In the first two-day Ashes Test since 1921, England suffer a crushing defeat in Perth’s first Ashes Test in 2025, with Travis Head’s blistering century as the team’s remarkable eight-wicket victory comes to an astonishing eight-wicket victory.
Head leads Australia to a crushing defeat of England in the match report.
Perth’s first of five days for the Ashes Test.
England 172: (Brook 52, Starc 7-58) &, 164 (Boland 4-33)
Australia 132: (Stokes 5-23) &, 205-2 (Head 123, Labuschagne 51*)
Australia won the series by eight wickets and won it with a score of 1-0.
Travis Head’s blistering century in Perth saw England suffer a crushing defeat in the first Ashes Test.
Head, who had the second-fastest Ashes century of all time, annihilated the England attack in the first two-day Ashes Test since 1921, with just 69 balls to spare.
In just 28.2 overs, Head’s 123 provided Australia with a session of batting and they hit their target of 205. In the five-match series, the home side leads by eight wickets.
When England reached 65-1 just after lunch, Australia made a devastating and quick turnaround, going 40 for 40 and remaining 105 in the first inning.
Australia extended English pain in this nation, led by Mitchell Starc’s 10-wicket haul, helped by some awful visiting batting, and then masterfully promoted Head up the order. In 16 Tests since 2011, the record stands at 14 defeats and two draws.
In 11 overs, England lost 39 wickets. Ollie Pope, Harry Brook, and Joe Root were all accounted for by a horror spell that lasted for 3-0 in six balls, gutting the middle-order.
England were rolled over for 164 in 34.4 overs, despite Gus Atkinson and Brydon Carse taking a half-century stand. For 99 runs, they took their final nine wickets.
Only Head could play one of the greatest Ashes innings in history to earn the match’s highest score in order to win.
England was shocked. Only 24 hours later, the pace bowlers that had been robbing blatantly over the Australian batters were rendered to a gill. The chaos at Perth Stadium was enjoyed by the divided crowd.
What direction will England take? In Australia, they have suffered some heart-wrenching defeats. One of the most agonizing experiences will be here.
England’s bowlers stunned Australia on day one, their batters had taken control early in the morning, and their injured Nathan Lyon and Usman Khawaja were both seriously hurt.
The pace with which England broke out was alarming, and the rest of the series was worrying. Without captain Pat Cummins who is injured, Australia have won the first Test at this venue by going bats second. They also did it from a disadvantage in the match.
The pitch and the clatter of wickets will be the subject of much discussion. This was the shortest Ashes Test that had ever been played since 1888, when 847 balls were bowled.
England was ‘Bazballed’ to fail, to be honest. When their batters regrouped after an early second-period strike, they allowed Australia to enter. Stokes’ squad wilted when Head gave England a taste of their own medicine.
One of the best tactical moves ashes will be the decision to move the head up the order.
Australia realized that the best course of action on the challenging Perth pitch was to attack, having to replace Khawaja, just as they did in the first innings. Left-handeder Head, who has previously opened, was given a chance to play his natural game when he was promoted from number five.
Even at this stage, the outcome could have a significant impact on the series. Jake Weatherald, the debutant, was brought along for the ride as Head climbed into the England bowling.
Head backed off and scythed the ball through the opponent’s side. It was outrageous in one of his four sixes, which was a slash over a third man off Carse. England failed to locate the stumps or Head’s body in any way because they lost their line.
Weatherald miscued Carse to end the opening stand of 75, but it did not stop Australia’s momentum. He overturned being given caught behind off Jofra Archer on seven.
Marnus Labuschagne slowed Head’s unstoppable progress toward him as he approached. For a further maximum, he clattered Archer baseball-style back over his head.
Adam Gilchrist’s 57 balls, the only quicker Ashes century, was made in this city 19 years ago at the Waca across the Swan River. Given the context, this innings could have fared better than it did in terms of quality and, with appropriate praise, Perth Stadium had won.
At the beginning of the afternoon, England was in control of this game. The tourists rebuilt after Zak Crawley was athletically caught and bowled by Starc for the second time in 11 deliveries, making it only the fourth England opener to return an Ashes pair.
Ben Duckett and Pope ran well, dispelling the Australian threat, and they added 65 in the match’s calmest moment. Pandemonium broke out when Duckett poked Scott Boland, who had just returned from a hiatus.
In three England drives that competed for the best shot, the Test swung toward Australia in six deliveries. Boland and Brook both fired awful wafts at the same bowler as Pope did when he ran for a wide one. Root played an uncharacteristic force that caused a drag-on in the following over, which Starc bowled.
England hasn’t really recovered. Since Shane Warne 20 years ago, when Captain Ben Stokes took a 10-wicket haul in an Ashes Test, Captain Ben Stokes edged to second slip, making Starc the first Australian bowler to do so.
Khawaja dropped Jamie Smith on the nought before leaving Brendan Doggett behind. The England wicketkeeper was undoubtedly awarded after a lengthy review, which was probably concluded in the right way.
The tourists were only aware of an attack strategy. In 34 balls, Atkinson and Carse each threw two sixes, adding 50. Australia was spooked, encircling the entire region with fielders.
1 Zak Crawley
In only 11 balls faced, the England opener returned the fourth Ashes pair despite being backed for Australian conditions.
Ben Duckett 5
both innings got starts. It started unraveling for England with his dismissal on Saturday.
Ollie Pope – 6
For technical adjustments, the appearance improves. His best performance in the first Test of a series usually precedes the next one, which deviates. England requires him to kick.
Joe Root – 1
Miles from Australia’s first hundred and one. If England wants to recover from this, they must have the best player’s strength.
Harry Brook – 5
His first-innings half-century was skittish but valuable. Second inning shot bad.
6 Ben Stokes
With five wickets, came back from injury, but the bat didn’t seem to have any sense. In the face of Head’s assault, there was no control in the field.
Jamie Smith: 4
Could be the answer for Australia, but it needs to evolve. From now on, you can expect a lot of short bowling.
Gus Atkinson – 5
Part of England’s impressive first-innings bowling attack, and the second-innings batsman attempted to carry the match. a component of the Saturday evening attack that failed.
Brydon Carse – 5
See above, with the added benefit of Head disassembling it.
Jofra Archer – 5
In the first two innings, the ball looked fantastic, and the second was the worst of the bunch. still have a chance to influence the series.
Mark Wood – 5
Jake Weatherald – 6
Debutant had a bad first innings encounter with Jofra Archer, but he later participated in the sensational run chase.
Usman Khawaja, 3
A peculiar test During his off-field absence, he did not look good. possessed a few significant catch opportunities at slip, but the cordon also appeared immobile. gets a grade for the injury that made Travis Head debut.
Marnus Labuschagne – 7
a successful team reunion. In the first innings, England’s pressure was better than most, and Head was supported in the second.
Steve Smith – 5
In the first innings, it seemed out of place. Unnecessari pre-game attack on Monty Panesar.
Travis Head – 9
He probably didn’t get the full 10 in the first innings, but he had a pretty sloppy shot. His inning-to-innings clinch was unmatched.
Cameron Green – 5
Ollie Pope’s crucial wicket was taken in the opening innings. When he batted, a Mark Wood bouncer agitated him. In the second half, a lot was required.
Alex Carey: 5
first evening, made an attempt to counter-attack against England’s bowlers. Behind the stumps, tidy.
Mitchell Starc – 9
With their first 10-wicket haul of the season, the Australian Ashes carried the load of the attack without Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood.
6 Scott Boland
In the first innings, he was not at his best. improved in the second that caused the collapse of England.
6 Brendan Doggett
A solid debut. More than capable replacement for Hazlewood and Cummins.
Nathan Lyon: 2
Pat Cummins, the captain of Australia, claims he might be ready for the second Ashes Test in the coming weeks.
The 32-year-old injured his back in the first Test in Perth, but Australia still managed to defeat England for just 172 and 164 in their two innings.
Australia won by eight wickets in two days with the help of Mitchell Starc, who took ten wickets.
Cummins suggested he might be ready to return for the day-night Test at the Gabba in Brisbane, which begins on December 4th, after Steve Smith replaced him with Steve Smith and Scott Boland with the Perth Test.
Cummins stated on Fox Sports TV, “It’s feeling good.”
“I had a couple of good sessions in Perth this week, so I had a big day with around 10 overs, a few quieter days, and then another one.”
It’s “on track” and does a good job of moving. There is only a slim chance of me getting to the next game.
“I’ll have a few more bowls,” according to the plan, and it could take about two weeks before the next one, like this one is going.
It’s probably better than it was a few weeks ago, and I’m pretty hopeful.
Top order batsman Usman Khawaja is a doubt for the second Test after hurting his back and failing to fill either of his opening innings in Perth, despite Cummins returning for Brisbane.
Shem Rock did not anticipate that he would survive a day when he made the decision to flee from the police.
He was mistaken: for seven years he had eluded them. But remarkably, it would unexpectedly help him escape a challenging life.
Liverpool’s Rock fled on the run aged 20 because he was accused of a violent burglary and assault in 2014 and was concerned he would face jail time for a crime he did not commit.
He packed his belongings, set his alarm for 5 a.m., and left his Toxteth home the following day.
Rock told BBC Sport, “I waited for them to put a block on this passport, but they didn’t,” Rock said.
“Then I feared that when I get to the French border, they will ask for my passports and arrest me.” My passport was not even examined by them.
“Wow,” I said when I stepped off the Eurostar train in France. I was certain that they would not intervene in my situation.
Rock, who goes by the name Shaqueme Rock, moved to Malaysia, where he spent six months in jail and was kept in custody on remand.
He was found not guilty in court in 2022, removing the charge that had sullied his life.
After accumulating four victories in four matches for European promotion Oktagon, Rock is 32 years old and ready to make his UFC debut.
Nurullo Aliev of Tajikistan will face Rock in a lightweight fight on Saturday in Qatar, where he trains alongside Paddy Pimblett.
Luke Riley, a Liverpool-based boxer, will also make his UFC debut against Bogdan Grad, an Austrian featherweight.
The sky is the limit, remarked Rock, “That was my old life, this is my new life, and now that is that,”
Rock said as a teen that he mixed with “the wrong crowd” and was frequently detained before being let go without any charges.
When he was detained and questioned by the police over an alleged burglary, his life changed.
He panicked when his attorney informed him that the police had mistakenly bailed him.
As a young lad, Rock said, “I knew the rigorole of being arrested, but I didn’t know the rigorole of going to jail.”
“I thought, I’m not going to jail for a crime I’ve already committed., so I fled.”
Rock flew to Thailand for several months before relocating to Malaysia after arriving in France.
He took his first Brazilian jiu-jitsu class there.
“I immediately discovered the bug.” I needed it at that time in my life. I went off the rails and was a little reckless. On and off the mats, my professor taught me discipline, Rock said.
Rock enrolled in two martial arts-based reality television programs in Asia as a way to make money, but when TV producers discovered he was wanted by British police, they kicked him out.
A 27-year-old Rock made the decision to relocate to Ireland to advance his career as opportunities arose.
However, he was detained in Belfast and spent six months incarcerated while awaiting trial after visiting Northern Ireland in 2021 for a fight.
Not for a second did I believe my MMA career was over, Rock remarked.
Every day in my cell, I shadowboxed, and I lifted weights. I exerted every effort.
“I was aware that I had already discovered my passion and what I was supposed to do on this planet.” I couldn’t have stopped myself.
When he was found guilty in April 2022, Rock describes his emotions. The trial was less than 20 minutes long after being on the run for seven years.
“My family and I haven’t seen each other in years in Liverpool.” However, he said, “It was the fact that I was wanted for a burglary” that most piqued my interest.
The best thing for me was to have my name cleared of being a house robber, because they had tarnished my name.
Rock was able to concentrate entirely on MMA now that he had been free of the accusations he had endured for almost ten years.
On Thursday or Friday, I was out of jail, and on Monday, I spent the day working out in the gym. Straight into the depths: “It was boss,” Rock asserted.
He claims joining Next Generation was a “no-brainer,” and he hasn’t looked back since.
Lando Norris’ mind was at ease as he neared his first world title after taking the lead in the Las Vegas Grand Prix.
With his fastest lap of the day, Norris masterfully navigated the choppy wet conditions on a track that was almost gripless, taking pole position from Max Verstappen. This gap could have been much wider had the Briton not experienced a significant wobble through the chicane at the end of the Strip.
Norris leads McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri by 49 points going into the race over Verstappen’s fifth-place finish. He has argued all year that he should continue to compete in the same race one at a time and doesn’t alter his style as the championship progresses.
However, it appeared that Verstappen, who is renowned for his aggressive approach to starts, was already considering the issue of risk versus reward in the post-qualifying news conference, leaving him with little to lose.
Norris remarked, “I’m here to win.” I’m not here to take any chances. I’m still hoping to win. I’ll make sure I’m able to accomplish everything.
“But it’s still one step at a time: start well, have a good opening lap, and similar things,” and then just move on.
Even for someone who tries not to think about it, the prize on offer for Norris in the grand prix on Saturday night in Sin City is obvious.
If he wins the race, he could almost take the title.
The Briton is already nearly certain to win the championship ahead of Piastri. With just one race left, he could travel to Qatar the following weekend in a position to claim the title.
Given how large his deficit is, Verstappen is already largely out of the mix. However, the Red Bull driver will no longer be able to mathematically claim the title if Norris can score nine points on the Dutchman, which is not easy, with seven in between first place and second place.
Norris is only thinking about the immediate task ahead, Verstappen’s threat of victory, and more immediately, the threat Verstappen poses for victory, while more importantly, he is trying to think about the race to the corner.
The four-time champion is in the lead, and if he continues to run well, he might as well try to push Norris wide on the entry to take the lead like he did with Charles Leclerc in the first race here in 2023.
One of Norris’ pole’s highlights was his pole. The circumstances were incredibly challenging.
The track loses grip in the dry, run like it does on regular roads, where millions of cars are driven by them year-round.
The first two sessions of this race were done using extreme tyres because the track had never previously been wet and the water had never been used.
Norris had looked quick all weekend, but he never looked particularly bright when the track was wet. Never once did look particularly promising when the track was in danger of failing.
Norris set the pace, however, once the track was dry enough for intermediates in the final session.
His final lap was stunning up until his brief but unexpectedly unexpected lap, which McLaren team principal Andrea Stella described as “exceptional.”
These were “some of the worst” things Norris has ever gone through, he claimed.
He claimed that “it’s been wetter.” Simply put, it feels like you could as well have taken a ride on slicks because it was so challenging and slippery.
The “white lines, the yellow lines, the amount of wheelspin you have in places,” the author writes, “everything was pretty difficult.”
Regarding his team-mate, things are just not going his way right now.
Piastri has had a championship lead for too long, leading only to lose in just two races in Mexico and Brazil. One race involved a crash in the sprint and a controversial penalty in the grand prix, and the other involved a controversial penalty in the grand prix.
He had a chance to advance to the final session because Lance Stroll’s aggressiveness had hindered him because he might have otherwise defeated Piastri had he been competitive.
However, the Australian had to back off in his final run in Las Vegas after encountering a yellow flag on the way home. With his team-mate on pole, Fifth was a letdown.
He was hardly ever willing to admit that the difficulty of regaining points and trying to keep the title alive increased as a result.
” Yes, “Piastri said”. Yes, it does. However, there are many things going on since Las Vegas is after all.
With Fernando Alonso, Kimi Raikkonen, Kimi Raikkonen, and Michael Schumacher, Stella has won both title fights at Ferrari, winning and losing. And he has long since learned to respect other people’s opinions.
His wisdom will guide Norris as he navigates the race, and it is his wisdom that has helped McLaren get where they are right now.
“We do take one race at a time, one session at a time, one start at a time,” Stella said, “and I think Lando has been doing this very well recently, starting from pole position.
So, all he needs to do is carry on doing what he’s been doing with confidence, good preparation, and the smoothest possible execution.
“We are aware that the grip will be very low once the cold tires are introduced in corners one and three.”
