In the span of five madcap hours at Perth Stadium, England went from a position of strength to crashing to a calamitous eight-wicket defeat as the first Ashes Test remarkably finished inside two days.Somehow topping a 19-wicket opening day, Australia turned the series-opener on its head with quicks Scott Boland and Mitchell Starc, who finished with 10 wickets for the match, tearing through a ham-fisted England batting effort in the middle session.Needing 205 runs for victory, makeshift opener Travis Head plundered 123 off 83 balls as Australia chased down the total in just 28.2 overs. They scored at more than seven runs an over, with recalled No. 3 Marnus Labuschagne finishing unbeaten on 51 from 49 balls.Skipper Steven Smith hit the winning run to trigger scenes of jubilation for an Australian team that was staring down the barrel earlier in the day.Head’s cavalier batting gave England a taste of their own medicine, as he reached his ton off 69 balls – the equal third fastest by an Australian in Tests. England’s all-out pace attack, so ferocious just 24 hours earlier, appeared shell-shocked as Head continually flayed wayward bowling through the off-side much to the delight of many in the 49,983 crowd.Head opened the batting after Usman Khawaja had been continually off the ground in England’s innings due to back spasms. He had previously opened the innings for Australia eight times, but all had been in South Asia.Head clearly enjoyed his promotion and helped ease the pressure on debutant Jake Weatherald, who fell for a second-ball duck in the first innings. Weatherald was able to play himself in and unfurled several attractive strokes of his own before falling on 23 to a short ball from Brydon Carse. Jofra Archer had a caught-behind against Jake Weatherald turned down on review•Nov 22, 2025•Getty ImagesHead was unstoppable and fearless, taking on the short-pitched bowling from Mark Wood, while he also bludgeoned Ben Stokes for four boundaries off an over. Head’s century was met with mighty applause from the Australian fans, but his own celebration was fairly low-key although punctuated by several steely fistbumps.He finally holed out with Australia needing just 13 runs to win, but the result had long been a formality.It was an astonishing turn of events after England were 65 for 1 in their second innings, with a lead of 105, before Boland triggered a collapse with the tourists losing 4-11 in 19 balls.England lost 9-99 during the second session that may ultimately haunt them in their quest to regain the Ashes. Four of England’s top six nicked off, while Joe Root completed a double failure after inside edging Starc, having attempted an extravagant drive.The pressure had been on Boland after he was collared in England’s first innings, finishing with 0-62 from 10 overs. He pulled back his length in the second innings and had Ben Duckett caught at second slip to end his 65-run stand with Ollie Pope – the biggest partnership to that point of the match.Boland then had Pope and Harry Brook edging behind the wicket in his next over as he displayed the type of inimitable rhythm that has propelled him to scythe through numerous batting line-ups over the years.Starc had been unable to consistently summon his top speed, backing up so quickly after recording his career best figures of 7-58 in England’s first innings. Sensing the shift in momentum, Smith wisely brought Starc back on and he responded by knocking over Root before continuing his domination of Stokes. Mitchell Starc roars after claiming Ben Stokes for his 10th wicket of the match•Nov 22, 2025•Getty ImagesStarc decked a menacing delivery away from Stokes, whose outside edge flew to second slip as he fell to his nemesis for the 11th time in Tests. Jamie Smith, who had been dropped by Khawaja at slip early in his innings, fell caught behind off a short ball from Brendan Doggett after an interminable review overturned the original not out decision.There was little resistance from England, evoking many such collapses on Australian soil over the years, until Carse and Gus Atkinson counterattacked for a 47-run partnership. They took advantage of Australia resorting to a short-ball tactic in the only bright spot for England in a miserable session.But the short-ball strategy finally paid off as Doggett wrapped up the innings and finished with five wickets in his Test debut. (ESPNcricinfo)The post ASHES 2025: Head’s 69-ball ton secures remarkable two-day win for Australia appeared first on News Room Guyana.