Travis Head, serving as a makeshift opener, scored a rapid century off 69 balls to lead Australia to victory in the opening Ashes Test at Perth Stadium against England.Australia successfully chased down a target of 205 runs on day two, securing an eight-wicket win. Head scored 123 runs while Marnus Labuschagne remained unbeaten on 51 and Steve Smith on 2.“Wow, what a couple of days. It’s been unbelievable,” said Head. “The emotions are pretty high. They (England) were seriously good out there yesterday and started to drag it back, so we knew we couldn’t afford to let the game slip. To be able to contribute the way I did, it feels pretty special.”“Out of this world. He hit some outrageous shots,” said stand-in Australia captain Steve Smith about Head’s performance.“It was quite a helter-skelter two days,” said Mitchell Starc after his 10-wicket match haul. “This one will hurt us. Not just us but the people who follow the English cricket team as well,” said England coach Brendon McCullum to TNT Sports.“England made huge mistakes with the bat in 2023 at the start of Ashes series. They went 2-0 down. They have made exactly the same mistakes here,” said former England captain Michael Vaughan on X.“This is a defeat they’re going to find very difficult to come back from. The whole nation will now go at them,” said ex-England skipper Nasser Hussain on Sky Sports.“England’s batting will have to be pored over and looked at,” said former England spinner Phil Tufnell to the BBC.The Australian victory was set up by pace bowlers Scott Boland and Mitchell Starc, who triggered an England collapse after lunch.England were well-positioned at 65-1 and building their second-innings lead when Boland and Starc struck with four wickets in four overs.Boland dismissed Ben Duckett (28), Ollie Pope (33), and Harry Brook (0) in quick succession, while Starc removed Joe Root for eight.Starc then claimed Ben Stokes for 2, leaving England struggling at 88-6. This completed Starc’s third career 10-wicket match haul, following his first innings figures of 7-58.A 50-run partnership between Gus Atkinson (37) and Brydon Carse (20) provided some resistance before England was dismissed for 164 at tea.“Little bit shell-shocked there,” said Stokes. “Travis Head was phenomenal, jeez that was some knock. We tried 3-4 different plans there, he was going like a train. The runs were coming through quickly, he is really hard to stop when he plays like that.”
