It was the third week of November. And Travis Head was at it again – smashing a hundred in pursuit of the 200-odd target, under immense pressure, in front of a packed crowd. On a pitch where batting felt more like survival than sport.
Sounds familiar, right?
No, we’re not talking about November 19th. And no, this is not a painful reminder of the 2023 World Cup final. Sorry if we opened the wound there again.
This time it was Head’s latest masterpiece – a brutal, brilliant hundred in the first Ashes Test in Perth.
Ashes 1st Test, Day 2 Highlights | Scorecard
Two years after breaking a billion Indian hearts with that match-winning knock in Ahmedabad, Head has now produced one of the greatest innings in Ashes history. Different stage, different opposition – same chaos, same calm, same Travis head.
Quite a few Indian fans admitted to feeling a strange sense of relief that for once someone else was on the receiving end of another Travis Head clutch special – the kind of innings that drains hope from even the most die-hard supporters.
India has suffered from this before. In the 2023 World Test Championship final The head smashed the glowing 163. Then, on 19 November 2023, he became a national hero in Australia and a national villain in India, his 120-ball 137 taking Australia to their sixth World Cup title and silencing the sea of blue at the Narendra Modi Stadium.
This time it was England’s turn. For once it was England’s headache, not India’s. Screengrab by X
Chasing 205 against one of the most ferocious attacks in the world, on a Perth surface as spicy as the old WACA graveyards, Head smashed 123 off just 83 balls. He reached his hundred in just 69 deliveries – the second fastest century in Ashes history.
He snuffed out England’s hopes and delivered a stinging blow in the Ashes opener that Ben Stokes will struggle to recover from for the rest of the series.
England sniffed out a rare series-opening win after setting Australia a tricky target of 205. They failed to build on their 40-run first-innings lead much, being bowled out for 164, but the total still looked daunting, especially after a shaky first-innings 132.
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Their batting order looked fragile – until Steve Smith’s master stroke turned the narrative.
In the first innings, Usman Khawaja could not open due to back spasms. Debutant Jake Weatherald left with Marnus Labuschagne under scrutiny himself. The result was decomposition. Jofra Archer tore up the top order, Stokes took five, Carse and Atkinson piled on the pressure and Mark Wood unleashed lightning at 150km/h.
So Smith gave him the boldest challenge at his disposal: he sent in Travis Head to open.
A regular opener in white-ball cricket, Head had never opened in an Ashes Test before. Smith later admitted he was not happy with the top order in the first innings and even joked that they considered sending Nathan Lyon to open.
“Over tea we discussed the batting order. I didn’t like the way it went in the first innings. He said he would do it,” Smith recalled.
“To be honest, it was about Nathan Lyon. He made the right decision in the end.
Head rewarded that trust spectacularly. Given permission to free his hands, he dismantled England’s attack and treated the fast pace with contempt. He smashed 16 boundaries and four sixes, turning a thrilling chase into a one-man demolition job.
Ben Stokes admitted the dressing room was shaken.
“A little shocked,” he said. “Pretty phenomenal from Head. Pretty raw, pretty fresh, but it was kind of a knock.”
He wasn’t alone. The cricketing world looked on, stunned again. Great players often have one legendary innings in such circumstances. The head gets used to it.
– The end
Issued by:
Akshay Ramesh
Published on:
November 22, 2025
