AUS Vs ENG, 1st Test: Travis Head Stars As Australia Claim Swift Victory Over England In Ashes Opener

Australia beat England by eight wickets to claim victory in the opening Ashes Test in Perth, where Travis Head starred.

England ended day one in control, with Australia having been reduced to 123-9 at stumps. Yet day two belonged to the Baggy Greens.

Australia were skittled out quickly early on Saturday, for 132, and England seemed on course to assert their dominance as they reached 65-1, despite the loss of Zak Crawley for 0 in the first over.

However, after Ben Duckett (28) fell to Scott Boland (4-33), England capitulated, with the tourists bowled out for just 164.

Ollie Pope (33) and Gus Atkinson (37) offered some resistance, while there was some controversy over the dismissal of Jamie Smith (15), who was given out after a lengthy review.

Set a target of 204 to win, Australia then turned to opener Head for inspiration. He kept up the momentum, guiding the hosts to 75 before fellow opener Jack Weatherald (23) sliced a Brydon Carse delivery to Duckett.

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Head, though, simply picked up the pace from there. He thumped Ben Stokes for three successive boundaries and made light work of Jofra Archer to bring up his century. He was eventually dismissed when he picked out Pope in the deep, having put on 123 from just 83 balls.

Marnus Labuschagne smashed a huge six to move onto 51 and put Australia within a run of victory, and their triumph was sealed when Steve Smith (2) plucked a shot out to the off-side.

Data Debrief: Head and shoulders above the rest

While Australia's bowlers deserve plenty of credit, Head was the star of the show. He reached his century in just 69 balls. It is the second-fastest ton in men's Ashes history, after Adam Gilchrist (57 balls) in December 2006.

Though Boland and Mitchell Starc did do the heavy lifting initially with the ball.

Starc took 3-55 in England's second innings to become the first Australian pace bowler to take a 10-wicket haul in a men's Ashes Test since Craig McDermott (11-157) in February 1991. Boland, meanwhile, has a Test bowling average of 12.2 in home Ashes matches, the second best of any player behind only England's George Lohmann (11.7) among those to take at least 10 wickets.

On a torrid day for England, their opener Crawley became just the fourth England opener to bag a pair in a men's Ashes Test (joining Trevor Bailey, Dennis Amiss and Mike Atherton), and the first to do so in the 21st century.