Head to skip early T20s for Shield duties

Ashes hero Travis Head will miss the first three matches of the five-game T20 series against Sri Lanka to return to the Sheffield Shield arena.

Head will play for South Australia in their red-ball clash with Victoria in Adelaide, starting on Wednesday.

He will link with the Australian T20 squad in Melbourne ahead of games four and five.

Allrounder Daniel Sams has been added to the T20 squad to help fill the void.

Head hasn't played an international T20 match since July, 2018.

His decision to sacrifice the early part of a T20 series in order to have a Shield hit-out is no doubt a pointer to his determination to succeed in the three-Test tour of Pakistan in March.

The 28-year-old scored two tons and a half-century during Australia's 4-0 Ashes romp, averaging 59.5 for the series.

Head missed the fourth Test in Sydney after testing positive to COVID-19.