England suffered another Ashes nightmare Down Under after falling to a humiliating two-day defeat in the first Test against Australia.
A two-month tour that began with high hopes of regaining the urn just 48 hours earlier lurched towards a brutal eight-wicket loss that was their fastest since their last two-day capitulation in 1921.
England’s error-prone batting was found wanting for the second day in a row as they tossed away a strong position and opened the door to a thrashing at the hands of 69-ball centurion Travis Head.
Sterling work by their pace attack somehow turned their day one effort of 172 into a first-innings lead of 40, and just after lunch that had swelled to 105 for the lost of a single wicket. But they proceeded to lose nine for 99 – a job for the emergency services in any country – as the worst fears of England fans came true.
Some late blows from the tail left Australia chasing 205, the highest score of the match, but they walked it as Head smashed the English attack to all parts.
Stepping up as makeshift opener with Usman Khawaja nursing back pain he hammered 123 in 83 balls, the second-quickest Ashes hundred ever, as a crestfallen bowling group saw their previous menace evaporate.
But the real fault lay with the batters who pressed them back into service so soon. England were unforgivably loose in losing all 20 wickets in just 67.5 overs and their inability to keep out a Baggy Green attack shorn of key men Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood will cut deep. In their absence Mitchell Starc was unstoppable, taking combined figures of 10-133.
Australia were bowled out for 132 in the morning, Brydon Carse taking the final scalp, but England’s problems began almost immediately as Zak Crawley was dismissed for his second duck of the match. On both occasions he has failed to see out the first over from Starc and looks in a torrid place.
Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope restored calm in a stand of 65 as the lead ticked past three figures but Scott Boland had Duckett caught behind to kickstart the chaos. A ruinous sequence followed as Pope, Harry Brook and Joe Root were dismissed in the space of six deliveries without a run added to the total.
Pope, who led a charmed life for his 33, finally provided the edge he had been threatening against Boland, who then got the dangerous Brook for nought as he fenced at his third delivery.
Starc then picked up the baton. Following career-best figures of 7-58 in the first innings, as well as a second rout of Crawley in the morning, he sent Root’s stumps flying off a big inside edge before having England’s inspirational captain Ben Stokes caught in the cordon.
Jamie Smith was controversially given caught behind off Brendan Doggett, with a painfully long DRS review going with the bowler.
From 104-7, England piled on a lively 50 partnership as Gus Atkinson and Carse took on a ring of boundary fielders, sharing three fours and four sixes.
But their luck ran out as the home side quelled the counter-attack just before the tea break, with Boland’s 4-33 the pick.
Khawaja’s fitness issues prompted a creative rethink, with the swashbuckling Head emerging to play a magical innings.
His presence instantly changed the terms of the debate, presenting England with a confident strokemaker rather than a tentative prodder. It proved an inspired decision as he took the pressure off rookie partner Jake Weatherald following his first-day duck.
Head offered immediate impetus and blasts of adrenaline, uppercutting Carse for six straight over the wicketkeeper’s head and carving him extravagantly over deep third.
As English heads dropped, he began flexing – stepping inside the line of a 90mph ball from Mark Wood and whipping six more beyond fine leg.
The speed gun showed that the quicks had lost their collective mojo and Carse’s dismissal of Weatherald for 23 barely lightened the mood.
Head was in a rush to finish it, peppering the boundaries with abandon before holing out to allow skipper Steve Smith the honour of the winning runs.
