Travis Head led exuberant Ashes celebrations after Australia sealed the urn in Adelaide, unveiling ‘Ronball’ T-shirts, serving cocktails and leading on-field festivities that may limit his training before the MCG Test. Australian team also paid tribute to the Bondi beach victims.
Australia’s Ashes triumph in Adelaide spilt well beyond the boundary rope, with Travis Head emerging as the unlikely architect of a celebration that may cost him a light training load ahead of the fourth Test in Melbourne.
Fresh from a decisive victory that locked away the urn with two matches to spare, the southpaw became the focal point of post-match festivities after contributing a commanding second-innings century that set England an unreachable chase. Australian media reported that Head’s energy following the 82-run win could see him sit out part of the team’s early preparation for the MCG encounter, which follows after only a four-day gap.
The celebrations also produced a new addition to cricket’s tactical lexicon. As a playful counterpoint to Bazball, Australia unveiled ‘Ronball’, a term linked to head coach Andrew McDonald. After returning to the dressing room, Head distributed white T-shirts to teammates, each bearing ‘Ronball’ in red lettering alongside a cartoon depiction of McDonald, known within the squad as Ronald. The coach himself was the only member not wearing one.
The phrase is not entirely new. According to The Sydney Morning Herald, ‘Ronball’ had previously surfaced during the 2022 Adelaide Test against the West Indies, when the word appeared on a sheet of paper in the team’s viewing area.
Head continued hosting duties once the group moved to the western side of the Adelaide Oval, serving jugs of his own creation, the ‘Headliner Spritz’, described as an apple and watermelon gin cocktail. As the evening unfolded, players returned to the field of play, joined by injured spinner Nathan Lyon, who appeared without the crutches he had used after a hamstring injury sustained on day five.
Australian team paid tribute to Bondi beach victims
Keeper-batter Alex Carey, acting as songmaster, played True Blue on a portable speaker. The song had earlier been performed live by John Williamson before the Test as a tribute to victims of the shooting attack at Sydney’s Bondi beach last Sunday, which resulted in 15 deaths.
Carey kissed the turf, mirroring Head’s celebration after reaching his hundred, before Pat Cummins and Marnus Labuschagne doused Head’s ‘Ronball’ shirt with drinks. The group then sang ‘Under the Southern Cross I stand…’, embracing what Cummins described as a “straight-sets” series win, particularly meaningful after claims they were the “weakest Australian team since 2010-11”.