Travis Head’s furious 69-ball hundred guided Australia to an eight-wicket win on a frenetic second day of the first Ashes Test after England’s batting once again collapsed at Perth’s Optus Stadium.
Head (123 off 83 balls) guided Australia to a target of 205 in 28.2 overs after being pushed up to open the bat as England’s pace bowlers lacked the strength and precision they displayed on the opening day and the movement their opponents had generated in the early hours on Saturday.
The tourists followed an astonishing collapse of 65-1 to 6-39, hitting 164 shots in the second innings, including a huge wobble of 4-11 off 19 balls, with Harry Brook (0), Joe Root (8) and captain Ben Stokes (2) conceding just 10 runs.
Head hit Stokes with four fours, including three in a row, in the 17th over to beat him for 17 runs, but Jofra Archer’s 19 was expected to be 16 and the match was pulled away from England. Head displayed his brand of buzz ball in the fast-forwarded Test, scoring Australia’s third-fastest Test century.
England were torpedoed for 172, but a 19-wicket opener saw them reduce Australia to 123-9, and the home side ultimately won by a landslide of 132 early on the second morning.
Mark Wood looks distressed on his second day in Perth
After England’s second batting failure of the match, Head dominated stands of 75 and 117 with Jake Weatherald (23) and Marnus Labuschagne (no. 51), making 16 fours and four sixes, before holing out Brydon Kearse (2-44) for 13.
Labuschagne’s towering six from Root’s part-time off-spin moved the scores to level, while stand-in captain Steve Smith’s offside single from Curse, who dismissed Weatherald and Head, rounded out a remarkable win for the hosts.
England have lost 14 and drawn two of their last 16 Tests in Australia since winning the series 3-1 under captain Sir Andrew Strauss in Sydney in January 2011.
Stokes’ side will need to regroup for the second day-night Test in Brisbane from December 4, but organizers hope to keep captain Pat Cummins available after the seam bowler missed the series opener with a back problem.
Head pulls England’s bowlers apart as Australia rush to a 1-0 lead in the five-match Ashes series
Difficult day for England in Perth
England started the second day in command, leading by 49 points after their captain took five wickets the night before, and Australia could only add nine points in total until Brydon Kearse (2-45) was caught at gully by Ben Duckett with Nathan Ryan (4 points).
No. 11 Brendan Doggett finished with seven not out off 30 balls in his first Test knock after being dropped at short leg by Ollie Pope.
England therefore took a 40-run lead in the second innings, when Zac Crawley was brilliantly caught one-handed by Mitchell Starc off his own bowling for his second first-over duck of the match, and Pope (33) and Duckett (28) extended their advantage to 105 before the batting line collapsed after lunch.
Scott Boland (4-33) was too full on Friday with figures of 0-62 from his 10 overs, but he regained his length 24 hours later, with Duckett, Pope and Brook caught by wicketkeeper Alex Carey or slip fielders as Australia roared back.
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Sky Sports’ Michael Atherton analyzes England’s batting woes in the bottom of their second innings, including a huge collapse of 39 for 6
Starc, on the other hand, completed his third 10-wicket haul in Tests after seven fours in the first innings, playing the role of Root and Stokes for the second time in this match, in England’s second dig, with Root chopping in the drive and Stokes scoring a fine slip.
The visitors were reeling at 104-7 and were leading by just 144 when Jamie Smith (15), who dropped one to Usman Khawaja inside the cordon, caused a controversy when he was caught backwards on the leg side of Doggett after an Australian review (3 for 51).
It took TV referee Sharhudullah Saikat about five minutes to rule that Snikko’s spike was bat-on-ball, despite initial images suggesting the timing was off. Smith may have felt he clipped the ball anyway because he had already started walking.
Gus Atkinson (37) and Kearse (20) revived England with an eight-wicket stand of 50 off 36 balls, hitting two sixes each before Doggett and Boland followed with Kearse, Archer (5) and Atkinson taking the final three wickets between them.
Then I moved on to the head.
Australia beat England by 164 runs in the second innings at Optus Stadium.
Ashes Series in Australia 2025-26
always UK and Ireland
1st Test (Perth): Australia beat England by 8 wickets 2nd Test (day/night): Thursday 4th December – Monday 8th December (4am) – The Gabba, Brisbane 3rd Test: Wednesday 17th December Days of the week – Sunday 21 December (11:30pm) – Adelaide Oval 4th Test: Thursday 25 December – Monday 29 December (11:30pm) – Melbourne Cricket Ground 5th Test: Sunday 4 January – Thursday 8 January (11:30pm) – Sydney Cricket Ground
