England suffer humiliating first Test defeat after yet another batting collapse – before Travis Head masterclass leads Australia to unlikely victory

Less than five and a half hours after being in apparent control of the first Ashes Test, England are 1–0 down to Australia, having suffered an eight-wicket defeat from which they will do well to recover.

On a raucous second evening at Perth Stadium, Australia were hurried to their target of 205 by a remarkable 123 off 82 balls from Travis Head, promoted to open in the absence of Usman Khawaja, whose back spasms will go down as one of the most fortuitous injuries in Test history.

Head’s century needed just 69 deliveries, the second-fastest in the Ashes, behind Adam Gilchrist’s 57-ball mayhem across the Swan River at the WACA 19 years ago. English fans had arrived here fully expecting a bit of Bazball – just not from an Australian.

But, for England, the damage had been done by an alarming afternoon collapse from 65 for one to 88 for six. In the cases of Ollie Pope, Harry Brook and Joe Root, who all fell in six balls without the addition of a run, little heed was paid to the old wisdom that you should never drive in Australia with a crooked bat, and preferably not on the up.

It was brainless few minutes, and it cost England dear, instantly undermining the work their bowlers had done on the first evening, when the narrative – not unreasonably – had been that they had unearthed a pace attack capable of discomforting Australia.

Now, the focus returned to the slapdash batting that had undermined England’s first innings barely 24 hours earlier. Dismissed in 32.5 overs on Friday, they lasted 34.4 on Saturday: no basis for an assault on the Ashes, even against an Australian team missing two of its best three seamers.

You have to go back to Nottingham in 1921 for the last two-day finish in an Ashes Test. And not since 1904 have England been bowled out twice inside the 67.3 overs they lasted here. It really was that bad.

The morning’s play had offered little sign of what was to come. At lunch, England seemed to have quietly taken control: having removed the last Australian wicket for the addition of just nine, they had built on a first-innings lead of 40 to reach the break on 59 for one.

Zak Crawley had come and gone for nought, completing the first pair by an England opener since Mike Atherton at Johannesburg in 1999-2000 thanks to a wondrous return catch by Mitchell Starc, diving at full stretch to his left to secure the ball an inch from the turf.

But Ben Duckett and Pope had ridden their luck, and England were 99 ahead. A couple of good partnerships, and the game was theirs. Wasn’t it?

Instead, a collapse of six for 39 meant that even an eighth-wicket stand of 50 in six overs between Gus Atkinson and Brydon Carse couldn’t tidy up the mess.

Havoc was wreaked first by Scott Boland, a passenger in the first innings, then by the inevitable Starc, who finished with match figures of 10 for 113. He has responded like a champion to the absence of Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood.

Boland had begun to settle into a rhythm before lunch, perhaps helped by Pope’s indecision over whether to defend or attack. Now, Boland squared up Duckett, on 28, in the second over after the break, before finally finding Pope’s edge after one hopeful drive too many. Three balls later, Brook aimed a drive that did not have the percentages on his side, and found Usman Khawaja in the slips.

But the stuffing was truly knocked out of the innings when Starc, with the second ball of a new spell, bowled Root off an inside edge for eight.

It was all so careless. Pope had fallen for the second time after playing himself in, adding 33 to his first-innings 46, while Brook didn’t bother playing himself in at all. Root, meanwhile, having at least avoided the indignity of a pair, offered to Starc an angled bat of the kind English players are warned to forego in these parts.

Not since March 2022, when he made nought and five against West Indies in Grenada – the game which triggered his resignation as captain – has he batted twice in a Test for a lower aggregate than his eight here. That first Ashes hundred in Australia looks as far away as ever.

And Australia were beside themselves when Starc removed Ben Stokes for two, adding a beauty that left him to the beauty that bowled him a little over 24 hours earlier.

If England’s collapse to 88 for six was clear-cut, the dismissal of Jamie Smith after a brief rally was anything but. When Australia reviewed a rejected appeal for caught behind down the leg side off Brendan Doggett, Smith began to walk off the moment DRS showed a small tremor as the ball passed his gloves and bat.

But TV umpire Sharfuddoula Saikat was less certain, spending an agonising few minutes trying to decide if the apparent gap visible to the naked eye could be overruled by the activity on Ultra-Edge. DRS protocol won the day: a snick one frame after the ball has passed the bat is considered ‘conclusive’, and Smith had to go.

Atkinson and Carse gave England hope, each clobbering a couple of sixes as Australia spread the field in expectation of a miscue, and the target had passed 200 by the time Doggett and Boland wrapped up the tail: all out 164.

If Australia felt uncomfortable at the prospect of chasing the highest score in the match, Head settled nerves almost immediately, dominating an opening stand of 75 inside 12 overs with Jake Weatherald, who made 23 before miscuing Carse to short extra, and moving to a 36-ball half-century as England fell to pieces.

His innings contained every trick in the bag, and more, making England’s bowlers look as powerless as they had been potent the day before. If the pitch had flattened out a touch, then that took nothing away from Head’s brilliance.

By the time he heaved Carse to Pope at deep midwicket, and walked off to a standing ovation, Australia needed only 13. Labuschagne’s unbeaten 51 eased them over the line, a pulsating chase complete within just 28.2 overs.

Only twice have England won in Australia after losing the first Test, and the more recent instance took place as long ago as 1954-55. There are defeats, and there are knockout blows. How England dust themselves off from here is anyone’s guess.