In short, England tried to play a certain style of Test cricket. Travis Head succeeded at it. As his numbers grew on the second afternoon here, what they represented grew more astonishing.
A normal 16 runs from 20 balls became brisk at 26 from 23. By the time it was 50 from 37, the frame of the usual had disappeared. Soon it was 68 from 49. Yes, players have scored faster now and then, but imagine batting in a fourth-innings Ashes chase on 84 from 59 balls. Imagine coming from behind in the first Test of a series to score 92 from 61.
When it arrived, Head’s century had taken 69 balls, the second-fastest in the Ashes. It trailed only Adam Gilchrist’s onslaught in 2006, across the river in this same city, when Gilchrist punished Monty Panesar, the England spinner who Steve Smith, took down verbally two days ago.
But Gilchrist was scoring declaration runs on a scorching day against a weary attack. Head took apart a supposed English pace battery on a cool second afternoon, against fresh bowlers who had hitherto sent down 45 overs in the match. It wasn’t even part of a plan.
You probably have an uncle who has emailed you a fake Sun Tzu strategy quote about finding a way to turn your weakness into your strength. But occasionally luck makes that happen despite you having no such intention. After match scores of 172, 132 and 164, a chase of 205 was enough to provoke nerves. Australia settled those with the opening stand, thanks to a player who was not supposed to open the batting.
It has been publicly contentious that Australia arrived in this series relying on Usman Khawaja, a sprightly 38 years old in the broader world, but an old man as a Test opener. In this match, he could not have done any more to appear like a senior citizen. He fumbled but recovered his first slip catch, then was too slow reaching down for his second.
When your team bowls out the opposition inside 33 overs on day one and 35 overs on day two, it is an achievement to have to leave the field in both innings for treatment on stiffness, then soreness, then back spasms. Fairly or not, that he had spent the previous three days playing golf did not improve anyone’s disposition to that news.
By his absence near the end of each bowling innings, he upset the order when it was Australia’s turn to bat, the regulations not allowing him to open due to time off the field. In Australia’s first innings that led to disarray. The debutant opener Jake Weatherald lost the partner he had prepared with, Marnus Labuschagne had a new job and where Smith expected a few overs as a spectator, he was suddenly facing the third ball of the innings at No 3.
Khawaja emerged at No 4, nowhere close to the pace of the game, unable to drop his gloves while making a short ball from Brydon Carse look like it had been bowled by Mark Wood. Whatever could have gone wrong with Khawaja’s selection had done.
By the second innings, the problem flipped into an opportunity. Khawaja’s absence was more expected and while the players considered solutions including a sacrificial tailender, Head volunteered. As someone who has filled the role temporarily on Asian tours, it wasn’t new to him and having been below his best across formats for the past few months, trying something new perhaps didn’t have much downside.
He took his time at first, picked off a few boundaries in his conventional spots through midwicket and cover. But one uppercut over the cordon for six and he was away. There was an outrageous carve over the fence behind point, a hook for the same over the keeper.
Nor did he forget that four is useful multiple. Ben Stokes was talked up as a talisman after five for 23 in the first innings, but when he rolled up in the second, Head gave him no chance to be so again. Cover drive, pull shot, straight drive, pull shot, four boundaries in five balls. If the back of the chase had not been broken with the score at 89, it was at 106.
From there, Head did as he pleased, galloping around the crease, batting from short leg, batting from silly point, slotting short balls that he could barely reach, matching the pace of the madcap game England aspire to, but with a consistency that their players failed to find. What he hadn’t finished doing with his 77 in Leeds in 2023 he finished here, with an innings that mirrored Brisbane 2021: the first Test of a series in Australia, Head celebrating an Ashes hundred, removing his helmet to the guttural roar of a crowd.
In Brisbane four years ago, he had roared along 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 swinging his bat like a man twirling a cane, whistling a jaunty tune during a turn down the promenade. He has done this before and he knows what it feels like.
So this hundred will go down with Brisbane, and the World Test Championship final, and the World Cup final; another entry on an increasingly crowded personal honour roll. The loss will go on the longer list of English humiliations in Australia. Given this side’s relative resourcing and talent compared to touring parties of the past, this one has a strong claim to be worse than any.
But perhaps most of all, it’s because of England’s years of talk about cultivating 11 players to approach the game in a certain way, only to be beaten by the one player on the opposing team who does the same.
