The Ashes: Travis Head stars with blistering century to wrap up amazing Australian win inside two days in WA

Travis Head has scored one of the greatest Ashes centuries in the history of the rivalry to blast Australia to a Perth victory and a series lead in a head-spinning two-day Test.

The match-winning hundred was made in less than two hours during the final session, off 69 balls. It was the second-fastest in Ashes history and the sixth-fastest of all time.

He finished on 123 off just 83 balls with four sixes and 16 fours. The next highest score of the match was 52.

Remarkably, he was batting as a makeshift opener to cover for the injured Usman Khawaja.

Australia motored down 205 in the evening session to win by eight wickets after bowling England out for 164. Marnus Labuschagne finished on 51 and Steve Smith two.

Mitchell Starc took his 10th wicket for the match during a half-hour of carnage where he and Scott Boland — who was lamented for a poor first-innings bowling effort — tore through England’s middle-order.

England lost 5-23 in the heart of the match’s latest collapse before handy tailenders Gus Atkinson and Brydon Carse carved their way from 6-88 to what looked like a competitive total.

Earlier, the visitors had taken the wicket of Nathan Lyon to end their first innings on 132. They trailed by 40 runs.

It was all watched by a feverish crowd of 49,983 which leaves the match around 1500 punters short of Perth’s all-time Test crowd record — currently held by the 2006-07 Ashes match — despite the match lasting just two days.

A victory with just one wicket down is a stark contrast to a match where good bowling dominated questionable batting.

Head and debutant Jake Weatherald quickly took the air out of the ball and England’s rapid-quick pace attack.

They left the ball well but took what the English bowlers gave them. Head was productive through the vacant cover region and particularly behind square. All five visiting quicks were tried and failed against him.

His 50 — just the second of the game after Harry Brook’s on day one — came off just 36 balls. Weatherald made it to 23 in a 75-run opening stand.

The recalled Labuschagne also played a winning hand after missing out in the first innings. Head’s move allowed him to bat in his preferred No.3 spot and he made 51 off 49 balls in the role of Robin.

Head was eventually dismissed by Carse when he skied a ball to Ollie Pope. Smith then appeared, with Khawaja put on ice after battling back spasms across the two days.

Ricky Ponting described it one of the “all-time great performances in cricket history” while Smith said it has “got to be right up there, it was incredible to witness”.

Head revealed the idea of him opening the batting had been floated for some time and the trigger was pulled because they expected a barrage of short-pitched bowling.

“I was happy to do it ... I thought the plans with obviously short-pitched bowling and what they were going to bring,” he said.

“In 2023 when were last there (England) we kind of floated the idea. We will see where it goes moving forward, but it was nice to do a role and it was needed today. I thought Weathers played beautiful as well, so it was a nice start.

“We threw some ideas around ... I thought there was probably two or three options. I was pretty keen to do it and luckily Smithy and (Andrew McDonald) let me do it.”

He also described England’s lightning attack as “one of the best I have ever faced”.

This game had every swing and every roundabout Test cricket could offer. England’s third innings score felt more-than competitive, but the sting was taken out of it within half-an-hour.

They had looked very much in the box seat when they took a first-innings lead and even more so when Ollie Pope and Ben Duckett crafted a 65-run second-wicket stand.

Ashes cult hero Boland removed Duckett, Pope and Brook in two-and-a-half overs.

Then Starc removed Joe Root just balls later in a moment of carnage for England that ramped up the heat on the former captain for his poor record in Australia.

England captain Stokes became Starc’s 10th victim of a remarkable Test match performance.

They could have had four wickets in nine balls, if not for a dropped catch by sore veteran Khawaja at first slip that gave Stokes a life before he scored.

He made it to just two before he was caught at slip by Smith after Starc had swung back to the member’s end.

Boland had battled to find his length on the opening day in a new role as the opening bowler. He overpitched consistently in one of his worst performances for Australia.

But he found a better spot on a bouncy Perth wicket right away.

The barely-believable contest had another flash point when England wicketkeeper Jamie Smith was given out by the third umpire on a controversial review.

Snicko showed a spike, but the noise didn’t match up with the vision of the ball passing Smith’s arm and bat.

Australian captain Pat Cummins revealed he is “half a chance” to return for the day-night match in Brisbane, while if Khawaja’s woes are contained to back spasms, he is considered a strong chance to be fit in time.

There is a growing sense Josh Hazlewood could miss the entire series.

Bowling without the other members of the big two, Starc was awarded man-of-the-match honours.

Question marks for England now centre on how long they can pick both injury-prone quicks Jofra Archer and Mark Wood. Archer bowled 17 overs for the match off a limited preparation.