In the first Ashes Test at Perth, Australia overcame the turmoil of the first three innings to win by eight wickets with three full days remaining. England captain Ben Stokes said that he and his team were “shellshocked” by Travis Head’s incredible 69-ball century.
When England went to the second-day lunch break on 65 for 1, with a lead of 99 and nine wickets in hand, they appeared to have the match under control. However, Head’s incredible performance of 123 from 83 balls had taken the momentum away from them, and he departed the pitch to a standing ovation.
However, a disastrous collapse of 4 for 11 in 19 balls, which was started by a brilliant spell from Scott Boland, shifted the balance of power back to Australia. Head was promoted to the top of the order in lieu of Usman Khawaja, who was injured, and he came out swinging, blasting Australia to their target in just 28.2 overs, even though England’s lower-order rallied to set the hosts 205 for victory, the highest innings total of the match.
Stokes was amazed by Australia’s matchwinner at the post-match presentations, and it was a case of England being thoroughly defeated at their own hard-hitting game.
When Stokes told the host broadcaster, “We’re a little bit shellshocked there,” “Travis Head had a really outstanding inning. At the moment, it’s really fresh and raw, but wow, that was a knock. It has taken the wind away from us.
In response to a question about whether he regretted England’s strategy for their own second innings, specifically three big shots from Joe Root, Harry Brook, and Ollie Pope during that post-lunch collapse, Stokes maintained that Head’s own success showed that England’s strategy had been correct, but that their execution had been subpar.
“If you look at the way the game eked out, the guys who seemed to have success out there with bat in hand were the guys who were really brave and took the game on,” Stokes explained. “There didn’t seem to be much success for anyone who attempted to remain there and occupy the crease.
“On wickets like this, you never feel like you’ve got enough, so if you’re the one who got in, try to give yourself the best chance to continue. There was plenty of help when the bowlers hit the ball in the proper spots. It seemed to work for the guys who had the guts to knock the bowlers off their lengths.
But ultimately, Head’s incredible assault left England speechless. “We tried three or four different plans at him,” Stokes responded when asked what more he might have done to stop such an aggressive innings. Since those runs were coming down fast, plans can alter rapidly while he was moving like a train.
“I’ve watched Travis perform a lot of knocks like that in both white-ball and Test cricket. You can’t stop him.”
The two-day conclusion means that England will now have nearly two weeks to get ready for the day-night Test in Brisbane, which starts on December 4. Although Stokes acknowledged that his team would have to recover from such a crushing loss, he claimed that the first innings’ performance by his five-man pace attack demonstrated that there would be some encouraging aspects to the remainder of the series.
“The way in which we bowled yesterday was simply phenomenal,” Stokes commented. “Day one saw a lot of action; the bowlers had a solid day as 19 wickets were lost.
“We thought we were in control of the game and were going out there to bowl in that fourth innings, so this is a really difficult one to start the series. We still have four games left.
We’ll undoubtedly give this time to sink in. Although it is obviously very painful, we must get our act together, proceed to Brisbane, and then get started right away.”
India
