Australia wanted a spark at the top, and they got an explosion. With Usman Khawaja hobbling off with discomfort ahead of the fourth-innings chase, Australia threw a curveball by sending Travis Head out to open. In the first innings, Marnus Labuschagne opened but this time Head came, he conquered and left.
Travis Head demolishes England
What followed was one of those Ashes passages where the script gets ripped apart before anyone even settles in. Head didn’t just counterattack England. He beat them at their own game, taking the so-called Bazball philosophy and hitting a far more destructive version of it straight back at them.
The left-hander walked in with a 205-run target on a tricky Perth surface and treated the situation like it was a powerplay in a T20. From the first over, he went after Ben Stokes’ bowlers, forcing fielders into the deep, burning England’s early plans and leaving Stokes visibly stunned by the tempo.
Head reached his century in just 74 balls, making it the second-fastest hundred in Ashes history. Only Adam Gilchrist sits above him with his 57-ball mayhem in 2006. This new mark pushed Gilbert Jessop’s 76-ball effort from 1902 down the list and comfortably eclipsed Head’s own previous fastest Test ton (85 balls).
For Australia, it also went joint-third on their all-time fastest Test hundreds list, matching David Warner’s Perth hundred against India in 2011.
Australia’s call to use him as a stand-in opener came only because Khawaja wasn’t fully fit to resume. Debutant Jake Weatherald was steady, but it was Head who dictated everything. His assault turned brought party at Optus Stadium.
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