GABBA: Middle-order batter Travis Head thumped a century in a session to rip the game away from England on the second day of the opening Ashes Test at the Gabba on Thursday.
At the close of play, Australia were 343-7, a lead of 196 on England’s dismal first-innings total of 147. Head was on 112 from only 95 balls, alongside Mitchell Starc, who was not-out 10.
Head made the joint third-fastest Ashes century, off 85 balls, and became the first to score a Test century in a session at the Gabba, to torch any hopes England had after Australia had lost 4 for 29 in the afternoon to lead by just 48 with five wickets in hand.
England had threatened a comeback after tea when Ollie Robinson took two wickets in consecutive balls, but Head’s aggressive innings put paid to any hopes of a miracle recovery.
Head came to the crease with Australia 189-3 after Steve Smith edged Mark Wood to keeper Jos Buttler just before tea. He then watched David Warner (94) and Cameron Green depart to Robinson’s accurate seamers after the break, with Australia still only 89 runs ahead.
But the 27-year-old Head attacked from the outset and was particularly harsh on spinners Jack Leach and Joe Root. He smashed two sixes and 12 boundaries in his century, his third overall and his first since the Boxing Day Test against New Zealand in 2019.
Leach, 1-95 from 11 overs, failed to assert any control and with Ben Stokes also struggling for fitness, skipper Root had to rely heavily on his three-man seam attack. Earlier, Warner rode his luck in the first two sessions.
Warner’s good fortune began in the opening session when Stokes bowled him when he was on 17, but the all-rounder had overstepped to give the Australian opening batsman a reprieve. It later transpired that technology issues were at the centre of the no-ball drama.
Television replays showed that Stokes had also overstepped on the first three balls of his over, but nothing was called. That led to suggestions that had he been called earlier by the umpires, he would have adjusted his run-up and Warner’s prized wicket — on Stokes’s fourth delivery — may have stood.
Cricket Australia later said the technology that TV umpires use to help check no-balls was not working.
