Limited-overs career
Head's domestic form was rewarded by national selectors when he was included in Australia's squad for a series of Twenty20 Internationals against India. He made his international debut during the series on Australia Day at his home ground, the Adelaide Oval. After the series he returned to the Sheffield Shield, scoring two more centuries, one against Western Australia to secure another one-wicket win and the other against Tasmania, scoring a career-best 192 to help give South Australia an innings victory in just two days. He led South Australia to their first Sheffield Shield final in 20 years and was named the Sheffield Shield Player of the Year, having scored 699 runs at an average of 38.83 before the final, which South Australia lost.
Head was brought into Australia's One Day International (ODI) squad for the first time for a tri-series in the West Indies. He made his ODI debut on 13 June 2016 against the West Indies. After the tournament he joined the IPL team Royal Challengers Bangalore before going to England to play County cricket for Yorkshire. In his fourth match for Yorkshire he broke the club's record for the highest List A batting partnership, putting on 274 runs for the third wicket with Jack Leaning. Head scored 175 off 139 balls in the innings while Leaning also scored a century. He had to leave Yorkshire early when he was brought to Sri Lanka to train with Australia's Test squad and play in their ODI squad. Though he was originally not included in the squad, the selectors decided that they needed to give younger players more experience in Asian conditions after they had lost the first two matches of the Test series.
As Head was part of Australia's squad for their tour of South Africa, he was unable to captain the Redbacks in the Matador Cup. He continued to play for Australia consistently in the 2016–17 season, but he was unable to make any big scores. Batting in the middle order, he regularly scored above 30 runs, doing so nine times in fourteen innings before the end of 2016, but he was only able to score three half-centuries with a high score of 57 against New Zealand. For Australia's series against Pakistan in January 2017, Head was moved from the middle order to the top order, opening the batting. This resulted in Head scoring his maiden ODI century against Pakistan on Australia Day at Adelaide Oval. He opened with David Warner and the pair scored 284 runs for the first wicket, with Head scoring 128 himself. This stands as the highest partnership for any wicket for Australia and the second highest opening stand in ODIs. Despite his strong form in One Day Internationals and in domestic cricket, averaging over 60 in the 2016–17 Sheffield Shield season, Head was not included in Australia's Test squad for the 2017 Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Instead, Head continued to play for South Australia, who played in their second consecutive Sheffield Shield final. He scored a century but the Redbacks ultimately lost the match.
When limited overs opener Aaron Finch returned to form, Head was dropped back to the middle order, though he remained in the Australian team for the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy. Due to weather, neither of Australia's first two matches in the tournament were completed and Head did not get a chance to bat, but in Australia's only completed match, against hosts England, Head top scored for Australia with 71* in a losing effort. Head signed to play for Yorkshire again in the 2017 NatWest t20 Blast, but he pulled out of the tournament when he was named the captain of the Australia A team for the 2017 South Africa A Team Tri-Series. As a result of a pay dispute with Cricket Australia, the Australia A team pulled out of this tournament.
In January 2022, Head was included in the 16-man squad to face Sri Lanka in a five-match T20I series; he last played white ball cricket for Australia in 2018. In February, Cricket Australia announced that Head would miss the start of the series to play in the Sheffield Shield, and would join the squad in Melbourne. He did not feature in any of the matches.
In February 2022, Head was included in the white-ball squad for the Pakistan tour. In the first ODI, his first since November 2018, he made his second century (101 off 72 deliveries) opening the batting, took two wickets and was named player of the match. He made 89 in the second ODI, but was dismissed for a golden duck in the final match. He made his T20I return in the one-off match.
Head was selected in the ODI and Australia A squads for the tour of Sri Lanka in June–July 2022. In the second unofficial ODI against Sri Lanka A, Head top-scored with 110 in a losing cause. He was picked for the ODIs after injuries to several Australian players; he played in the second, third (where he top scored with 70 not out), and fourth matches, but was ruled out of the final match with a hamstring strain.
After missing the home series against Zimbabwe and New Zealand due to paternity leave, Head was included in the ODI squad to face England in November 2022, replacing the now-retired Aaron Finch as opener. In the final ODI in Melbourne, Head scored his third century (152) and was awarded the player of the match award. Head and David Warner put on 269 runs, becoming the second pair to make two 250-run partnerships in ODIs, and joint fastest to score 1000 partnership runs.
Head was selected for the ODI series in India in March 2023. In the second ODI in Visakhapatnam, opening the batting with Mitchell Marsh, he scored a rapid unbeaten half-century, and put on an unbeaten partnership of 121 in 11 overs, as Australia cruised to victory by 10 wickets.
Head was picked for the limited overs series against South Africa. In the third T20I, Head scored his first T20I half-century (91), and was awarded the player of the match award. Head fractured his left hand after being struck on his hand attempting a pull shot off Gerald Coetzee during the fourth ODI of the series, and was forced to retire hurt, and also ruled out of the final ODI.
Head was named in the Australian squad for the 2023 Cricket World Cup, but did not play in the tournament until Australia's match against New Zealand on 28 October, as he continued to recover from his injury. He scored his fourth ODI century (109 off 67 balls) in his first World Cup match, and won the player of the match award. His all-round performance in the semi-final helped Australia beat South Africa by 3 wickets in a close encounter and helped Australia book a place in the final. He took 2 important wickets and scored 62 runs off 48 balls in the semi-final. He was declared player of the match.
In the final against India, he scored 137 runs and was the player of the match, as Australia won by six wickets to lift its sixth World Cup title after chasing down the target of 241. Head put on a record breaking partnership of 192 runs with Marnus Labuschagne for the fourth wicket during the final, which is also the highest ever partnership by a pair in a World Cup final run chase. He broke several World Cup batting records in the process. He also became the first and only player to score two centuries in men's ICC tournament finals (in fact Head scored centuries in 2023 WTC final and 2023 Cricket World Cup with both centuries coming in single calendar year). He also surpassed Viv Richards record tally of 180 runs to become the most prolific runscorer in across the semi-final and final in a men's World Cup tournament with a tally of 199 runs. He also took a stunning diving catch in the World Cup final to dismiss Indian skipper Rohit Sharma, which helped precipitate India's dramatic slowdown in their batting approach in the final, as the dismissal of Rohit broke the early momentum India had in the first half of the batting in the final. Head also became the fourth player after Mohinder Amarnath, Aravinda de Silva and Shane Warne to receive player of the match awards in both the semi-final and the final, in the same World Cup campaign.
In May 2024, he was named in Australia's squad for the 2024 ICC Men's T20 World Cup tournament. Head was the third highest run scorer of the tournament, scoring 255 runs from seven innings with two half-centuries.
In June 2024, Head became the highest ranked T20I batter, according to the ICC player rankings. In the first of a three-match T20I series against Scotland, Head equalled the record for the fastest fifty (held by Marcus Stoinis) for Australia in T20Is (17 balls), making 80 off 25 balls. He put on a rapid 113-run partnership with Mitchell Marsh and earned the player of the match award. In the third match, he became the second fastest Australian to score 1000 T20I runs (35 innings).
In the first T20I against England Head made a rapid half-century, including 30 runs in an over bowled by Sam Curran, earning the player of the match award. Head captained Australia for the first time in T20Is, in the second match in Cardiff, in the absence of an unwell Mitchell Marsh. In the first ODI, Head took two wickets and scored his sixth ODI century, a career best unbeaten 154, earning him the player of the match award. In the final ODI, Head took career-best figures of 4/28, and then made a brisk 31 to keep Australia ahead of the DLS score and guide his team to victory. His all-round performance earned him the player of the match award and he also won the player of the series award, scoring 248 runs and taking six wickets.
In January 2026, he was named in Australia's squad for the 2026 ICC Men's T20 World Cup tournament. He captained Australia for the first two T20s in the absence of captain Mitchell Marsh and played all four matches in their group stage exit.
