Travis Head played an innings for the ages as his counter attacking hundred blazed England away. Travis Head was a man on a mission and he played a blinder at the Optus Stadium as Australia came out of nowhere to beat England and go 1-0 up in the 5-match series. Mitchell Starc’s 7-wicket haul limited England to 172 before Ben Stokes’ 5-wicket haul kept Australia down to 132.
With a lead of 40 runs, England started well and then faded away to be bowled out for 164 with Scott Boland picking up 4 wickets while Mitchell Starc and Brendan Doggett picked up 3 wickets apiece. In the chase of 205, Travis Head blazed away to a counter-attacking century alongside Marnus Labuschagne’s unbeaten half-century took Australia over the line by 8 wickets inside 2 days of cricket. Let’s recap all that has happened in the two days of the Test match.
Mitchell Starc’s 7-wicket haul limited England to 172 in 32.5 overs
England won a good toss and decided to bat first. But they got off to the worst possible start as Mitchell Starc removed Zak Crawley for a duck and he later removed Ben Duckett and Joe Root as well to peg England back. These were Mitchell Starc’s initial 3 wickets as he was enroute to his 7-wicket haul. England had their moments as well but were not consistent enough to score big.
Ben Duckett made a quickfire 21 off 20 balls with 4 fours to his name. Ollie Pope at Number 3 looked solid for his 46 off 58 balls with 4 fours to his name. Harry Brook the vice-captain shone through with his 52 off 61 balls with 5 fours and a maximum and was the top scorer for England even while Joe Root missed out. Ben Stokes the captain went cheaply. Jamie Smith scored a quickfire 33 off 22 balls. But the lower order was skittled out by Australia led by Mitchell Starc as England were bowled out for 172 in 32.5 overs. 7 extras given by the fielding side.
Mitchell Starc was the pick of the bowlers for Australia with figures of 7/58 in 12.5 overs. He was ably supported by debutant Brendan Doggett who finished with 2/27 in 7 overs. Cameron Green bowled just one over and gave away 10 runs but picked up a wicket. Scott Boland had an off-day in the first innings as he gave away 62 runs in 10 overs and was wicketless. Nathan Lyon bowled 2 overs and gave away 10 runs and returned wicketless. It was advantage Australia at this stage was the feeling of one and all.
Ben Stokes’ inspirational 5-wicket haul skittled Australia out for 132 in 45.2 overs
Australia were dealt a blow before the start of their innings as regular opener Usman Khawaja could not open the batting as he spent a lot of time off the field nursing back spasms. It meant debutant Jake Weatherald walked out to bat with make-shift opener Marnus Labuschagne. Jofra Archer who had ball in hand for England provided England the perfect start removing the debutant Weatherald for a silver duck. Captain Steve Smith had to walk out to bat at 3.
It was a struggle for the Aussie pair of Smith and Labuschagne as they had to battle hard against disciplined England bowling. Labuschagne made 9 off 41 balls with one four to his name while the captain made 17 off 49 balls with 2 fours to his name. Usman Khawaja came out to bat at 4 and got out cheaply. Travis Head looked good while he was there as he made an enterprising 21 off 35 balls with one four to his name while Cameron Green looked good for his 24 off 50 balls with 2 fours to his name. Keeper-batter Alex Carey scored a run a ball 26 with 3 fours to his name.
Mitchell Starc scored 12 off 12 balls. But the innings never really took off and no one scored a half-century. Nathan Lyon and Brendan Doggett played a lot of balls but got single digit scores as Australia were eventually bowled out for 132 in 45.2 overs in early morning on Day 2. Lyon made 4 off 21 balls while Doggett was unbeaten on 7 off 30 balls. 10 extras given by England.
Captain Ben Stokes was the pick of the bowlers for England as he bowled an inspired spell of 5/23 in 6 overs. Brydon Carse supported him well with figures of 3/45 in 10.2 overs. Jofra Archer was terrific with the new ball as he finished with 2/11 in 9 overs. Gus Atkinson finished with 0/24 in 12 overs while Mark Wood finished with 0/21 in 8 overs. It meant that England had a lead of 40 runs in the first innings and it was advantage England after the completion of two innings.
Scott Boland’s 4-wicket haul skittles England out for 164 in 34.4 overs
With a 40-run lead, England openers Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett walked out to bat for England and Mitchell Starc had ball in hand for Australia. Starc provided Australia the early scalp as he removed Crawley for a duck who bagged a pair as well. But England fought hard as the partnership of Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope took the innings forward and pressed home the advantage from this point. England were about 99 runs ahead with 9 wickets in hand at Lunch on Day 2.
Ben Duckett made 28 off 40 balls with 3 fours to his name while Ollie Pope made 33 off 57 balls with 2 fours to his name. But the innings collapsed after Lunch as Scott Boland did the star turn with triple strike while Mitchell Starc got into the act as well. Joe Root had a game to forget as he scored single digit scores after scoring a duck in the first innings. Harry Brook went for a duck while captain Ben Stokes had another failure with the bat scoring only 2.
Jamie Smith looked good for his 15 off 25 balls with one four to his name before being adjudged caught behind on review after original decision was NOT OUT. It was a 50-50 call that went Australia’s way one would have to say. Gus Atkinson played a counter-attacking innings of 37 off 32 balls with 2 fours and 2 sixes to his name. Brydon Carse made 20 off 20 balls with 1 four and 2 sixes to his name. Jofra Archer made 5 off 3 balls with a boundary to his name while Mark Wood made an unbeaten 4 off 1 balls.
England collapsed from 65/1 to 76/5 and then to 88/6 and never really recovered after that as the cameos from the bowlers helped them get to 164 all out in 34.4 overs. 12 extras were given by the Australian bowlers and fielders.
Just 4 bowlers used by Australia with Scott Boland being the pick of the bowlers with figures of 4/33 in 11.4 overs. He was ably supported by Mitchell Starc who finished with 3/55 in 12 overs and a 10-wicket haul in the match, his 3rd 10-wicket haul. Debutant Brendan Doggett bowled well and chipped in with 3/51 in 9 overs. Cameron Green was used for 2 overs and gave away 13 runs. There was no usage of Nathan Lyon in this second innings. This meant that Australia needed 205 runs to win to go 1-0 up in the 5-match series.
Travis Head’s counter-attacking century takes Australia over the line and a 1-0 series lead
Australia were in a dilemma as to whom to open the batting as Usman Khawaja couldn’t open as he was off the field. It was decided that Travis Head would come out to open the batting with debutant Jake Weatherald and it was a bold move taken to open the batting with Head and boy what a move it was. It turned out to be a blessing for Australia and a nightmare for England if we are being honest about it.
After surviving an over or two, Travis Head went all guns blazing and dazzled away at the Optus Stadium. He was ably supported by Jake Weatherald but he was happy playing second fiddle to the Head show. Head tore apart the English attack inside out and no one was spared. Once he got his eye in, he was in the zone of creating a massacre and he did that with flying colours.
Jake Weatherald on debut showed his promise after scoring a silver duck in the first innings. He made 23 off 34 balls with 3 fours to his name and put on a 75-run first wicket stand with Head to lay the platform for the win. Then Marnus Labuschagne came out to bat next at his usual number 3 and he put in what turned out to be a match winning partnership with Head.
Head was the aggressor of the two while Labuschagne played second fiddle to him. England bowling looked flat and clueless and were taken to the cleaners. The duo of Head and Labuschagne put on 117 for the second wicket and totally flattened England. Captain Ben Stokes looked helpless and was taken to the cleaners as well while bowling. Like we mentioned, no bowler was spared. Head completed his breath-taking hundred and even switched gears after reaching his hundred.
He eventually fell for 123 off 83 balls with 16 fours and 4 sixes to his name but the score had reached 192 by the time he was dismissed and Australia needed only 13 runs when he departed and captain Steve Smith came to the crease. Marnus to his credit played second fiddle to Head but also grew in confidence and shifted gears as well scoring an unbeaten 51 off 49 balls with 6 fours and one six to his name. Captain Steve Smith came out to bat and scored an unbeaten 2 off 4 balls and hit the winning runs.
Australia got over the line very quickly. So much so, that it was achieved in 28.2 overs and England were left clueless and flattened to say the least. The Test match was over in two days. 6 extras was given by England. It was a day to forget and a hard toil for the English bowlers. Brydon Carse picked up both wickets and finished with 2/44 in 5.2 overs. Jofra Archer gave 45 in 8 overs. Gus Atkinson gave 61 in 9 overs. Mark Wood gave 23 runs in 3 overs. Ben Stokes was tonked for 18 in 2 overs. Joe Root bowled an over for 12 runs.
So, Australia win the game by 8 wickets inside 2 days to go 1-0 up in Ashes 2025-26. Mitchell Starc for his 10 wickets in the match edged out Travis Head and was awarded the Player of the Match Award.
What Lies Ahead
The first Test match in Perth is done and dusted in two days with Australia taking the honours and going 1-0 up in the 5-match series. The next Test match will take place at the Gabba in Brisbane and it is going to be a Pink Ball Test match. There are 12 days left for it as the Test match is set to kick off on 4th December 2025 at 9:30 AM IST.
It remains to be seen whether England can bounce back from this defeat or will Australia go 2-0 up after Brisbane. Only time will tell as we have a long time between now and the next Test match.
Also Read: Ashes 2025-26: Scott Boland’s 4-Wicket Haul Restricts England to 164 All Out