Travis Head flipped the narrative and dominated the England pace bowlers with one of the great centuries in Ashes on Saturday as Australia raced to an eight-wicket victory with three days to spare in the first Test.
Head turned England’s attack-at-all-costs “Bazball” tactics back on the visitors, clobbering a century from 69 balls after being promoted up the order to open the innings when Usman Khawaja was injured.
In three innings across five sessions, fast bowlers were right on top as 30 wickets fell for 468 runs in 113 overs at Perth.
Set 205 to win, Head plundered 123 from 83 balls, clobbering boundaries to all parts of the ground as he hit the rope 16 times and cleared it on four occasions.
Head was eventually caught in the outfield, trying to rush the victory, with Australia just 13 runs short.
Australia skipper Steve Smith
Australia needed a volunteer to replace an injured opening batter in the most hostile of scenarios. “Travis was like I want to do it. So I was like: ‘Mate, go for your life!’” captain Smith said.
“Today was just incredible, wasn’t it?
“That innings from Head was out of this world. He just played some outrageous shots. Even when he shanked it, he seemed to hit it in the gap. He was kind of toying with them,” he added.
England captain Ben Stokes said his team was “a little bit shell shocked.” In its second innings, England were cruising at 65-1 until the big momentum shift. From 76-2, England lost three wickets without scoring and slid to be all out for 164.
104
No of years since an Ashes Test last finished within two days (previously at Nottingham in 1921)
69
No of balls taken by Travis Head to score his hundred — the second-fastest in Ashes, after Australia’s Adam Gilchrist (57 deliveries) at the WACA, Perth, in 2006
Brief scores
England 172 & 164 (G Atkinson 37, O Pope 33; S Boland 4-33, M Starc 3-55, B Doggett 3-51) lost to Australia 132 & 205-2 (T Head 123, M Labuschagne 51*, B Carse 2-44) by 8 wkts
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