New Delhi: Australia opener Travis Head showcased a stellar performance with his bat in the first Test against the West Indies. He scored 59 runs in 78 balls in the first innings on Wednesday and amassed a total of 61 from 95 balls in the second innings.
Aussies won the first Test by 159 runs in three days, which was set to be played from July 25 to 27 at Kensington Oval in Barbados. The Player of the Match award was given to Head for his twin half-centuries in both innings.
The POTM award got him entry in the history books as he became the first player in the world to bag 10 POTM awards in the World Test Championship. Head has played 50 WTC matches for the Aussies, having amassed 3196 runs. He is one of Australia’s most consistent match-winners in the modern game.
| S.No. | Player | Country | Matches | POTM won |
| 1 | Travis Head | Australia | 50 | 10 |
| 2 | Ben Stokes | England | 54 | 5 |
| 3 | Joe Root | England | 65 | 4 |
| 4 | Harry Brook | England | 22 | 4 |
Head won his first POTM award in the WTC during the Australia-New Zealand Test series back in 2018. In that match, he scored 114 runs in the first innings, followed by 28 in the second. His second POTM award came during the 2021-22 Ashes opener at The Gabba, where he hammered a quickfire 152 off 148 balls in the first innings, setting the tone for a nine-wicket victory under Pat Cummins’s captaincy. Later in the series, Head struck another century, scoring 101 in Hobart during the fifth Test, which earned him a third POTM award.
In December 2022, Head delivered again in the Day-Night Test against the West Indies at the Adelaide Oval, scoring 175 and an unbeaten 38, which secured him yet another POTM title. He followed it up with a gritty 92 against South Africa in Brisbane, making it back-to-back awards.
Head’s big-match temperament was on display in the World Test Championship final against India at The Oval in 2023 where his commanding 159 in the first innings helped Australia secure the title, earning him his sixth POTM award in WTC matches. He added three more POTM awards in the WTC cycle, with performances against the West Indies in January 2024 in Adelaide and against India in December 2024 in both Adelaide and Brisbane.
Among Australians, only legends like Shane Warne, Ricky Ponting, Steve Waugh, Steve Smith, Glenn McGrath, and Allan Border have collected more Player of the Match awards in Tests. In the World Test Championship, Head now leads the list for most POTM awards, ahead of England’s Ben Stokes and Joe Root, who have five each.
