Travis Head absolutely tore apart the English bowling attack throughout the 2025/26 Ashes. He put up a massive 629 runs. This total placed him miles ahead of England’s top scorer, Joe Root, who finished with a decent but distant 400.
Historians usually point to Don Bradman’s 1930 tour as the absolute peak of batting. Even so, Travis Head’s latest run-spree challenged that record. The 32-year-old brought a level of raw explosiveness to the crease that you just don’t see in Test cricket.
The 629 Reasons Travis Head Just Played The Greatest Ashes Series Since Bradman
Critics often look at Steve Smith’s 2019 masterclass as the gold standard for the modern era. But Travis Head’s performance went beyond that because of his pure aggression and how fast he scored. Smith sat at the crease for days, slowly wearing bowlers down.
Head, on the other hand, broke their spirit in just a few hours. You have to look at the strike rate to really understand how big this was. Head struck the ball at a rate near 95 all series long. Because of that, the English bowlers never got comfortable. Head smashed even the good balls to the fence, forcing Ben Stokes to spread their fielders out almost immediately.
This kind of batting leaves deeper mental scars than just blocking ever could. By scoring that fast, Head took the draw out of the picture early in games. That gave his own bowlers plenty of time to take twenty wickets. On top of that, the 229-run gap between Head and the next best batter showed a massive difference in quality that defined the whole summer.
Travis Head kept up this attack against every type of bowling England threw at him. He pulled the fast bowlers with ease and smashed the spinners into the crowd. He gave the visiting team nowhere to hide. Smith’s 774 runs in 2019 were all about technique and focus. In contrast, Head got his 629 runs by being completely dominant. He didn’t give the opposition a second to think.
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Bradman set a standard a hundred years ago that seemed impossible to reach. Still, Travis Head’s combination of big scores and T20-style hitting put this series in a league of its own. He didn’t just get runs. He stole time, crushed spirits, and decided the series single-handedly. When you look at the impact of every run, Travis Head’s 2025/26 summer stands out as the most important batting performance in modern Ashes history.
