{"id":15882,"date":"2025-11-22T12:27:39","date_gmt":"2025-11-22T10:27:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jhb-webdevelopers\/channelafrica\/news\/australia-win-first-ashes-test-against-england-by-eight-wickets\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T16:27:58","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T14:27:58","slug":"australia-win-first-ashes-test-against-england-by-eight-wickets","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/australia-win-first-ashes-test-against-england-by-eight-wickets\/","title":{"rendered":"Australia win first Ashes test against England by eight wickets"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Australia won the first test against England by eight wickets inside two days on Saturday to take a 1-0 lead in the five-match Ashes series.<\/p>\n<div class=\"text-module__text__0GDob text-module__dark-grey__UFC18 text-module__regular__qJJtA text-module__small__sph8i body-module__full_width__kCIGb body-module__small_body__gOmDf article-body-module__paragraph__Ts-yF\" data-testid=\"paragraph-0\">Makeshift opener Travis Head scored a brilliant 83-ball 123 to lift Australia to an astonishing eight-wicket victory inside two days against England on Saturday, powering his side to 205-2 late in the final session of the Ashes opener at Perth Stadium.<\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"paragraph-1\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"text-module__text__0GDob text-module__dark-grey__UFC18 text-module__regular__qJJtA text-module__small__sph8i body-module__full_width__kCIGb body-module__small_body__gOmDf article-body-module__paragraph__Ts-yF\" data-testid=\"paragraph-1\">The manic style of cricket, which produced the shortest Ashes test by overs-bowled to deliver a result since 1888, kept the crowd enthralled as both sides gained and relinquished the ascendancy throughout.<\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"paragraph-1\"><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"paragraph-1\">England had set Australia a target of 205 after being bowled out for 164 by tea on day two, losing nine second-session wickets in the wake of a Scott Boland seam masterclass of four for 33. The tourists had made 172 in their first innings.<\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"paragraph-1\"><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"paragraph-1\">Head, taking the place of opener Usman Khawaja, who gingerly left the field in England\u2019s 27th over with back trouble, got Australia\u2019s run chase off to a rollicking start, giving England a taste of their own \u2018Bazball\u2019 medicine in the third session.<\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"paragraph-1\"><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"paragraph-1\">The near 50 000-strong crowd came to life when Head slashed Brydon Carse (2-44) for six over third man to bring up 50 for his side, and later roared their approval when he peeled four boundaries off Ben Stokes\u2019 second over.<\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"paragraph-1\"><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"paragraph-1\">\n<div class=\"text-module__text__0GDob text-module__dark-grey__UFC18 text-module__regular__qJJtA text-module__small__sph8i body-module__full_width__kCIGb body-module__small_body__gOmDf article-body-module__paragraph__Ts-yF\" data-testid=\"paragraph-5\">Marnus Labuschagne added an impressive 49-ball 51 after debutant Jake Weatherald (23) had fallen to Carse, but the moment belonged to Head, who brought up Australia\u2019s equal-third fastest century with a risky upper-cut and a scurried single.<\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"paragraph-5\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"text-module__text__0GDob text-module__dark-grey__UFC18 text-module__regular__qJJtA text-module__small__sph8i body-module__full_width__kCIGb body-module__small_body__gOmDf article-body-module__paragraph__Ts-yF\" data-testid=\"paragraph-6\">The fourth innings raced to a conclusion with Head clubbing four sixes and 16 boundaries before launching Carse to Ollie Pope at deep midwicket, hugging Labuschagne and soaking in the applause as he walked off.<\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"paragraph-6\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"text-module__text__0GDob text-module__dark-grey__UFC18 text-module__regular__qJJtA text-module__small__sph8i body-module__full_width__kCIGb body-module__small_body__gOmDf article-body-module__paragraph__Ts-yF\" data-testid=\"paragraph-7\">Stand-in skipper Steve Smith, unbeaten on two, hit the winning run with a single punched to the off-side.<\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"paragraph-7\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"text-module__text__0GDob text-module__dark-grey__UFC18 text-module__regular__qJJtA text-module__small__sph8i body-module__full_width__kCIGb body-module__small_body__gOmDf article-body-module__paragraph__Ts-yF\" data-testid=\"paragraph-8\">\u201cToday was just incredible, wasn\u2019t it?\u201d said Smith.<\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"paragraph-8\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"text-module__text__0GDob text-module__dark-grey__UFC18 text-module__regular__qJJtA text-module__small__sph8i body-module__full_width__kCIGb body-module__small_body__gOmDf article-body-module__paragraph__Ts-yF\" data-testid=\"paragraph-9\">\u201cThat innings from Travis Head was out of this world. He just played some outrageous shots, and even when he shanked it, he seemed to hit the gaps.\u00a0 It\u2019s one of those days when you\u2019re on, you\u2019re on, and he made the most of it and got us home.\u201d<\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"paragraph-10\"><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"paragraph-10\">England skipper Stokes agreed.<\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"paragraph-10\"><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"paragraph-10\">\u201cI\u2019m a little bit shell-shocked, I think that innings by Travis Head was pretty phenomenal,\u201d he said.<\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"paragraph-10\"><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"paragraph-10\">\u201cIt\u2019s quite raw, quite fresh at the moment, but sheesh, that was some knock.\u201d<\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"paragraph-10\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"paragraph-10\">&#8211;Reuters&#8211;<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":15883,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[20],"class_list":["post-15882","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-sport","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"England had set Australia a target of 205 after being bowled out for 164.","published_date":null,"news_description":"England had set Australia a target of 205 after being bowled out for 164.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/15882","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/15882\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19928,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/15882\/revisions\/19928"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15883"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15882"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=15882"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}