The morning belonged to England. Australia were bowled out for 132 and took a 40-run lead in the first innings—the opening phase of the Ashes was a relief for Ben Stokes. But at the end of the day, England has an embarrassing record to its name. Travis Head has plunged the visiting Englishmen in Perth into sadness and swept Australia into a wave of joy.
Chasing England’s 204, Head single-handedly scored 123 off 83 balls. On the way to the match-winning innings, the left-handed batsman reached three figures off 69 balls, which is the world record for the fastest century in a fourth innings chase in a Test. And riding on Head’s record, Australia crossed the target with the loss of just 2 wickets.
England did not just lose by an 8-wicket margin, they lost in two days. It was the first time in 104 years in the history of the Ashes between Australia and England that someone lost a Test in two days. In May 1921, Australia won by 10 wickets in two days at Nottingham.
Suddenly, Head did not open the batting in Tests because he was wicketkeeping. He came in later. As Australia’s regular opener Usman Khawaja was feeling uneasy, the coach-captain sent Head to open in the second innings today.
After coming in to open for the ninth time in Tests (the remaining eight times were in the subcontinent), it was not clear what he was going to do next after seeing his batting at first. He took 3 runs off the first 14 balls, the first boundary on the 15th ball.
After that, Head’s bat was no longer hesitant. England’s Brydon Curtis, Mark Wood, Gus Atkinson delivered short deliveries one after another, and Head hit four sixes one after the other on pulls, ramps, and drives.
