Perth

There was a time in the middle of the previous decade when Australian pitches offered next to no encouragement for bowlers.

On England’s Ashes tour of 2017-18, the fourth Test in Melbourne yielded more than 1,000 runs for only 24 wickets. The Melbourne Cricket Ground was given a warning by the International Cricket Council for what the governing body deemed a ‘poor’ surface.

Since England last visited Australia in 2021-22, pitches have given much more to the bowlers.

For the past four years, pitches in this country have been rated as faster, bouncier and more inconsistent than anywhere else in the world. Pace, bounce and inconsistency is the perfect recipe for tough batting.

At this point, it is worth stating there is a subjectivity to what constitutes a ‘good’ pitch.

Quite often, a pitch can be described as ‘good’ when it is friendly for batting, yet that does not always produce the most thrilling spectacle.

Perhaps it is better to describe a ‘good’ pitch as one that produces an even contest between bat and ball.

Pitches also change over the course of a Test, offering different challenges to batters and bowlers as a match progresses.

Take the first Ashes Test as an example. In the first three innings, the highest total was 172 and batting looked devilishly difficult.

In the final innings, Australia’s run chase, Travis Head made a target of 205 look minuscule. The run chase could have been much more difficult on the fifth day of a Test, when a pitch would be at its oldest and most worn.

Because of the rapid nature of the first Test, Head was batting on the second evening, when the pitch may have been at its best for run-scoring.

“The pitch was brilliant,” said former Australia opener Simon Katich on BBC Radio 5 Live.

“For Australia to chase 200 for the loss of two wickets summed it up. In Australia if you can wear the new ball down you will score quickly from 40 to 50 overs. England weren’t able to do that and paid the price.”

England are not a bad cricket team. They are a good cricket team that can occasionally be a thrilling cricket team. They are also a stubborn, maddening and slow-learning cricket team.

Many of the worst, most painful defeats since Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum took charge have been self-inflicted.

In Wellington in 2023, England made New Zealand follow on, and lost. In the Ashes of the same year, England declared on day one at Edgbaston, then had the benefit of Nathan Lyon limping off Lord’s. They lost both.

The following year, away to India in Rajkot: 224-2 in reply to 445, with Ravichandran Ashwin out of the match to attend a family emergency. England lost. In July of this year, England needed 73 more to pull off a record chase against India at The Oval with Harry Brook and Joe Root at the crease making hundreds. England lost.

It is great the Bazballers have form for backs-to-the-wall run chases, but it’s just as good to win from a position of dominance. Stokes often says he does not like the word “ruthless”. Perhaps it is because his team are not.

The most galling part of this defeat is what it could have done to Australia.

The West Australian newspaper harangued England through Perth airport, called them crybabys, arrogant and cocky. It only took one ropey first-day performance from Australia for the West Australian to turn on them.

Lyon was limping again. There were whispers Australia had picked the wrong team. Knives were out for Usman Khawaja and his dodgy back. Now Khawaja is a national hero for allowing Head to open the batting.

Stand-in captain Steve Smith might have been asked why he had rehearsed a monologue about Monty Panesar’s appearance on Mastermind. Instead he sat at the post-match news conference as a winning skipper, literally slapping Head on the back. It had echoes of eight years ago in Brisbane, when Smith and Cameron Bancroft laughed through the Jonny Bairstow headbutt incident.

Now Australia go to the second Test in Brisbane, played in a day-night format they hardly ever lose. The hosts have the luxury of not rushing Pat Cummins’ return.

Mitchell Starc, 10 wickets in Perth, has wizarding skills with the pink ball Harry Potter would be proud of.

Where do England go from here? They have been beaten so swiftly in Perth they have time to fly home, have a week off, then fly back to Brisbane for a round of golf and the second Test.

Australia bowled out England twice in 67.3 overs in Perth. Not since 1904 have England survived so few deliveries in losing a Test.

Listening to Stokes and McCullum, it appears one place the bulk of the Ashes squad will not be going is Canberra for a two-day pink-ball match between England Lions and the Prime Minister’s XI next weekend. England will rest in Brisbane instead.

The opportunity to tune up under lights will be largely passed in the name of unity and morale. England have only one training session under lights in Brisbane.

It would not be a surprise if England field the same XI in the second Test. The batters will be backed and the five-pronged pace attack looked on to something in the first innings in Perth.

Travis Head’s 69-ball century in Perth helps Australia take a 1-0 series lead against England in the Ashes.

Makeshift opener Travis Head smacked an explosive 69-ball century to power Australia to victory in a high-octane first Ashes Test on Saturday as England meekly surrendered in the Perth Stadium cauldron.

Chasing 205 to win, Head slammed 123 as the hosts romped home on the second day by eight wickets in an electric start to the five-match series. Marnus Labuschagne was not out on 51, and Steve Smith was on two.

Head’s heroics came on the back of a blistering spell from the marauding pace pair Scott Boland and Mitchell Starc after lunch that prompted a stunning England collapse.

The tourists were cruising at 65-1 and building an ominous second-innings lead, but Boland and Starc left them reeling with four wickets in as many overs.

A ruthless Boland accounted for Ben Duckett (28), Ollie Pope (33) and Harry Brook (0) in the space of 11 balls, then two deliveries later, Starc sent Joe Root packing for eight.

When Starc removed skipper Ben Stokes (2), England were flailing at 88-6 and the veteran paceman had bagged a 10-wicket haul for only the third time after his first innings 7-58, a career-best.

England were partially rescued by a crucial 50-run stand between Gus Atkinson (37) and Brydon Carse (20) before being rolled for 164 at tea.

When they returned, Usman Khawaja again failed to show as an opener as he battles back stiffness, with Australia signalling their intent by sending in Head.

Head, who has opened nine times previously in Test cricket, quickly got into his destructive rhythm, crunching some lovely boundaries, including big sixes off Carse and Mark Wood.

He made it look easy, making a mockery of the struggles other batsmen had on the bouncy track, bringing up his half-century in 36 balls, passing 4,000 Test runs in the process.

Looking to emulate him, debutant Jake Weatherald also went on the attack, but it cost him, out for 23 after a mistimed pull shot was taken by Ben Duckett off Carse.

An unruffled Head kept the pressure on, slamming four boundaries in one Stokes over and sending a six back over the head of Jofra Archer on his way to a 10th Test century.

He eventually fell to Carse, going for another big hit.

Starc stars

Australia resumed on a paltry 123-9 in their first innings and added just nine before Nathan Lyon was removed by Carse for four to leave England with a 40-run advantage.

Stokes was the star of the show, claiming 5-23 off just 36 balls to give England a golden opportunity to win a Test in Australia for the first time since the 2010-11 series.

They had all been out for 172 at the hands of Starc on day one.

Australia were banking on the 35-year-old to emulate his exploits in the second innings, and he whipped the sold-out Perth Stadium crowd into a frenzy when he removed Zak Crawley in his first over.

The veteran consigned Crawley to a pair, diving to his left in an incredible feat of athleticism for a memorable caught-and-bowled.

Duckett and Pope settled in, safely reaching lunch at 59-1.

But Scott Boland began to find his radar when they returned.

Duckett edged to Steve Smith in the slips, then Pope did the same to wicketkeeper Alex Carey before Brook repeated the feat to Khawaja.

After a first innings duck, Joe Root was desperate for runs, but he was no match for the relentless Starc, dragging a thick edge onto his stumps to cap a miserable start to the series.

Brendan Doggett then cleaned up Jamie Smith (15), Carse and Archer (5).

Although a number of England Ashes triumphs at home and abroad have been built on pace, they have never fielded as many express pace bowlers in the same team.

The side that won at home in the famous series of 2005 included Steve Harmison, Simon Jones and Andrew Flintoff.

Raymond Illingworth’s triumphant visitors to Australia in 1970-71 had Bob Willis, Peter Lever and John Snow, and the England team that won in 1954-55 included Brian Statham and Frank ‘Typhoon’ Tyson.

Perhaps England’s most famous Australian tour of all, the 1932-33 Bodyline series, caused diplomatic tensions between the two countries for a short-bowling plan designed to unsettle the great Don Bradman.

On this occasion – one of the most eagerly anticipated Ashes series in recent memory – England are looking to reverse an awful record – they have not won a Test in Australia since 2011.

Only five members of the 16-man squad have played a Test in Australia, but Atkinson says that could work in England’s favour.

“It could be an advantage,” he told BBC Sport. “There are a lot of players who have said they have had some tough times here in Australia.

“For us, we are a very relaxed, very positive group. No scarring. It’s very exciting. We all see it as a huge opportunity to do something special.”

Australia’s net session on Wednesday was briefly delayed by the threat of lightning.

The home side are expected to give a debut to opener Jack Weatherald, with uncapped pace bowler Brendan Doggett also coming in following injuries to captain Pat Cummins and and fellow seamer Josh Hazlewood.