England skipper Ben Stokes admitted he was left “a little bit shell-shocked” after Australian batter Travis Head’s blistering 69-ball century that helped Australia seal the match at Perth.
Chasing 205, Australia stormed to the target on day two as Head scored 123 runs off 83 balls, marking the fastest Ashes hundred by an opener. Travis was assisted by Marnus Labuschagne who scored an unbeaten 51* guiding Australia to a 1-0 lead in the Ashes 2025-2026.
Stokes praised Head’s fearless counter-attack, saying England struggled to contain him despite switching through multiple plans. “He was going like a train… really hard to stop when he plays like that,” Stokes said.
Head, promoted to open in place of the injured Usman Khawaja, punished England’s short-ball tactics and reached his fifty in 36 balls before raising his tenth Test century in trademark style.
Australia’s dominance followed a fiery bowling display, with Mitchell Starc completing a 10-wicket match haul and Scott Boland sparking England’s collapse from 65-1 to 164 all out.
Stokes urged his team to regroup quickly. “We’ve got four games to go… move on and think about Brisbane,” he said.
