Travis Head blasted his second List A double century on Wednesday, and the sixth-highest one-day score of all-time.
He would wind up with 230 from just 127 balls before finally being dismissed with a strike rate of 181.1. He left three and a half overs in the pavilion, and you have to wonder just how high he would have gone on the all-time list had he batted out the innings.
It was a knock which came with 28 fours and eight sixes, and leaves him only behind the likes of Martin Guptill, Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma on the all-time list.
He couldn't quite overthrow D'Arcy Short either, who hit 257 from 148 balls in the 2018-19 summer playing for Western Australia.
But nonetheless, the innings sent a timely reminder to selectors of just what he was capable of, and given he scored well over 50 per cent of South Australia's runs, who wound up 8 for 391, and almost enough to beat Queensland on his own, who ended with 312, it can't be said it was simply flat-track bully style batting.
Sure, he went hard, but that's the Travis Head way. He scored quickly, made a good start, found his eye and then unleashed on a hapless Bulls attack.
Michael Neser, Jack Wildermuth and Gurinder Sandhu are all experienced bowlers, and yet none of them could slow down the attack of Head, who took Neser apart.
The Queensland spearhead finished his ten overs with 2 for 85.
In just another piece of proof that it wasn't all smooth sailing for batsmen, Jake Weatherald made 97, but at less than a run a ball. You only need to watch Weatherald bat to know he enjoys scoring far quicker than that.
Head has played 42 ODIs, averaging 34.4 with the bat. He may have only scored one century, but regularly coming in at five or six in the batting order, it's difficult to say he hasn't done his job for the national team.
His run of form against South Africa before being dropped in November of 2018 was horrendous however, making back to back to back scores of one, eight and six, so it's also hard to argue the selectors didn't get the decision right at the time.
However, Head isn't the same cricketer that he was when he was dropped.
Another three years of maturity, he is one of South Australia's leading lights, and while it's hard to see him ever being recalled to the Test team, his ODI batting is still good enough for consideration when Australia roll around to pick their squad for the next limited overs assignment against New Zealand in February.
There is then the small matter of another World Cup on the horizon, to be played in 2023.
Head will be 29 at the point that World Cup rolls around, and it's now that Australia must start planning for that tournament.
It's hard to base things off one performance, but it's not just that for Head. He is coming off a strong English summer where he hit three half-centuries in his last seven innings, with another three scores over 30, has ability to get through overs without damage with the ball in hand, and has excellent experience with over 100 List A games under the belt.
While it may not be set in stone that Head is even in the selector's calculations, yesterday fired a warning message at the very least.
Australia's ODI team has struggled for many years now relative to expectations, with the game seeming to accelerate away from the Aussie style of play. They regularly struggle to capitalise on good starts and make the big scores, particularly on grounds like you see in England and India - flat pitches and small boundaries - that you need to win games against the top nations in the World.
It was on display in the 2019 World Cup, and it has been since. The two shortest forms of the game have simply not been Australia's best friend in recent times.
Someone like Marcus Stoinins continues to get picked, despite a tendency to bog the innings down with an inability to turn strike over.
Head is a master at that art, and it's something Australia badly lack alongside the powerful hitting of the middle order.
While it's not time for radical change, it is time to consider the South Australian once again, and if yesterday didn't prove it, nothing ever will.
