Head, Starc smother England as Australia march to 8-wicket in AUS vs ENG 1st Ashes Test

Travis Head's whirlwind 2nd innings century, along with Starc's 10-wicket haul helped Australia romp to a 8-wicket win in 1st Ashes Test

Travis Head has done the unthinkable yet again! The Australian batter once again proved that the is a clutch player as he hammered a 74-run ball whirlwind century to guide the Aussies home to a 8-wicket win in the two-day AUS vs ENG 1st Ashes Test in Perth on Saturday. The low-scoring contest which lasted for just a couple of days saw 19 wickets fall on Day 1 and 13 wickets on Day 2. In the last 16 Tests that England have played in Australia, they have lost 14 times and have drawn twice, meaning they have remained winless since then.

Head’ache’ for England in Perth

Elevated as an opener after Usman Khawaja’s struggles during the AUS vs ENG 1st Test, Head played his role to perfection. In fact, he reversed the Bazball technique on England, striking 16 fours and 4 sixes as he finished with 123 runs from 83 deliveries to ensure Australia were all but sure across the line. Marnus Labuschagne broke free from the shackles of poor form with a 51-run knock in the 2nd innings. Australia needed 205 runs to win the game with three days left and they easily shrugged off the demons of the 1st innings to march home to an rather easy victory.

Batting first in the contest, England were bowled out for 172 runs, with Mitchell Starc registering figures of 7/58. In response, Australia struggled as well, with just three batters managing to go past the 20-run mark. They were eventually bowled out for 132 runs, which meant England had a 40-run lead at the start of their 2nd innings.

However, it didn’t take long for Australia to send England packing on Day 2 as the latter lost 9 wickets in the second session of play. Starc delivered the first blow as he got rid of Zak Crawley for a second consecutive duck in the 1st session of play on Day 2. What followed was chaos, as Starc and Doggett struck thrice while Boland grabbed a four-wicket haul to reduce England to 164/10.

It then took just 28.2 overs for Australia to chase down the 200+ run target, as Head led the charge for the Aussies to clinch a convincing 8-wicket win against England, with skipper Steve Smith scoring the winning runs.