelaide when a car struck him in front of the pub. He ended up with a concussion, 12 stitches in his head, eight in his back, bruising, and also had to walk around in a neck brace for a while.
Two weeks after the accident, he turned out for Tea Tree Gully and slammed a stunning 185 from 172 balls against Woodville at Pertaringa Oval. South Australia had chosen to ignore him for their one-day squad, so he chose the Oval to show that he was more than ready for any challenge that the game could throw at him.
Tom, who was manning the clubhouse on Monday, is a cricketer himself and has played a few matches with ‘Heady’.
“He isn’t around here as much as he used to come by once,” said Tom. “But he’s got the IPL and international cricket to handle as well so we get it. But when Matt Weaver asks, then Head usually turns up.”
Head usually plays at least a game every year for Tea Tree, waltzing in and introducing himself to all the other players and the year before Weaver told him he was going to retire and it would be nice to spend an afternoon together.
“So, I lost the toss,” Head told the Grade Cricketer podcast. “University hit 420/3 against us and after that he’s gone and played again. Now, if he talks me into another one, I’m not going. But it was an afternoon well spent.”
Weaver is Head’s best mate, old captain and the current cricket director at Tea Tree Gully. His father, Michael, is the club president. A look around the clubhouse shows Head as ‘Australia T20’. Whoever it was… didn’t bother updating the rest. Maybe they felt his deeds spoke louder than any letters ever would.
Head, though, doesn’t consider himself to be the best cricketer produced by Tea Tree Gully. That honour, the left-hander believes, belongs to someone else.
“Peter McIntyre. Can’t say myself,” Head had said on the podcast. “He came at the wrong time and I think I probably came at the right time because in different eras, I wouldn’t play for Australia.”
McIntyre had a long first-class career, taking 322 wickets for South Australia and Victoria, but he was a leg-spinner and a certain Shane Warne had emerged on the scene at just about that time. Head, though, has time on his side. Maybe his answer will change in a few years.
But this is the kind of attitude that makes Head a great teammate. He is a straight shooter and says whatever is on his mind. People at Tea Tree know this and they also know that behind the handlebar moustache, the aggression and unique clarity of thought, there is a lot more heart than head in this one.
Recommended Topics 