Head carves coming-of-age knock to confirm ‘Travball’ is here to stay

Ben Gardner was at The Oval to witness Travis Head’s maiden Test hundred outside Australia, a coming-of-age knock at the start of a defining stretch for Pat Cummins’ side.

“Yeah they’re calling it Travball. You know, like Bazball? No, I know there’s no alliteration. Yeah I’m not sure if anyone calls him Trav. No it’s not a whole team style of play thing, it’s just the one guy. Oh look, he’s hit another boundary.” – imagined conversation between two spectators at The Oval.

By now, the -ball thing is here to stay, to the point where it’s basically lost all meaning. At most, it’s anyone doing anything good. The goat emoji in suffix form. Cricket, ever inferior to football (as in, the sport, rather than Mark Footitt-ball), has co-opted the terminology wholesale.

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