Madcap day sees Australia register victory from position of defeat as Travis Head’s 69-ball ton secures remarkable two-day win.
The first Ashes Test ended spectacularly in two days, with England going from a position of strength to a disastrous eight-wicket defeat in five madcap hours at Perth Stadium.
Australia used quicks to turn the series opener on its head, somehow surpassing a 19-wicket opening day. In the middle session, Scott Boland and Mitchell Starc, who ended the game with ten wickets, destroyed a clumsy England batting effort.
Needing 205 runs for victory, makeshift opener Travis Head plundered 123 off 83 balls as Australia chased down the total in just 28.2 overs. They scored at more than seven runs an over, with recalled No. 3 Marnus Labuschagne finishing unbeaten on 51 from 49 balls.
Skipper Steven Smith hit the winning run to trigger scenes of jubilation for an Australian team that was staring down the barrel earlier in the day.
Head’s cavalier batting gave England a taste of their own medicine, as he reached his ton off 69 balls – the equal third fastest by an Australian in Tests.
To the pleasure of many in the 49,983 spectators, Head repeatedly flayed wayward bowling through the off-side, making England’s all-out pace attack, which had been so fierce just a day earlier, look shell-shocked.
Usman Khawaja was often off the field during England’s innings because of back spasms, therefore Head started the batting. Eight times before, he had opened the innings for Australia, but they had all taken place in South Asia.
Jake Weatherald, a rookie who fell for a second-ball duck in the first innings, was put under less strain by Head, who obviously relished his promotion.
In addition to taking on Mark Wood’s short-pitched bowling, Head was fearless and unstoppable, hitting Ben Stokes for four boundaries in an over. The Australian supporters enthusiastically applauded Head’s century, but his own celebration was quite subdued despite a few hard fistbumps.
Australia needed just 13 runs to win when he eventually holed out, but the outcome had long been a formality.