TRAVIS TURNS HEADS
Travis Head recorded the maiden Test century against England by making an unbeaten 112 runs off 95 balls with 12 fours and two sixes in Australian first innings on the second day of the first Ashes Test at
The Gabba in Brisbane on Thursday (December 9).
The left-hand middle order batter’s first century against England came in the ninth innings of five
Test matches. Overall, this is Travis Head’s third hundred in 32 innings of 20 Test matches.
Travis Head reached his hundred off 85 balls with 12 fours and two sixes. It was the third-fastest Ashes century after Australian Adam Gilchrist’s 57-ball onslaught at Perth in 2006-07 and England’s Gilbert Jessop’s
76 balls at The Oval in 1902. All of Travis Head’s 112 runs came in the final session. He became the first to score a Test century in a session at this ground. Only two batters with more runs in a session than Travis Head’s 112 not-out in Tests since 2016. England’s Ben Stokes smashed 130 runs against South Africa in the morning session on Day
Two of the Cape Town Test in 2016, while India’s
Shikhar Dhawan scored 126 runs against Sri Lanka in the second session on the first day of the Galle Test in
2017.
David Warner played 30 false shots in all including the chipped drive to midoff which saw him fall six runs short of his 25th century. But his 94 off 176 balls with 11 fours and two sixes was invaluable to Australia’s cause, and just one run short of his entire 2019 Ashes series tally. In 2019 Ashes, David Warner made
95 runs off 184 balls at an average of 9.50 in 10 innings.
England skipper Joe Root dimissed his Australian counterpart Pat Cummins. It is the first captain to captain dismissal in Ashes since
2005-06 when England’s Andrew Flintoff dismissed Australia Ricky Ponting at Melbourne.
Jack Leach’s economy rate during the 11 overs he bowled on the second day is 8.63, costing 95 runs.
Only one player has had a worse economy rate while bowling 60 or more balls in a Test innings — 8.85 by Yasir Shah of Pakistan against Australia at Sydney in 2017.
FASTEST ASHES TONS
57 balls (102*) Adam Gilchrist (Australia) at Perth in 2006-07
76 balls (104) Gilbert Jessop (England) at The Oval in 1902
85 balls (112*) Travis Head (Australia) at Brisbane
2021-22