Travis Head’s 69-ball century in Perth helped Australia take a 1-0 series lead against England in the Ashes.
As England meekly surrendered at the Perth Stadium cauldron, opener Travis Head led Australia to victory on Saturday with an explosive 69-ball century.
Chasing 205 for victory, Head smashed 123 on the second day as the hosts raced home by eight wickets to make a dramatic start to the five-match series. Marnus Labuschagne sat out with 51 and Steve Smith came in with two.
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Head’s heroics came courtesy of a ferocious attack from the speedy pair of Scott Boland and Mitchell Starc after lunch, sparking England’s stunning collapse.
The tourists were cruising on 65-1 and had built an eerie lead in the bottom of their second innings, but Borland and Starc faltered with four wickets in the same over.
Ruthless Boland scored Ben Duckett (28), Ollie Pope (33) and Harry Brook (0) in the space of 11 balls, and two deliveries later Starc forced Joe Root to pack in eight balls.
England were languishing at 88-6 when Starc removed captain Ben Stokes (2), with the veteran paceman registering just his third 10-wicket haul after a first innings of 7-58, which was his best.
England were partially saved by a decisive 50-run stand between Gus Atkinson (37) and Brydon Kearse (20), but were rolled out for 164 at tea time.
When the team returned, Usman Khawaja once again failed to open the scoring against stiffness and Australia showed their intent by sending in a header.
Head, who has taken the lead nine times in Test cricket so far, quickly got into a devastating rhythm, smashing in some fine boundaries that included big sixes from Kearse and Mark Wood.
He mocked other batsmen’s struggles on bouncy tracks, made it look easy, and in the process surpassed 4,000 Test runs, making a half-century off 36 balls.
Trying to imitate him, debutant Jake Weatherald also went on the attack, but was hit by a mistimed pull shot from Kearse to Ben Duckett and was out for 23 points.
The unflappable Head continued to apply pressure, slamming four boundaries in one Stokes over and sending a back six over the head of Jofra Archer on his way to his 10th Test century.
He was eventually felled by Curse and was looking for another big hit.
stark stars
Australia resumed with a paltry 123-9 in the first innings, adding just nine runs before Nathan Ryan was beaten for four by Kearse, leaving England with a 40-run advantage.
Stokes was the star of the show, taking five wins and 23 losses off just 36 balls, giving England a golden chance to win their first Test in Australia since the 2010-11 series.
They were all out for 172 on the first day at the hands of Stark.
Australia will be hoping the 35-year-old will emulate his exploits in the second innings, where he electrified the packed Perth Stadium crowd when he dismissed Zac Crawley in the first over.
The veteran left the pair to Crawley, diving to his left and displaying his incredible athleticism for a memorable catch-and-bowl.
Duckett and Pope settled down and made it to lunch safely, 59-1.
But when they returned, Scott Borland started finding his radar.
Duckett beat Steve Smith at slip, then Pope did the same to wicketkeeper Alex Carey and Brook repeated the feat against Khawaja.
After a duck in the first innings, Joe Root looked desperately for a score but was no match for the relentless Starc and dragged a thick edge to the stumps, capping off a miserable start to the series.
Brendan Doggett then cleaned up Jamie Smith (15), Kearse and Archer (5).
