Travis Head has played more T20 cricket in the past year than he had in the previous six, so it’s no surprise he’s produced all his best knocks for Australia in the same period.

Head’s five T20 international half-centuries have all come since September last year, and he added another scintillating innings overnight with a 19-ball fifty to set up Australia’s opening T20 win against England.

He also hit a 25-ball 80 against Scotland last week, equalling Marcus Stoinis’ record for the quickest half-century by an Australia man (17 balls).

The left-hander dispatched Sam Curran for 30 runs in an over, including three consecutive sixes to different areas of The Rose Bowl, the highlight of which was a lofted drive into the stands over point while down on one knee.

Head rarely gets inside the line of the ball in T20 cricket, preferring instead to stay towards the leg-side, which helps him access both sides of the wicket from the same strong base.

That same Curran over featured fours through the covers and over mid-on, as well as sixes over square leg, midwicket and point.

According to Opta, his split of runs in the shortest format over the past 12 months has been 52 per cent off-side and 48 per cent leg-side, a slightly more even distribution than his career split of 55-45.

Within that 12-month period has been a breakthrough Indian Premier League campaign with Sunrisers Hyderabad as well as the recent T20 World Cup where he was Australia’s top run-scorer (255 at 42.50).

“If they present opportunities to score, I’m trying to be present and ready to go and really still to access all the ground, which I felt like I did,” Head said.

“I haven’t played a lot of T20 cricket until the last 12 months.

“Working on my game, a lot comes down to the technique and what I’m trying to achieve out of my swing.

“So I feel like I’m in really good positions to hit the ball.”

It was a trait noted by England captain Phil Salt, although he was powerless to stop him in his first match as skipper as Head (59 off 23) and Matt Short (41 off 26) blazed 86 runs from the Powerplay in the first T20 – Australia second highest six-over score behind their record 1-113 against Scotland last week.

“It’s where he hits the ball from and which lines, you’ve got to be very, very precise where you’re bowling at him,” Salt said of Head.

“He’s not very conventional in that way, losing his front side very early and creating a few different swing planes from a technical perspective makes him very hard to bowl at.

“They came out swinging, they came out hot … it’s always a job to shut someone down who’s going that well and ‘Shorty’ was backing him up nicely at the other end.”

Head reached three off six balls in Southampton before exploding against Jofra Archer, Curran and Saqib Mahmood with 56 runs from his next 16 balls to finish the Powerplay.

He told cricket.com.au post-match that he “matched really well” with Short, who replaced Jake Fraser-McGurk at the top of the order against England after the young opener’s lean run in Scotland.

Short grabbed his first chance last night in the race to succeed David Warner as Australian T20 opener, but no matter who partners him, Head revealed the method would still be the same.

Head was out on the last ball of the Powerplay but said he had been given the freedom to maximise the first six overs as much as possible.

“The mantra at the top has stayed the same with some different personnel throughout, but I’ve built pretty relationships with all the guys and enjoy batting with all of them,” said Head, who has opened with Warner, Fraser-McGurk, Short and Steve Smith this year.

“We complement each other in different ways; I thought ‘Shorty’ started exceptionally well today with a matchup that he thought was right, and it gave me little bit extra time to get myself in … and then was able to get away.

“So pleased with the way I was striking them, would have loved to have gone on with it, but I felt like we set pretty good platform for the boys behind us.”

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Australia T20 squad: Mitchell Marsh (c), Sean Abbott, Xavier Bartlett, Cooper Connolly, Tim David, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Cameron Green, Aaron Hardie, Josh Hazlewood (England games only), Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Riley Meredith, Matt Short (England games only), Marcus Stoinis, Adam Zampa

September 4: Australia beat Scotland by seven wickets

September 6: Australia beat Scotland by 70 runs

September 7: Australia beat Scotland by six wickets

September 11: Australia beat England by 28 runs

September 13: Second T20 v England, Sophia Gardens, Cardiff, 3.30am Sept 14 AEST

September 15: Third T20 v England, Old Trafford Manchester, 11.30pm AEST

Australia ODI squad: Mitch Marsh (c), Sean Abbott, Alex Carey, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Cameron Green, Aaron Hardie, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Marnus Labuschagne, Glenn Maxwell, Matthew Short, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa

September 19: First ODI v England, Trent Bridge, Nottingham, 10pm AEST

September 21: Second ODI v England, Headingley, Leeds, 10pm AEST

September 24: Third ODI v England, Riverside, Chester-le-Street, 10pm AEST

September 27: Fourth ODI v England, Lord’s, London, 10pm AEST

September 29: Fifth ODI v England, County Ground, Bristol, 8pm AEST