FILE PHOTO: Cricket – England Nets – SWALEC Stadium, Cardiff, Wales – 7/7/15. A replica of the Ashes urn on the ground. Action Images via Reuters / Philip Brown. Livepic
January 14, 2022
(Reuters) -Travis Head returned from COVID-19 to smash a belligerent 101 and revive Australia after a top-order collapse on the opening day of the day-night final Ashes test against England on Friday.
England’s all-seam attack had reduced Australia to 12-3 in a strong start for the tourists, who have already lost the five-test series following heavy defeats in Brisbane, Adelaide and Melbourne.
Head put on 71 with Marnus Labuschagne (44) and added 121 with Cameron Green as Australia recovered to 215-5 at Hobart’s Bellerive Oval.
Green was on 57 at the tea break, his second fifty of the series, with Alex Carey on one at the other end.
Earlier, England seamers blew away Australia’s top order in a frantic first session, vindicating captain Joe Root’s decision to field under an overcast sky.
Australia dropped Marcus Harris to accommodate both fit-again Head and Usman Khawaja, who scored twin hundreds in the last test in Sydney batting in the middle order.
Ollie Robinson broke through in the sixth over when Zak Crawley took a catch in the second slip to send back David Warner for a 22-ball duck.
Crawley spilled Labuschagne off Robinson before he had scored, diving to his left in what could have been a regular catch for Root at first slip.
Khawaja edged Stuart Broad to depart for six, and Crawley made no mistake when Robinson induced an edge from Steve Smith, who fell for a duck.
Labuschagne went on the attack, flicking Chris Woakes for a six before a bizarre dismissal. The right-hander shuffled outside the off stump and overbalanced. Broad’s delivery clattered onto his stumps.
Head raced to a 112-ball century but fell immediately afterwards, offering a leading edge to Robinson at mid-on trying to hit Woakes over mid-wicket.
Head’s second century of the series contained 12 boundaries.
(Reporting by Amlan Chakraborty in New Delhi; editing by Simon Cameron-Moore and Timothy Heritage)
Source: One America News Network
