1st Ashes Test: Ton-up Head powers Australia to stunning triumph
What's the story
A powerful fourth-innings hundred from Travis Head has powered Australia over the line in the opening Test of the 2025-26 Ashes at Perth's Optus Stadium. The game, which was on a fast-forward mode, concluded within two days. Head's 69-ball hundred meant the Aussies comfortably accomplished the 205-run target set by England. Notably, no other innings in the game witnessed a 180-plus score. Here are the key stats.
Summary
How did the game pan out?
Mitchell Starc claimed a career-best seven-fer as England were folded for 172 while batting first. In response, Australia also lost wickets in a cluster to end their innings at 132/10. Five of these wickets went to Ben Stokes's credit. England, in their second innings, managed 164/10 thanks to Gus Atkinson (37). Scott Boland trapped four batters. Australia then chased down the 205-run target thanks to Head's record-breaking hundred.
Starc
10 wickets in the game for Starc
Having claimed a career-best 7/58 in his first outing, Starc backed it up with figures worth 3/55. With match figures of 10/113, Starc has become the first Australian seamer to take a 10-for in an Ashes Test since Craig McDermott's 11/157 at the same venue in 1990-91. Overall, this was Starc's third match haul of 10 wickets or more in Tests.
First-over heroics
25 wickets in first over
Starc trapped England opener Zak Crawley in the opening over of both England innings. As per Cricbuzz, the England batter's dismissal in the third innings marked Starc's 25th wicket in the first over of an innings in Tests. Starc now has the most wickets (25) in the first over of an innings among all bowlers since his debut. He is followed by James Anderson (19) and Kemar Roach (10).
Ashes
100 wickets in the Ashes
With his third wicket in the game, Starc completed his Ashes century (100 wickets), becoming the 21st bowler and first left-arm pacer to achieve this feat. His strike rate of 43 is the best among these 21 bowlers. Against England, Starc has raced to 107 wickets at 25.86. The left-arm pacer boasts five five-wicket hauls. On Australian soil, Starc has completed exactly 50 wickets against England from 10 matches at 23-plus (5W: 2).
WTC
Starc gets to 200 WTC wickets
With his ninth wicket in the game, Starc became only the third bowler in history to take 200 wickets in the World Test Championship (WTC). Starc now owns 201 wickets at an average of 25. This includes six fifers and 10 four-fers. S tarc's Aussie teammates Nathan Lyon (219) and Pat Cummins (215) are the other bowlers with 200-plus WTC scalps. Overall in Tests, Starc has raced to 412 wickets from 101 Tests at 26.64 (5W: 17, 4W: 20).
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600 FC wickets
With his final wicket of the game, Starc also completed 600 wickets in First-Class cricket. Across 154 games in the format, the pacer averages a fine 26-plus as he has 30 four-fers and 25 fifers under his belt.
Starc vs Root
Starc traps Root for 10th time
Starc trapped both Joe Root and Ben Stokes twice in the game. As per ESPNcricinfo, Root has now fallen to Starc 10 times across 33 innings in Test cricket. Pat Cummins (11) and Jasprit Bumrah (11) are the only bowlers to trap the Englishman more often in Tests. Meanwhile, he now has 11 dismissals against Stokes. Only India's Ravichandran Ashwin (13) has dismissed the England captain more often in Tests.
Pope
Pope completes 8,500 First-Class runs
Though most of the England batters struggled in Perth - Ollie Pope played two solid knocks - 46 off 58 balls and 33 off 57 balls. During the game, the 27-year-old batter completed 8,500 First-Class runs (now 8,569) at an average of 45-plus. The tally includes 24 tons besides 33 fifties (HS: 274). In Test cricket, Pope has completed 3,686 runs from 62 games at an average of 35.44. This includes nine tons and 16 half-centuries.
Brook
Brook slams fifty in maiden Ashes innings Down Under
In his maiden Test innings Down Under, Brook scored 52 off just 61 balls with the help of five fours and a maximum. The batter has raced to 2,872 Test runs at an average of 56.31. Brook smashed his 14th fifty in Tests (100s: 10). He now has five fifties across 11 Ashes innings, as he has completed 415 runs against Australia at 37.72.
DYK
Stokes rips apart Australian batting line-up
Stokes was the most effective England bowler in Australia's first innings - claiming 5/23 from just six overs. This was his third Ashes fifer and sixth overall in Tests, taking his tally to 235 wickets in England whites at 31.06. 46 of these wickets have come against Australia. Stokes now has two fifers Down Under.
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Historic feat for captain Stokes
Stokes recorded the best bowling figures ever recorded by an England skipper against Australia in Test cricket. His remarkable spell of 5/23 in Perth surpassed Gubby Allen's long-standing record of 5/36 at the Gabba in December 1936.
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Do you know?
As per Cricbuzz, Starc and Stokes became the first pair of bowlers to take five-wicket hauls on the first day of a Test since Steve Harmison and Glenn McGrath at Lord's in 2005.
History!
A first in Australia's Test history
With Brendan Doggett debuting in the game, Australia fielded two Indigenous cricketers in the same Test team for the first time. Scott Boland was the other Indigenous player in the line-up. Meanwhile, the only other Indigenous player to play men's Tests for Australia is former pacer Jason Gillespie. Notably, Doggett got a chance with Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood being unavailable due to injuries.
Boland
Third four-fer for Boland in Tests
Boland, who went wicket-less on Day 1, also had a strong finish with 4/33 from 11.4 overs in his next outing. Boland has picked up 66 wickets at a sensational average of 16.96. He owns three four-fers and two fifers in the format. The right-arm pacer has picked 24 wickets across six Ashes Tests at an average of 20.75. Meanwhile, Boland has completed 50 Test wickets in Australia. He now has 53 wickets in this regard at 13.47.
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Five wickets in the game for Dogett
Doggett made his mark by taking five wickets in the game (2/27 and 3/51). Doggett made his First-Class debut in October 2017 and has since played 51 matches, taking an impressive 195 wickets at an average of 25-plus (5W; 9, 4W: 10).