England pacer Mark Wood admitted that the visitors were blindsided by Australia’s decision to open the batting with Travis Head, who “smacked everything” in the run chase of 205 to propel his team over the victory line in the first Ashes Test.
In the absence of Usman Khawaja, the tourists had expected Marnus Labuschagne to move up, as he had in the first innings, but against their expectations Head walked out with Jake Weatherald. Khawaja’s back spasm proved a blessing in disguise, as it led to the hosts unleashing Head at the top. The southpaw smashed a quickfire hundred to make light work of what seemed like a challenging run chase.
“It didn’t matter what we did; he (Travis Head) just smacked everything,” Mark Wood told Stuart Broad on the For The Love Of Cricket podcast. “I know he’s a good player, and we all respected how good he is, but that was something else.”
A total of 19 wickets fell on the opening day. Wood had expected the pitch to offer assistance for the pacers on the second day, but Head’s unexpected onslaught neutralised England’s fiery pace attack.
“When he first came out, I didn’t expect him to be so gung-ho,” he said. “I expected it (the ball) to nip around; I expected it to be difficult, especially going off the first innings.”
After being thumped in a two-day affair by Australia in Perth, England will have to regroup ahead of the second Test, which will be a day–night encounter.
The Ben Stokes-led England team will travel from Perth to Brisbane on Wednesday and will begin training at the Gabba this weekend.
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