The see-it-hit-it opener blasted the fastest ever T20I half-century by an Australian batter off just 19 balls, eventually going on to 59 off 23 after the visitors had been put in by stand-in England captain Phil Salt.
But the pyrotechnics ended up turning into a bit of a damp squib on Wednesday evening as England hit back strongly, first through fine bowling from leggies Adil Rashid and Liam Livingstone and then terrific yorker-bowling from Jofra Archer and Saqib Mahmood, with Australia having to settle for 179 all out after 19.3 overs.
Along with Matt Short, a surprise choice as his opening partner while exciting prospect Jake Fraser-McGurk was dropped, Head hammered England's attack to all parts of the Rose Bowl as the pair amassed 86 off the powerplay.
Saqib Mahmood (C) celebrates the wicket of Cameron Green at Southampton. (AP PHOTO)
But once he was out on the final ball of the sixth over, Australia lost momentum and wickets just as quickly, with only Short's 41 off 26 balls and Josh Inglis's valuable 37 off 27 getting them to a decent target when a score of 200-plus had looked on the cards.
After a quietish start in the face of some swift stuff from Archer, Head, the world's No.1-ranked T20 batter, murdered Sam Curran's first over, smashing the left-armer for 30 runs - 4,4,6,6,6 and 4.
Head then swatted his next ball from Mahmood into the stands at deep backward square leg to reach his 50 - also the fastest ever scored against England in a T20I, and got away with a couple more flukey boundaries before attempting one monster hit too many and skying it to deep square leg.
The 22-year-old Fraser-McGurk paid the price for scoring just 16, including two ducks, in his three knocks during the series win over Scotland and Short, who's just become a father, celebrated his unexpected recall with an impressive knock which included two successive sixes off Reece Topley in just the second over.
Rashid (1-23 off four overs) and Livingstone (3-22 off three), who trapped Marcus Stoinis (10) and Tim David (golden duck) lbw in successive balls, started England's impressive repair job.
Then Mahmood (2-21) and Archer (2-31) also both dismissed batters in successive balls with some toe-tapping music as Australia collapsed, losing their last four wickets in the space of 10 deliveries.
