Australian cricketer Travis Head and wife Jess have welcomed their second child this week, baby boy Harrison George Head.
The 30-year-old Head, a star in all three formats of the sport, is sitting out Australia’s consecutive one-day and Twenty20 series against Pakistan to spend time with his young family.
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Content creator Jess announced the arrival of a son to join two-year-old big sister Milla with an Instagram post on Friday.
Jess posted a series of photos from hospital along with the caption: “4.11.2024 Welcome to the world Harrison George Head.”
The post also included a gorgeous video of Milla holding George for the first time, which you can see below.
Just 24 hours after the post, it has received over 83,000 likes and nearing 4000 comments, including a number from prominent cricket figures.
Glenn Maxwell’s wife Vini wrote: “Milla looks so proud, congratulations!! Welcome to the world, Harrison.”
Indian cricketer Suryakumar Yadav posted: “Congratulations mate.”
His compatriot Abhishek Sharma added a heart emoji.
Dani Willis, Steve Smith’s wife, also wrote “congratulations” along with three heart emojis.
Nathan Lyon’s wife Emma commented: “HH you are so loved already! We can’t wait to meet you.”
The official profile of the Aussie men’s cricket team also wrote: “Congratulations guys!”
Head has had an extraordinary period in Australian cricket, highlighted by twin 2023 man of the match performances in the ODI World Cup victory over India and the World Test Championship triumph over the same opponents.
Head was also Australia’s leading run scorer at this year’s T20 World Cup in the Caribbean.
He is currently the world’s No. 1 ranked T20 batter, No. 10 in ODI’s and 13th in Test cricket.
Following an intense recent schedule, that has included appearances in the last Australian summer, a tour to New Zealand, America’s Major League Cricket and the Indian Premier League, Head has relished some downtime with the family.
It has also led him to reassess his priorities going forward.
“I’ll probably make decisions in the future around family more,” Head said last month.
“What drives me to play is probably more my family and my teammates.
“I’m not really interested in the individual stuff or where my career might go to, aspirations from an individual perspective.
“I want to provide for my family, I want to play with my mates and I want to enjoy what I’m doing.
“I think I’ve done that really well over the last couple of years.
“I still love playing cricket, I love playing Test cricket and I love playing for Australia and I’ll continue to do that but … I think it’s important to support the family as well.”
Speaking on October 20, Head estimated he had spent roughly 330 of the past 365 nights away from home.
“I’ve spent a lot of time away this year and a lot falls on Jess at home,” he said.
“It’s a very busy schedule (for Australia) next year as well, so it’s hugely important from a family side of things to spend some quality time.
“We won’t get this time back.”
Head will be well rested by the time he makes his international return in Australia’s Test series against India, getting underway in Perth on November 22.
The South Australian and Jess welcomed Milla in September 2022 and then got married the following year in a beautiful ceremony in the Adelaide Hills.
Milla just about stole the show at the ODI World Cup, even considering her dad’s stunning knock in the final of 137 from just 120 balls.
Jess posted a photo on Instagram of the then 14-month-old raising a hand towards the Ahmedabad pitch with the caption: “Go daddy!”
Head suffered a fractured hand in September last year that had a silver lining from his family perspective.
While he would have already been in India with the Australian team, instead he was home recuperating and was there to see Milla take her first steps.
“There are always positives that come out of some of these things (the injury break) and this has been a very busy year,” Head told Cricbuzz.com at the time.
“It’s always nice to spend some time with the girls at home, I’m always going to take that, and I prioritise that.
“No doubt there are some frustrations obviously being injured at home, but I take the positive out of it.”