He says his wife is not a fan but Travis Head’s moustache is clearly working after his brilliant display powered Australia to World Cup glory against India. 

The mustachioed opener blazed a superb century to continue a theme of hair-raising performances in all three formats in recent years. 

After struggling to nail down a spot in the national set-up for several seasons, Head is now one of the first players picked in all three line-ups and is looming as the natural successor to Pat Cummins as Test skipper. 

Is it a coincidence that he shaved off the mo before the third Ashes Test in England this year and the Aussies didn’t win another match, nearly coughing up the urn to the Poms?

And while moustaches are seen as a retro look which was more in vogue during the 1970s and ‘80s, his one-day partner David Warner is the other opener who makes Australia’s all-time XI. 

When it comes to batting, David Boon is synonymous with the mo while Ian Chappell edges out Allan Border for the captaincy for never wavering from the stache. 

AB varied between a full beard and a mo during his playing days and has long since gone clean shaven but Chappelli has stuck with the hairy upper lip to this day. 

The late, great Rod Marsh is another moustache devotee from Chappell’s reign as captain with Dennis Lillee and Max Walker completing the quartet from that era.

Merv Hughes is another automatic selection for his handlebar style mo with Mitchell Johnson following suit in more recent times with a look which still sends shivers down the spines of English batters from a decade ago.

Completing the Movember XI is the original fiery fast bowler, Fred “The Demon” Spofforth, who sported a moustache which featured a debonair twirl at each end, which was the style at the time when he was terrorising batters in the late 1800s.

The moustache and bowling fast go hand in hand so there’s no room for spinners but NSW offie Peter Taylor from the 1980s gets to carry the drinks for sticking with a ginger effort which evoked comparisons with Ed Rooney from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. 

Honourable mentions in the batting brigade go to the 1980s cookie dusters of Graeme Wood, Mike Veletta and David Hookes while Chappell’s inspiration may have come from his grandfather, Vic Richardson, who was one of the few players in the Bradman clean-shaven era to rock a stache.

Wayne Phillips was another mustachioed keeper while Bruce Reid (with a rare blond mo), Tony Dodemaide and Bruce Yardley also brought the look to the bowling crease.

The Movember XI

Travis Head
David Warner
David Boon
Ian Chappell (c)
Allan Border
Rod Marsh
Mitchell Johnson
Merv Hughes
Max Walker
Dennis Lillee
Fred Spofforth
12th: Peter Taylor