The Ashes: England hammered in Perth

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You're listening to the TMS podcast from BBC Radio 5 live. Fast turned to the distance. Here it comes. Evolves to Australia's captain Steve Smith, who forces him off the back foot. Lovely shot. The ball just roll away towards the boundary. Might not quite get there, but they've scored the run they need. That is a quite remarkable victory by.

Australia after 2 days. Only Australia are 1 nil up in this Ashes series with a remarkable comeback on the second day lunch. England were 59 for one. They led by 99 and he thought one good session of batting in the afternoon and England can take the game away from Australia. But Australia bounced back. England lost nine wickets in the afternoon session. Still, Australia needed to score the highest score in the match to win. 205. They did it. No trouble at all in 28.2 overs, thanks to a stunning hundred by Travis Head. He's done it before. He's done it in World Test championship finals, he's done it in 50 over World cup finals. And today he did it in the first Ashes Test, 123 of 83 balls. He reached 169 balls, the joint sixth fastest in Test match history. And England were brushed aside in five hours of devastating cricket. First they collapsed and then Australia romped to victory. Michael Vaughan is alongside me. Well, what do you make of that Michael?

Well, I'm flat because it was only 5 hours 20 minutes ago that England were in control of the Test match. 100 runs in front, one wicket down that the pitch was doing a little bit and they they play quite nicely after lunch. Bowling ball's a good ball to Ben Ducket. And from there on in, you know, I look back to 2023 and the first Test match at Edgbaston, the second innings where Nathan Line got five wickets. England played some atrocious shots, allowed Australia into the contest. Pat Cummings saw them home with that terrific chase, one nil down. So mistakes from England in 2023. You go back to the second Test match of that series. 185 for one Nathan line off the field. The bouncer theory from Pat Cummings, all of a sudden, I think 24 overs later in the bowled out. So mistakes from England, the two nil down, two years later. And let's go back to the Indian series in the summer when Jaspic Bum rebowled in and played Jasper Bum with a huge amount of respect. They played him, if I dare say, the attritional Test match way where they left him. If he bowled a bad ball, of course they hit it. But they didn't risk too much against Jasper Bumrah. What I've seen here, and I'm so disappointed because from that position of dominance yesterday, five for trials at the back end, I look back to that. They should have got 250 in the first innings at least. So there's the mistake today to lose nine wickets in that middle session and three for naught, with three big drives from three quality players in Ollie Pope, Harry Brook, Joe Root. The same mistakes two years later. And what you look for in a team is, are you improving, are you learning, are you getting better? Can you change the way that you play at certain times in the situations that the Test match dictates to you against quality bowling, this England side at the worst possible time, where they've had the best team for the conditions here in Perth, everyone fit. The paces yesterday afternoon were absolutely outstanding. The batters have made exactly the same mistakes that they made in 2023. And that's unexcusable because you know when you come to this kind of place and you know it's going to be hostile, you know, there's been many. And this isn't reacting to what's happened today because at the end of day one, we were saying, this is great England's bowling attack, but the batting in the first innings wasn't good enough. And the batters have made the same mistakes as they made two years ago. And I'm so disappointed because I thought against India in the summer, I thought, well, I've seen enough to suggest that England are Willing to go up and down in the gears. And when the field gets spread, particularly here, the acreage here in the outfields are so big, when the field gets spread, you've got it. Just knock it into the gats for ones from zoos. I've seen an England batting lineup that's been bowled out twice in 67 overs that have only looked to score boundaries. I haven't seen one player go, do you know, maybe a bit of Ollie Pope actually, bit of Ben Ducket at times today, but primarily all the batting lineup have gone out there and gone, you know what, we're going to play baseball on these massive acreage fields against some decent B. And it was, by the way, Cumins and Hayeswood haven't played this week. The conditions have been perfect for England. No C Haywood, not boiling hot. They've got a five man attack that's outstanding for this, this pitch and the batters have completely let the team down.

So just to sort of narrow it down, the focus, really brutally honest on that spell, just after lunch, those three players playing the big drives.

Yeah, it's the big drives, but it's more the method. The method in the first thing for me was just the. When when basball first started, it was a bit chaos. And many of us have been saying, we just want to see basball with brains. Well, the brains haven't arrived. You know, yesterday afternoon it was probably the best Test cricket I've seen from an England side in terms of the ball in hand. But you go back to the batting and we thought, oh, it's a decent score in the first innings because we bowled Australia out cheaply. But if you actually look back to the first innings batting, it was really poor. They were in a great position. 160 for, for 5. Harry Brook and Jamie Smith going well. And then all of a sudden, what, 15 minutes later, the bowled out. It's just not good enough because they're all trying to whack it to the boundary. They haven't learned and that. And that's really frustrating for me because I've seen enough with the England side in the last year that I thought, yeah, they're learning. They are learning. You go back to the overlaps against India, 30 required in the last morning, all right, Chris Wils has only got one arm, so four wickets left in the tank and they played all the shots in the world and they lost to India. They should have strolled that game by just playing with a bit of sense. And this way is incredibly enjoyable. It's incredibly exciting. I can't see how they win a big series batting in that fashion.

What did you think about the. The equation? 205 to win. Did you think it was defendable?

Yep, I did because today I saw enough movement, I saw enough swing. There's brilliance from start. Boland found his, his rhythm. Doggett produced a few tactics that were quite hard for England. Then there was that partnership, Atkinson and cast of 50. I thought that's taken to England over 200 that the highest score in the match is going to be the fourth innings in the game. It very rarely happens in test match Creek. So yeah, I thought England had a great chance. But you know, you look at the bowlers and you think, well, they've only had 33 overs rested. It's not 33 overs because they were padding up after probably 15, 17 overs. So the mentally not having that switch off from being out in the middle bowling. And when you've got an England side, they've got. Mark Wood's not played since February. Joffre's only played two test matches in two years. Stokes, he's had injuries. Carson and. And Guac have never played in this environment and they would have been emotionally drown drained from day one to get them back out bowling after just 30 odd hours. It's just unacceptable and, and it's silly for us to think that England can win playing that way down under. I have said England have got all the tools required to be successful in Australia, but you can't win if you don't use the tools correctly. And this week, particularly with the bat in hand, they've just not used their tools correctly.

We've seen it before from Travis Head though, haven't we? I mean that was stunning.

Brilliant.

Brilliant and a great move. I believe he went into the dressroom and said, I'll open. He's done it in test match cricket. He obviously does it in white ball cricket. And that was a special Ashes innings and we'll talk about that innings for a long period of time. But I don't actually blame the bowlers this afternoon because I just look at the batting and thinking you can't lose nine wickets in a session. You can't lose five for 12 yesterday. You can't just try and crash the ball to the boundary against some quality bowlers when the bowling just outside of storm on that length. We all know the big drive in Perth, you know, with the full face of the blade just outside the off store. It's such a risky shot because there's just an extra bit of Bounce. I don't want to go back over the preparation, but people will start to look at the preparation for the batters. You know, the bowlers, they look like they did a good job in terms of preparing them physically. They look ready. But you can't play on wickets that bounds a bit. If you don't play on wickets that bounds a bit. And I'll go back to the preparation. I have no problem with playing one game. I have a problem with the playing on a pitch at Lila kill with the ball bounces knee high. Surely they could have had the whacker year or so ago, could they have said to cricket Australia, by the way, we're coming to Australia like India did. They had eight days preparation at the wacker where the ball bounces middle practice, net practice. India won here last year. England, whether they like it or not, all these kind of conversations are going to come back to them because they haven't had that much preparation. They've been absolutely blown away in, in what, five hours of test match cricket from here on in. What do they do? Where do they go from here?

Well, that's what I want to ask you about. Next. Talk about preparation for this game. But what about the preparation for the next game? So now there's an extra two, three days. So it's something I had 11 days, might even be 12 between this game and the Brisbane match. Now there's a two day game in Canberra, day night game, which is a day night game. And our understanding at the moment is that none of the batters will be going to play in that game. I mean it's essentially going to be a Lions game against a cricket. Australia 11. What do you make of that?

I would say, Simon, it's amateurish if they don't go and play now, what harm is playing two days of cricket with a pink ball under lights?

Because they don't play much pink ball cricket.

What damage is it going to do you as a team and a player to play a pink ball game, to prepare yourself to play a pink ball game against Stark?

Are we talking about the batters here? Not the bowlers. The batters.

The bowlers even. I mean, they've played two days of cricket, two days of test. They've been out in the field for what, 70 overs? Sure. Look, the professional cricketers, I can't be so old school to suggest that by playing cricket you might get a little bit better. And you know, when you've been hammered like this, they'll probably go away and have a, have a week doing what they do, which is they can do whatever they wish. It's their time as management to decide how they want to prepare the team. My method would be, you've got a pink ball, two day game, go and grab it, go and take it. Play those two days and, and make sure that you give yourself, just giving yourself the best chance.

It's not.

Being old school suggests that, you know, a pink ball is different to a red ball. Playing under the lights is different. Australia have won pretty much every pink ball game in Australia. They've lost ones. I'm not too old school to suggest that they should play in that game. I think they all should go and play the game. I think it's sensible to do that. It's not, it's not. I'd like to know why they wouldn't, you know, they are professional cricketers and I think they should go and prepare and play that pink ball game.

What do you think what's happened really this afternoon more than anything means for the rest of the series?

Well, we'll find out. We'll find out. This is the ultimate challenge. It's incredibly tough. Just a few hours ago I was looking at this England side going, this is incredible. They've got it. They've got the tools, they've got the attack. I now sit here after just a few hours thinking, I've seen this movie before. Playing in Australia is not easy and they're gonna have to find an incredible amount of mentality and they're gonna have to find some form. I mean, Zach Crawley's got a pair. I mean, you've got to tell me that Zach Crawley will play a pink ball game when he's just got a pair of, you know, you got a few runs at Lilaco, which counts for nothing now, you know, he's bagged a pair in the test match in Perth. So I'll be very interested to see what goes. But it's a long way back when you go one nil down in Australia. Not many England teams have come back, if any. The two times that we've had success down here in our times have been 86, 87. They won the first Test, 10 and 11. They drew that first Test match. They've lost the first Test. So it's an uphill struggle.

Michael, thanks very much indeed. We can join Jonathan, who's down on the outfield. Jonathan, well, give us your thoughts. What's your reaction to what you've seen over the last couple of days? I suppose more today really than yesterday where England had a pretty Good day. Ultimately, they were in control of the test match yesterday, but I mean today, I mean, what about those last four or five hours of cricket?

Yeah, well, I was just thinking, I'm waiting to interview Ben Stokes. It won't be pleasant, but I'm next in the queue. He'll be here any moment. I was thinking of how we all felt 24 hours ago compared to how we feel now. Really. You know, you just want England to do well. And yesterday the batting was poor, but my word, those bowlers bowled well. They ran in so hard, it was so controlled, it was aggressive. And I remember coming this morning and really thinking that they'd struck some psychological blows. They're not just physical blows. On Steve Smith who's standing just in front of me here on his elbow, Labashane's elbow, fingers. They bowled absolutely brilliantly. Of course, they didn't have much time to turn around and Travis Head just made a mockery of it. And I think what you have to accept is that a smallish target, if you're a player like Head, you can punch a hole in that. And that's exactly what he was to do. I think I'm next in the firing line here. So here we are and Ben Stokes is coming towards me, but just clipping a microphone on him. Well, Ben, I don't know, tell me how you feel about that.

Yeah, she's probably shell shocked, a little bit wide eyed after that. I mean that was pretty insane out there watching what unfolded in particular after how, you know, the first day and even, you know, our third innings there with the bat to watch bloke come out and then smack a 70 ball 100 in a low scoring game was. Yeah, had to, you know, settle him with plans and you know, when he feels like he's knocking you off everything and you're looking up and the runs are coming down quickly. So yeah, we went three or four different ways there and she was some not to watch.

Yeah. At lunch, lead of 109wickets in hand. It was set up, wasn't it, to really put an imposing lead on the board.

Yeah, look, I think, you know, we were very confident in having a 200 run lead there for Australia to come out and try and chase, you know, the way in which the wicket was playing, it was tough. There was a lot in it for the bowlers. I guess looking back on it there, it's, you know, if you are the one who has that opportunity with being out there in the middle, I don't know, just make a choice in mentality of, you know, you've never got enough. I think the guys who obviously had success on there with that wicket were the ones who were brave enough to be able to. To knock Bolus off what was the dangerous ball. And look Harry, Travis there, even Marness in that chase there they were, they were very critical and very clinical in making sure that we weren't able to run up and consistently bowl the balls that we wanted to put it because they're putting under pressure all the time.

And having bowled so well yesterday. I mean it was a brilliant bowling performance yesterday to get you back into the game actually with 170 on the board.

Yeah, it was. Look, and it shows, you know, we came out here full of confidence. Don't know how well that we bowled in the first innings. And you know, from the get go obviously Travis coming out there at the top of the order, there was obvious intent there from Australia to. From the get go not allow us to do that. And he's an amazing player to watch. When he gets going he's got incredible hand eye coordination and when he gets going like that he's very hard to stop. So the first time he's done it so. So I got to give a lot of credit to the way in which he was just brave enough to do that. I mean I was just.

Yeah, it was unbelievable. What about some of England's dismissals Ben, the batting. Are you happy with the form that England's batsmen are in? The way that a number of wickets fell looked soft.

Well look, look at how the runs are scored on there lagers. The guys who had success were the ones who were really putting the bowlers under pressure and knocked him off their line of lengths. Two of the best batters in the. Three of the best batters in the world, Joe Root minus Steve Smith in particular in that first sit ins. You know, if Steve Smith minus Lavishane can't layer that on the ball, you know it's a pretty tricky wicket. So yeah, tough one. Look, nice long break. We'll let this hurt because it does. And yeah, we gotta, we've got to get over this and you know, get back training, training hard as we always do and then get ourselves to Brisbane and come away with the result we want there.

Yeah and it is a long break and you've got three extra days now of a break and there's a two day game with a pink ball before the Brisbane match. I think people coming out, Ben would expect England's players to play in that, especially the batsman. Why not? I think they would say is there going to be a change of plan?

No, we've operated in this way where we know that the preparation that we put in is correct in the way in which works for us. You know, as I said before, I've been asked this question a lot. That's how it was done a long time ago. We prepare incredibly well, we work incredibly hard every single day that we get the opportunity to work on our game and that's what we'll keep on doing because we believe and we trust in our process. And if the results don't go the way in our favour, that's not going to differ from that because hand on heart, we know that we put every little bit of ounce of ourselves into our training and we know and believe that this is the best way for this team to operate.

Well, I suppose the proof will be in the pudding, won't it, at the eating. But why not play it? I mean it's kind of. They've laid on a pink ball game for you under lights to prepare for the next test match.

Just answer that question, I guess.

All right. Okay then. Well, thanks, Sergeant. And it's been an interesting game.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ben. Right, there we go. And Simon, if you can hear me up there.

Yeah, I can hear you, Jonathan. I don't know whether you want to comment on that, Jonathan, or not.

I can only ask the questions. But yeah, he is very, very firm, wasn't he? I mean, I asked the questions and those were the answers. But Ben sometimes isn't an easy person to deal with, especially in defeat, as people who listen to this program regularly will know. But I ask the questions. People, I think will expect them to go out there and play. This pink ball game has been laid on specially for them. And I think what's important, I mean, I didn't ask him because he was in a mood to answer it, I don't think anymore. But on the one hand, I don't think you can say that there's not been preparation before this first test because it wouldn't have been good enough. That's why we went off to Lilac Hill and did our own game. And then to say, well, hang on a minute, there's a pink ball game that has been actually laid on specially for you in Canberra to play under lights before that pink ball test match and say, no thanks, we're not going to play in it. So I don't think you can have it both ways, can you?

Well, no, I'm sure people have their opinions at home. What did you make of what he said there? It struck me that he was saying that actually Travis Head played as we wanted to play, really, you know, actually that was the approach on this pitch and it worked for him and it came off.

He's a.

He's a fabulous player. Rather than. Actually the batting approach was a bit too aggressive, actually saying no, Head showed us or showed everyone. That's how you've got to play on this surface.

Yeah. And I think the answer to that is if it. I mean, I don't think that Head played as loosely as England played. He's got a magnificent eye. He played some terrific shots and the last 60 runs of his were fed basically cannon fodder, short balls, men out in the deep. He knew exactly what he was going to get and so he just stood there and thrashed it. There was, you know, no sort of second guessing, no second guessing required. And I think the difference is that England, you watch Harry Brooke charging down the wicket and you see some headless, headless shots, play the chasing of the wide balls and so on. That to me is more form than anything else. You know, when you are caught behind like Brooks. I'm not going to pick on Brook all the time, but that shot today for me was a poor shot. He's just come in. It was his third ball. There's really only likely to be one winner there. Driving with the front foot way away from the ball, bat away from the body. I mean, it's just a classic loose wicket dismissal. And in a low scoring game, you've got to knuckle down, you've got to fight, you've got to score the runs. And I don't mean batting necessarily like Australia did yesterday, where they got completely bogged down. But it's controlled aggression. And you know, we've talked about this approach that England have and it's very refreshing on one hand, but it can veer very easily into recklessness and that I just think of some of England's batting wasn't necessarily reckless. It was loose. In a low scoring game, it was loose and it looked like they weren't in form. And you know, for Crawley, you have a pair roots, scored eight runs in the game. You can go through the whole list of those who haven't scored runs. Well, what are they going to be doing for the next 11 days when they've got the offer of playing in a match that's been specially laid on for them as they. With the conditions that they're going to face in Brisbane? If I Were a bowler, I think I wouldn't mind a one day run out. If it's two day game but he back one day you bow the next. That that would be useful for all the bowlers who are going to play with a pink ball in Brisbane. I mean, I don't really see how you can argue against it if I'm honest. I think I'm stating the obvious. I think anybody listening and reflecting what's happened and people who are flying out to Brisbane for that test match will expecting them to be properly prepared for it now, they might go out there and win. They've, they've almost, they pushed Australia here until the last three hours or so. It might come off but if it doesn't, my word they are leading themselves very, very open to a great deal of criticism. And that has always been the way leading into this series with the preparation and as I said a few moments ago, on the one hand you can say, well we weren't sure of the quality of the opposition that we'd be given before this first Test match. That's why we're controlling it ourselves and that's why we're playing our own game. That was England's argument, that was their reason for playing that game at Lilac Hill amongst themselves. Well, you've got a game, you've got a pink ball game against Australians in Canberra before the next Test match, you're 1 nil down. Why on earth would you not play in that game? I think I, I, I just, I think it's so, I think it's, I.

Think it's obvious, Angus, when England have done well in Australia, they haven't lost the first Test match or they've won it, they've lost here again. And we've seen what's happened on recent tours. I mean, give us sort of the context of losing here and what that means to the rest of the series, in your opinion?

Well, I think most people with their predictions that we do, which are always difficult as we know we have fun with them. But I think most people who predicted an England victory and this is certainly, I mean in the series, this is certainly my case, I predicted an England win in the series if they won here. And so my predictions are now going out of the window, I think because I think it'll be extremely difficult for them to come back and to win here. And I just, I think the whole thing, Simon, is, you know, you get one chance at this really for most players, most players get one Ashes tour, some get two. But for Ben Stokes, you know, I interviewed him for the game about defining his captaincy and what it would mean to him flying home, having won the Ashes. You've just got to look at yourself at the end and say, have I given myself really? And have we as a team really absolutely given ourselves the best possible chance of winning this series? And if you say, yes, we have, well, and you've lost, there's nothing you can do about that. But I think if they don't win this series and if they lose in Brisbane, having turned down this opportunity of a practice match in Canberra, I think the knives are going to go flying. I really do. And I. People in senior positions at the ECB will come under a huge amount of pressure from people, all those who are coming out. And that's not a reason, incidentally, for being under pressure, that people are coming out to watch them, but people are, people are saving it's life savings to come out and come and support their team. And if in the view of those people and cricket lovers in England feel that actually they haven't given their best, they haven't given it their best shot, they haven't gone off to Canberra and played with a pink ball, it's a completely different game. I mean, I know from commentating, when you commentate on the first over of a pink ball match, you're searching for the ball, your eyes are kind of, where is it? It's a strange looking object. It often goes with sort of a streak. It's different, the lights are on. It's a completely different game. Why on earth not not take the opportunity to practice it? And I think if they lose in Brisbane, there are going to be some very angry people around and people at the ECB are going to have to get their tin hats on.

The TMS podcast from BBC Radio 5 live.

Right, time to hear more from the England camp now. Brendan McCollum, the England head coach, has been speaking to Jonathan.

Brendan, I guess that's been a, well, a bit of a whirlwind, I guess today particularly.

Yeah, probably. I didn't see that one coming, to be honest. I thought 200 was a pretty good score, but I thought the way Travis said play was unbelievable. Could we have done different things? Could we have done more? Yeah, of course you can. Whenever you end up on the wrong side of the result, you start looking at those types of things. But look, we're very disappointed that we've lost within two days. We know how disappointed the fans will be and from our point of view, we'll be keeping the faith in ourselves, and we'll head towards the next opportunity. But we've seen that if you take a backward step or if you're not quite on it, then Australia are a very good cricket team and we're strong in our belief of how we want to play, and we've just got to keep moving forward with that.

Do you think the batting, the scores were below par in both your innings?

Well, by the way you ran down the score, you're probably right, but to be Honest, I thought 200 was a good score. I thought it was a very defendable score. I think if you were able to hold that length that was most dangerous on that pitch, you're able to challenge both edges. You got good steepling bounce, and that tennis ball bounce can create some uncertainty as well. But unfortunately, we were knocked off our length by a player who has been very effective in different formats around the world, and he has total conviction of his methods and he put us under that pressure and we weren't able to hold the length that we required.

Yeah, it sounds like the bowlers. Perhaps you're not entirely blaming the bowlers today, as it were. Sorry, Yesterday, as it were, because they were brilliant on the first day. They kind of. They got England back in the game, in fact.

Oh, absolutely. I mean, I thought that's as good a bowling performance in the first innings that we've seen in the time that we've been in the job. And we know that when we came here, we were very deliberate around our blueprint, trying to hit Australia with high pace and hostility. And I thought the way that we bowled in that first innings was exactly that. We've got to find ways to give them more downtime so that they can still operate at those high paces and with hostility, and that's fine. Ways with bat in hand to be able to ensure that we don't lose wickets and clumps, particularly against Australia, because when you do, they back themselves in and they put you under immense pressure. So we've got some work to do, no doubt. But one thing that we won't be changing is our blueprint. We'll stay true to that and we'll stay tight as a team. And as we have done in the past, when we've lost games, we'll keep moving forward and make sure that confidence levels will improve. Hit the next game are as high as possible.

I know optics aren't everything, Baz, and this is a touchy subject, clearly, because I've just interviewed Ben Stokes on this subject, but this pink ball game coming up Having lost the first Test and with so much time before the second Test, which is a pink ball game under lights, please explain why it's felt best for England not to be playing in that game.

Well, ideally, if we had gone five days, there wouldn't have been enough time to be able to do so anyway.

But there is now.

Yeah, look, we don't do anything for optics haggers. That's the way we are. We believe in our methods and we get it right sometimes and we get it wrong sometimes, and all we try and do is give ourselves the best chance of how we believe. We think we can win an Ashes series or a Test series over the next. We'll let the dust settle on this tonight, and over the next couple of days, we'll work out whether guys going and playing in that game is the right thing or whether keeping the team tight and making sure morale doesn't drop is the alternative. So we'll work on that and we'll come up with a plan.

But if a Batson comes to you, one who hasn't scored runs in this game said, look, I really want to play, you'd be able to play. Would he?

I'm sure he would, yeah. I mean, I haven't even thought about it just yet, to be honest, because I sort of planned on us being a little bit longer than two days. So we'll work on it over. We'll let the dust settle tonight and then we'll. We'll have a good think about it tomorrow.

You have seen that Australia is vulnerable, haven't you? And the pace builders in strikes and blows in this game.

Yeah, Well, I think the pitch that we got here at Perth is going to be probably quite similar to some of the surfaces we get. They look like they're going to have a little bit in them with good bounce, and that's what we expected when we came down here, which is why we stocked our bowling lineup with the high pace that we've got. So there is opportunities there. There is opportunities to score as well. There's opportunities to put their bowlers under pressure. We just got to do it more often and we got to do it for longer. But what won't be changing is our blueprint. We believe in what we're doing, we believe in the style that we've set over the last couple of years and the players that we've got, and we'll see where we land.

Thank you, Bert. I appreciate you. Thank you. Good luck.

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Glenn McGrath is with me. Well, we did our predictions, Glenn. You went for five nil. It's one nil after one. But first on the point Jonathan was making there about that practice match, are we making too much of it in the modern era or, you know, the fact that this game has finished three days early? Yeah, yeah, there is. And there is the opportunity for some of the batters, you know, like Zach Crawley, for example, and Joe Root, experienced player, but they haven't got runs here and there is that opportunity. What do you think?

Yeah, it's interesting that they've turned it down. Having considered it, I'm not sure what else they have in mind. They have to have some cricket between now and then to play a, you know, a pink ball match under lights. I know Monica Oval in Canberra is completely different to what they're going to get in in Brisbane at the Gabba, but it's, it's good opportunity just to get used to it. And so, yeah, I'm not sure what they've got in replace of it because they have to have some form of Cricket, if it's just nets, sometimes I think that's not the best way to prepare but to have a game.

So.

Yeah, but it's. It's interesting listening to Ben Stokes's comments there. You know, they're very strong in. In the way they go, their process and they think. And sometimes it feels like they just put up a barrier to everyone, not just the opposition, not the media, opposition media, but also their own media and. And players. So it's. It's an interesting way. No negativity, no anything. But then they. They also, I think, get quite defensive quite quickly. So, yeah, you've got to take every opportunity to improve yourself and prepare as well as you can. So maybe they'll. They'll miss an opportunity, but we'll wait and see.

Yeah.

Excuse me. While Brisbane. A lot will depend on the toss. A lot will depend on when you're bowling with the new ball under lights, when you're batting against the new ball under lights. Those things make a massive difference in the game, even if you've prepared as well as you can.

Let's go back to this game. What did you think at lunchtime today? What was your. What was your hunch at lunchtime?

I thought I could see very similar to what happened last year against India here up until that stage. It was nearly a carbon copy of what happened last year. And from last year, India went on, you know, Joswell, Brett Coley got. Got good hundreds, really set a big target in that fourth innings for. For Australia, and they weren't up for the task. And I thought that's the way it was going to go.

Therefore, what did you make of England's batting in that afternoon session?

Yeah, no, it's. It's interesting. There's two things where I think they made a mistake. The first one is in Australia on these conditions, especially one of the fastest, bounciest pitchers in the world. And we've always said you need to know which balls to leave early on. You've got to get used to the pace of the ball. Leaving the ball is nearly as good as playing a forward defense. And there was a lot of balls they got out on where they could have quite easily left. They weren't there to drive. They were driving on the up with the ball, moving in the air and off the pitch with bounce. That's just asking for trouble. You know, you're gonna just nick. They're just. A lot of touring teams come in Australia and they nick those and they did all that today. So they need to leave the ball Better in these conditions. And the second one, if they'd given themselves time just to get in, get used to the pace. What they did in the first innings was they actually came at Boland a little bit more. They put him off his length and he didn't know what to do. Boland didn't bowl very well in that first innings because they upset his leak length in the second innings there, they didn't really charge. They played from the crease and then they wanted to play every ball and all of a sudden he's in the zone. He's bowling where he wants to bowl and the batsmen are playing shots that he wants them to. So all of a sudden the bowler's controlling it. They're not upsetting his length and he's in the zone. And those three wickets he got changed the game.

Yeah. In the end, he ended up with 4 for 33 after going north for 62 in the first innings. England, there was a revival towards the end of their innings at Carson and Atkinson, and then, yeah, three players caught on the boundary. But you can't. I don't. You can blame the. The lower order. You know, they. They're going to be aggressive and actually that was serving them quite well in a way. Although they might have been able to eat out another 20 or 30 if they played in a slightly different way with the fields set back. So.205 to win the game. I ask you what you thought at lunchtime. 205 to win the game. Were you confident Australia, you know, had it that, you know, there was a good chance for them, or did you see England as favorites then?

Well, it depends on how Australia came out and batted. If they batted like the first innings, then it's going to be hard work and they're going to. Going to need a lot of overs to chase down these runs. So. But. But the big thing was one for 100 at lunch. You know, if Australia are chasing 205, they would take that at lunch, you know, every single time. So as it worked out, they probably got. England probably got a few more runs than what Australia thought they would have or what they should have got. But the way Atkinson and Carr spattered at the end there. But the other thing is, that's when England scored the runs was when they put the field back and they bowled short. And then England did the exact same thing. So they didn't really learn by watching what happened there. And then you've got to give it to Australia. They were brave. They sent out Travis Head as opener to take them on. And it was such a contrast to Australia's first innings and that's probably what you need. And that's why England do so well at chasing, because they back themselves and all of a sudden you get on a roll, the pressure's back on the bowling side and England was found wanting because of the plans that they adopted. It was okay, the batsman has to get him, is going to get himself out, that's the only way. By bowling short with a spread field. So many runs and they didn't stop the scoring. What was there, one maiden over in the whole innings. So if you can't stop the scoring and you've got a short small target to defend, things are going to go from bad to worse very quickly. And that's what happened today.

Yeah, absolutely. They certainly did. Travis Head with that magnificent innings. 69 ball 100 I it was a strange one really. I mean suddenly the pitch look flatter, the boundaries look smaller, the outfield look quicker. He is such a fabulous player and it would be wrong. I mean inevitably there's, you know, an inquest into what went wrong for England. But you, you sometimes you just got to say, and Ben Stokes did say to be fair, if someone comes out and plays like that took it on as well. So right, I'm going to open. And we've seen him do it before. It was a fabulous innings.

Oh, without a doubt. And maybe that's it. We just saw incredibly special innings by an Australian batsman and that's what, what won the test for Australia rather than lost it for, for England. So yeah, these things happen. But watching Travis head, the way he went about it was more controlled. He knew the areas he wanted to, to hit to and he knew the shots that he didn't want to play. And he put the England bowlers off their lines and lengths. And occasionally when, sometimes when you're defending a fairly small target, you come out and you bowl to take wickets rather than bowl to the conditions to build pressure. And if you bow to the conditions with your plans, that's how you take wickets rather than the other way around. And if you go chasing wickets, all of a sudden you're leaking runs everywhere. The pressure builds and, and so I think was a bit of everything. But you can't take anything away from the innings that Travis had played. That was a match winning innings. I thought he should have got play of the match. That changed this whole game from England's, England being in control to Australia winning comfortably.

In the end we're going to hear from Travis Head. Now, who made that sensational hundred today? He's been speaking to Corbyn Middlemass and the ABC radio team. Who first asked him what his game plan was?

Yeah, no game plan. I was actually a proper opener for the first few overs.

Was that to help Jakey a little bit as well?

Oh, I was never letting him face the first one.

Good boy.

Good boy. Yeah, I think. Well, I. I felt like there's been a moment where I could open the batting potentially at some stage. I thought we had a couple of options to go with and luckily Ron and gave in and let me do it. But I was pretty keen to go out there. I felt like the way they play, the way they bolted me as well. I knew the short pitch stuff was coming. Yeah, knew the short stuff was coming. At some stage. I thought if I could get out there, get going, get to a start, I'd make it easy for the guys behind me and that was. It worked perfectly, didn't it? We had your state coach, Ryan Harris.

On Grandstand last weekend and we spoke.

About you and your form leading in.

And Ryan said, look, he's aware of.

The fact that he's only got this one score over 40 in his last 20 hits. What did you do in the lead.

Up to be ready to go, to.

Be able to produce that kind of.

Knock, despite the fact that.

That the runs weren't necessarily there in domestic cricket?

Nothing. Couple of T20. Look, there are a lot of T20 in that. So one Shield game down at Tazi 51,000 is a lot different than three people in two degrees down in Blundston last week. No, I. I had five weeks off last year leading into the Test series when Harrison was born, so I was sort of. There's no doubt that I was clutching a little bit because you're playing that you want to get score, there's no doubt about that. But I knew in the back of my mind that I'd come on five weeks last year and started pretty well, so it's never really phased me.

I love.

I love this. Like, don't get me wrong, like, it's hard not to get up for this. I. I trained all four days leading into the Test, which I never do, just because I felt like Tassie was tough wicket about a lot in the indoors At Blundston, Stubbo threw to me a fair bit and then I knew coming here that I trained all four days. I just wanted to find that rhythm and I felt I had it in the first innings. I'm guilty That I hit it to the only bloke on the leg side the first innings. But I need to get my opportunity to get in against the new ball. I knew that I could hopefully get off to a start and get them a rhythm and I did that. So please.

Australia's been cycling through a few openers.

You've opened before, obviously, in the subcontinent. First time in Australia, perhaps out of.

Necessity with Usman's injury, but is this.

A sign of things to come? Do you want to be a Test opener going forward?

Only opened two hours ago, so let's. Let's get through that.

Are you best when fresh? Is that what you feel like all the time? Because last year you said you had the five weeks off with the birth of your son, then just, just go and play well.

There's a few times I've come in off break, so it gives you confidence and then vice versa. I just knew what. I'm old enough now, I played enough cricket. You know what my prep needs to be. I know what I need to get more. I try to stay on a level playing field. If I. If I'm not getting runs in the middle, step it up at training and try and get a rhythm. If I'm scoring runs like hopefully today, more often than not, then training drops off a little bit. I try and keep a level thing so I just keep mentally fresh. I think the hardest part about this game is the mental side.

The other side of it, the wicket, it didn't look as bad as the score showed. I mean, at the end we won.

Two down, eight wickets an end.

But it was a pretty good wicket.

Or difficult at times.

Difficult at times when they got it right. I felt it got quicker last night and there were a few cracks, but they didn't really play much of a role. More as looking down. It's more intimidating looking down at it. I feel like if it went another. If it were tomorrow afternoon, I reckon it would have started playing some tricks and would have been difficult about. And that's why, I guess, a couple of sleepers when you lose a toss. And you look back last year, batting last on day four, that was extremely tough last year. So I'm thankful that we're about to get the job done before it's got naughty.

Travis, were you a bit surprised that.

English went to the short ball tactics so quickly? No. Well, I was hoping not to go too hard. I'm gonna hit that six over mid off and Stokes, he cracked it and went, all right, that's it. They runs going back. I Thought I thought I might have got another 20 more runs before I thought I might got another 20 or 30 more out of them. Nick can nudge him around a little bit and keep the filled up.

And did you give Betty Ducking any meows?

No. What am I. I think the count still. We've been counting him. I think we're three two up. I think I'm three two up.

Good boy.

I think he had three leaves, even left one today and I think I've left two for the game. So I didn't think I'd be sitting here after the first test one. Obviously after the first day we're 1 nil up and I'm got one up on Duck at the minute, so he might not leave me in the first, but he's keep. He kept me account yesterday, today when I left one. So he's. He's a good man.

Yeah, he's a good man.

How do you.

How does a team.

I mean, what was the chat at.

Lunchtime when they were 1 to 50, led by 100?

It looked like it was deliberately taken a bit wider to him. Make him drive on the up.

Yeah, I thought. I felt like we moved through plans pretty well. I thought, unfortunately we let him get away a little bit with the. With the short stuff, but that's always going to go one way. The other first innings, we took five for 12 or something silly. And then today car played really well against it. So we're going to have moments throughout the series where they either fly or it doesn't. So. But yeah, we took a little bit wider. There's no real chat. I think the team's pretty calm. Ronnie and Dan Vittori go about their stuff with the bowlers and Smudge. But I thought we moved in and out of plans really well. We kept it straight. We tried to suck up, suck the energy out of it and try to get momentum back with certain fields and thought through the first two days with how aggressive they can be. We maneuvered through that really, really well. We did exceptionally well in the first innings.

Went.

Brookie got going and I think that was. I probably had my head around 300, though, at lunch break. I thought, oh, if we can get. Keeping them under 300. I thought that was chasable. Anything over 300 was going to be tough work. So we've had. We bowled beautifully. When did you know you were going to open? When I ran down the race and we sort of all got in a groove. What the hell is going on? So we were sort of sending messages back Matt Kelly's had the biggest day ever as 12th man. He's come over, thought he's gonna get the easiest day and he's charged, always going off and boys are going off everywhere and we're trying to get info back to go who's opening the batting. And then lucky that the tea break come at a perfect time. So beans were probably going a little bit. When I ran off knowing that I wanted it. But the tea break coming a good time. I actually looked at the screen and the boys were already out the middle and I was still sitting there looking at the clock, so I had to rush out here and Weathers was standing waiting for me. So I was, I was best with fresh there. How were the two debutants, mate?

Obviously teammates.

Yeah, I thought they did exceptional job. I thought Doggy battled away and was able to get that huge breakthrough of Brookie. In the first innings. He bolted, bowled aggressive. I thought when he pitched it up, he, he looked dangerous. And I thought Weathers played beautifully today. Look, he would have liked to go on with it, but the way he played fast bowling, the ways out, put pressure on, the way he was able to leave the ball, I think that's.

The blueprint for Jake.

And if he's going to do that, this job for a long period of time, I think that's a blueprint. He faces an attack like that and get through it and gets it, I think 30, 25 or 30, it's a good starting point for him.

Well played, mate.

We're so proud of you.

Thank you.

Everyone has cheers.

Thank you.

Well, he did play well. An exuberant Travis Head in his post match reaction to ABC Radio. Andy Zaltzman with me. Well, inevitably, in a game like that that's finished so quickly, lots to talk about statistically. What are the main headlines, Zaltz?

Well, there's quite a lot of main headlines after what I think is objectively one of the most disastrous days on the field for English Test cricket in recent decades. To be honest, after all the expectations, it's the third shortest completed Ashes Test. So excluding games that were abbreviated and ended in a draw due to rain that's ever been played. The ninth shortest Test played anywhere. Just 847 balls in the match. The second shortest completed Test in Australia, A rare occurrence in the fourth innings being the highest to win a Test. It's only happened. It's happened fewer than 30 times in Test, Richie. This is only the second Ashes Test to be won in which the fourth innings chase was the highest of the four innings in the match. The other was the 2019 heading lead Test when Ben Stokes scored that phenomenal 135. It's the first two day Test in the Ashes since 1921. Australia's innings 7.2 23 per over at the previous Ashes record run rate in any innings of 20 overs or more was England at Old Trafford in 2023. And their 592 came at 5.49 per over. This was after Australia got under three and over in the first innings. They hit just nine fours in 45 overs in their first innings. And Travis Head in his innings, four sixes and 16 fours in just 83 balls. One hundred and twenty off the last 69 deliveries. His last 39 balls he had a six and 12 fours making 72 runs. The sixth fastest test joint sixth fastest test century of all time. The joint third fastest for Australia. The joint fastest ever by an opener alongside a David Warner 69 ball hundred and the second fastest Ashes hundred behind Adam Gilchrist's 100. Just across the road road from here in the wacker in the 2002 three series. And another rare thing, a winning fourth inning century in Ashes cricket. There's only been four in the last 60 years. Only 12 in Ashes history. And this is only the third. Head is only the third player to score a fourth inning century in victory in an Ashes test in Australia since 1928. And he's the first ever to do it in the first Test of an Ashes series. Mitchell Stark, 10 wickets in the Test year. His first innings analysis 7 for 58 was the second best in the opening innings of an Ashes series. Tenfers in the first Tests of Ashes series, only the fifth since the Second World War. Alec Bedran, 1953. Terry Alderman for Australia in 89. Shane Warne here in Australia in 94.5 and Jimmy Anderson in the Trent Bridge Test of 2013. The others and his analysis against Joe Root, Ben Stokes and Zach Crawley combined six wickets for five runs in 32 balls. He dismissed Root twice without route scoring a run in the second bowler to do that in roots test career. It's the first time in Roots 35 test Ash's career he's been out in single figures in both innings. Zach Crawley's pair was only the third by an opener in the first test of an Ashes series. The others were a long long time ago and only the fourth Ashes pair by an England opener ever. England's bowlers took some horrific tap today after being so brilliant in the first innings. Gus Atkinson and Joffre Archer both had their most expensive overs in their test careers. Ben Stokes, 17 runs on his second over. That was the joint most expensive in his career. So that's, I think, just some of the stats from this game. England, 67.3 overs, is the third fewest they have faced in any Test match. And the only two tests which they were bowled out in both innings in fewer balls than the 405 they managed in this test were in 1888 and in 1904. 4. And only the eighth team ever in Test to be bowled out in under 35 overs in both innings and only the second to do so since 1932. So we've had a lot of stats in this game which are sort of harking back to the early days of cricket when a lot of matches were played on, on treacherous pitches. This is more, I guess, a, a sign of how England plays. In the 2023 Ashes, there wasn't a single team score below 200. And we had the first three innings of this series all under, well under 11 under 200, under 175, in fact. So we're seeing different cricket. England's, we've seen through the basball era, pitches where the ball does quite a bit, have often scuppered England's batting. They've generally been much more productive as a team on, on flatter pitches we've saw in the last Ashes, the ball did quite a lot. This pitch was. He gave quite a bit to the bowlers and it's something that England will have to address if they want to have any chance of turning this around.

Well, that was certainly exhaustive, but actually lots of headline stats there. Thanks very much, Zoltz. Right, you can watch highlights on the BBC Sport website and app with our full highlight show available on the BBC iPlayer. Alongside the Ashes debrief with Alex Hartley and guests, we'll have podcasts throughout the week on BBC Sounds, plus plenty more Ashes programming for you to enjoy and this commentary on England's tour match in Canberra next weekend. And then we have the second Test from the Gabba, which starts on December 4th.

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