Head hits back after Root 160 in Ashes finale

2 days ago7 min read

At the Sydney Cricket Ground, the fifth and final Ashes Test is unfolding like a classic sporting duel where individual brilliance briefly illuminates a contest that has, frankly, lacked it. England, powered by a majestic 160 from Joe Root—a knock that saw him join Ricky Ponting on 41 Test centuries—posted what seemed a competitive 384.Yet, by stumps on day two, that total felt perilously thin as Australia’s Travis Head, with an unbeaten 91 from just 87 balls, launched a ferocious counter-attack that left the tourists’ bowling looking as slapdash as a Sunday league outfit. The narrative arc of the day was a tale of two innings: Root’s patient, masterful accumulation, a testament to his technical purity and mental fortitude, contrasted starkly with Head’s violent, calculated assault, which saw Australia race to 166-2, slicing the deficit to 218 and seizing the initiative back in a handful of overs.Root’s effort was one of salvage and stature; having been feast or famine this series, his Sydney century, crafted with the elegance of a Tendulkar and the grit of a Kallis, single-handedly prevented England from squandering a strong overnight position of 211-3. His partnership of 94 with the horribly out-of-sorts Jamie Smith was valuable on paper but painful to watch, with Smith surviving a caught-off-a-no-ball and several miscues before succumbing to a truly abysmal shot off part-timer Marnus Labuschagne’s gentle bouncer—a dismissal that encapsulated the carelessness plaguing this England side.Once Root finally fell, offering a leading edge, England’s tail folded for a paltry 4-9, a collapse that felt psychologically significant. Australia’s response was immediate and brutal.With new-ball bowlers Brydon Carse and Matthew Potts—the latter playing his first Test in over a year—serving up a buffet on Head’s favourite off-stump corridor, the left-hander feasted. England compounded their bowling errors with two dropped catches off Jake Weatherald, reprieves that briefly threatened to be costly until captain Ben Stokes, introduced belatedly, trapped him lbw.But the damage was done. Head, the series’ defining figure since his promotion to opener in Perth, found a perfect ally in Labuschagne, and together they added 105 at a rate that shifted the pressure entirely onto England’s shoulders.The pitch, already showing signs of uneven bounce, suggests a challenging third innings lies ahead, and with Head eyeing a third century of the series, Australia are poised to build a potentially match-winning lead on day three. For England, concerns are mounting beyond the scoreboard; Root required treatment for back cramp late in the day, a worrying sight for a team that has leaned so heavily on his genius.

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