TRAVIS HEAD hit a 69-ball century to lead Australia to an eight-wicket win in the first Ashes Test on Saturday as England were bowled out on day two at Perth Stadium.
Australia chased 205, with Head making 123. Marnus Labuschagne was not out on 51 and Steve Smith on two.
"Wow, what a couple of days. It's been unbelievable," said Head. "The emotions are pretty high.
"They (England) were seriously good out there yesterday and started to drag it back, so we knew we couldn't afford to let the game slip. To be able to contribute the way I did, it feels pretty special."
Scott Boland and Mitchell Starc triggered an England collapse after lunch. England moved to 65-1 before Boland and Starc took four wickets in four overs.
Boland dismissed Ben Duckett (28), Ollie Pope (33) and Harry Brook (0) in 11 balls. Two balls later, Starc removed Joe Root for eight. Starc then sent back Ben Stokes for two, taking a 10-wicket match haul after his first-innings 7-58.
A 50-run stand between Gus Atkinson (37) and Brydon Carse (20) took England to 164 at tea.
"Little bit shell-shocked there," said Stokes. "Travis Head was phenomenal, jeez that was some knock.
"We tried 3-4 different plans there, he was going like a train. The runs were coming through quickly, he is really hard to stop when he plays like that."
Usman Khawaja did not open again because of back stiffness, and Australia sent in Head. Head, who has opened nine times in Tests, scored quickly, hitting boundaries and sixes off Carse and Mark Wood. He reached his fifty in 36 balls and passed 4,000 Test runs.
Jake Weatherald attacked early but was out for 23 after a mistimed pull to Ben Duckett off Carse. Head continued scoring, hitting four boundaries in one Stokes over and a six off Jofra Archer before reaching his 10th Test hundred. He was later out to Carse.
Australia began day two on 123-9 in their first innings and added nine runs before Nathan Lyon fell to Carse for four, giving England a 40-run lead. Stokes took 5-23 off 36 balls.
England made 172 on day one, with Starc taking seven wickets. Starc struck in his first over of the second innings, dismissing Zak Crawley for a pair with a caught-and-bowled.
Duckett and Pope reached lunch at 59-1 before Boland took over. Duckett edged to Steve Smith, Pope edged to Alex Carey and Brook edged to Usman Khawaja. Root then dragged an edge onto his stumps off Starc.
Brendan Doggett dismissed Jamie Smith (15), Carse and Archer (5).
(With inputs from agencies)
