Travis Head continued his tendency to deliver in the clutch moments for Australia, saving his best for when the going gets tough and the pressure is on.
With Australia set to chase 205 in a low-scoring opening Test of the Ashes in Perth, Head was promoted to the top of the order and he rose to the occasion with a record-setting 69-ball century. On a pitch that wasn’t too kind to the batters, Australia chased down the 205-run target in just 28.2 overs with 8 wickets in hand as the first Ashes Test ended inside two days.
Head has been Australia’s go-to opener in limited-overs cricket, as well as in certain matches in subcontinental conditions. However, when it comes to matches on home soil, he has been preferred to bat in the middle order. In fact, this was the first time Head was sent as an opener in a home Test. This hardly mattered during the chase in Perth, as he looked to be batting on a completely different surface to the rest of the players to bring up his 10th Test century.
Head was promoted to attack and put the pressure right back on England after they were bowled out inside 35 overs on Day 2. Head whacked 16 fours and 4 sixes en route to his blistering century to set them up for a victory.
He was ultimately dismissed on 123(83), with Australia only 13 runs away from victory, as he found the fielder off Brydon Carse while trying to wrap things up quickly.
Marnus Labuschagne, who showed his own counter-attacking ability to score at a quick rate and finished with 51*(49) before Steven Smith scored the winning runs.
Head matches Warner’s world record
Head took 69 deliveries to reach his century, which is the fastest-ever century in the fourth innings of a Test match.
It stands as Australia’s joint-third fastest in Test history. He is behind only Adam Gilchrist’s 57-ball ton at the WACA against England in 2006, Jack Gregory’s 67-ball ton at Johannesburg in 1921, and matches David Warner’s 69-ball ton against India, once again at the WACA, in 2012.
Overall, this stands as the joint-fastest ever century by an opening batter in the long history of Test cricket, matching Warner’s record, which came against India in 2011-12.
Head heads-and-shoulders above other batters in Perth
This was Head’s 10th Test century, and his third against England. He also continues his trend of starting home series against England with big performances: He scored 152 against England at the Gabba in the opening Test of the 2021-22 Ashes series.
Head started relatively watchfully, scoring only 3 off his first 14 deliveries before scoring his first boundary. After that, it took him only 55 deliveries to score his next 97 runs. He took the attack to England’s best bowlers, including Jofra Archer, and ensured he didn’t give away his wicket in a tame fashion as he had in the first innings.
Head’s innings was the highest score of the match, more than doubling the next-highest, which was Harry Brook’s 52 in the first innings.
England collapse again, batters fail
Earlier, Mitchell Starc became the first Australian bowler to take an Ashes 10-fer in 34 years, and was ably supported by Scott Boland bouncing back with 4 wickets in the second innings. Debutant Brendan Doggett was almost amongst the wickets, finishing with 5 wickets in the match on his debut.
At one point in their third innings, England had a 99-run lead with only one wicket down, and Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope set at the crease. However, after that point, they lose their next 9 wickets for 105 runs. This included going from 76/2 to 76/5 in the space of 5 deliveries.