Travis Head’s big numbers equate to a bloody zero for England | Geoff Lemon

In short, England were trying to play a particular style of Test cricket. Travis Head has succeeded. As his numbers grew on the second afternoon here, what they represented became more and more astonishing.

A normal 16 runs from 20 balls became lively at 26 off 23. By the time it was 50 off 37, the frame of the usual had disappeared. Soon it was 68 off 49. Yes, players have scored quicker every now and then, but imagine batting in a fourth-innings Ashes chase on 84 off 59 balls. Imagine coming from behind in the first Test of a series and scoring 92 out of 61.

When it arrived, Head’s century had taken 69 balls, the second fastest in the Ashes. It only followed Adam Gilchrist’s strike in 2006, across the river in the same city, when Gilchrist punished Monty Panesar, the England spinner who verbally brought down Steve Smith two days ago.

But Gilchrist scored declaration runs on a scorching day against a tired attack. Head took apart a so-called English pace battery on a cool second afternoon, against new bowlers who had shot 45 overs into the match so far. It wasn’t even part of a plan.

You probably have an uncle who emailed you a fake Sun Tzu strategy quote about finding a way to turn your weakness into your strength. But every now and then, luck makes that happen, even though you don’t intend it to. After match scores of 172, 132 and 164, a chase of 205 was enough to raise the nerves. Australia settled that with the opening score, thanks to a player who was not allowed to open the batting.

It has been publicly controversial that Australia arrived in this series relying on Usman Khawaja, a sprightly 38-year-old in the wider world but an old man as the Test opener. In this match he couldn’t have done more to come across as an elderly person. He fumbled, but recovered his first slip catch and then was too slow with his hand to his second.

When your team bowls out the opponent within 33 overs on day one and 35 overs on day two, it’s an achievement to have to leave the field in both innings for treatment for stiffness, then pain, then back spasms. Fair or not, the fact that he had spent the last three days playing golf didn’t improve anyone’s attitude towards that news.

His absence at the end of each bowling innings saw him disrupt the order when it was Australia’s turn to bat, as regulations did not allow him to open due to time off the field. This led to chaos in Australia’s first innings. Debutant opener Jake Weatherald lost the partner he had prepared with, Marnus Labuschagne had a new job and where Smith expected to play a few overs as a spectator, he suddenly found himself facing the third ball of the innings at number 3.

Khawaja found himself at number 4, nowhere near the pace of the game, and couldn’t drop his gloves as he made a short ball from Brydon Carse look like it had been bowled by Mark Wood. Whatever could have gone wrong with Khawaja’s selection, it had.

In the second innings the problem turned into an opportunity. Khawaja’s absence became more expected and while the players considered solutions including a sacrificial tailender, Head volunteered. As someone who has performed the role temporarily on Asian tours, it wasn’t new to him and having been below his best across all formats in recent months, trying something new may not have had many downsides.

Early on, he took his time and found a few boundaries at his conventional spots through midwicket and cover. But one uppercut over the cordon for six and he was gone. There was an outrageous nick over the fence behind the point, a hook for the same over the keeper.

Nor did he forget that four is a useful multiple. Ben Stokes was named talismanic after five for 23 in the first innings, but when he rolled up in the second innings, Head didn’t give him a chance to be that again. Cover drive, pull shot, straight drive, pull shot, four boundaries in five balls. If the tail end of the chase hadn’t been broken with a score of 89, it would have been 106.

From there Head did as he pleased, galloping around the crease, batting from short leg, batting from silly point, placing short balls he could barely reach, matching the pace of the silly game England strived for, but with a consistency their players couldn’t find. What he hadn’t done at Leeds in 2023, he finished here, with an innings that resembled Brisbane 2021: the first Test of a series in Australia, with Head celebrating an Ashes hundred and removing his helmet to the guttural roar of a crowd.

Four years ago in Brisbane he had roared with them, the joy of the breakthrough. Here it was different, there was a lightness. He played the whole innings smiling and when the salute came he greeted it waving his bat like a man twirling a walking stick and whistling a cheerful tune as he took a turn along the boardwalk. He’s done this before and he knows what it feels like.

So these hundred will go down along with Brisbane, and the World Test Championship final, and the World Cup final; another entry on an increasingly busy personal honors list. The loss joins the longer list of English humiliations in Australia. Given the relative resources and talent of this side compared to touring sides of the past, it has a strong claim to be worse than anyone else.

But perhaps most importantly, it comes from the years of talk in England about cultivating eleven players to approach the game in a certain way, only to be defeated by the one opposing player doing the same.