Travis Head Century gives Australia firm control of the first ash test

Travis Head blew up a century with rapid fire on the second day of the opening ash test at the Gabba on Thursday to destroy England's hopes. At the end of the game, Australia was 343-7, a 196 lead on England's dismal first innings totaling 147. Head was on 112 of just 95 balls, alongside Mitchell Starc, who was out of 10. England threatened a post-tee comeback when Ollie Robinson took two wickets in back-to-back balls but Head's aggressive innings thwarted any hopes of a miracle recovery. Head scored for Australia 189-3 after Steve Smith defeated Mark Wood just before tee to goalkeeper Jos Buttler.

Then he watched David Warner, 94, and Cameron Green set off to Robinson's accurate seafarers after the break, with Australia still only 89 runs ahead. But the 27-year-old Head attacked from the start and was particularly tough against the weirdos Jack Leach and Joe Root.

He broke two sixes and twelve lines in his century, his third overall and his first since the Boxing Day Test against New Zealand in 2019. Leach, 1-95 of 11 overs, could not gain control and with Ben Stokes also struggling for fitness, Skipper Root had to rely heavily on his three-man seam attack.

Previously, Warner had ridden his luck in the first two sessions. The gritty start was tossed by Stokes from a no-ball before lunch, then dropped by Rory Burns in the first over after the break before Haseeb Hameed messed up an easy run-out when Warner hit 60.

Warner's luck started in the opening session when Stokes bowled him at 17, but the all-rounder had gone too far to give the Australian opening batsman some respite. It later emerged that technology issues were at the heart of the no-ball drama.

Televisions showed that Stokes had also exceeded the first three balls of his overs, but nothing was called. That led to suggestions, which he would have called upon the umpires earlier, that he could have adjusted his approach and Warner's valuable wicket - on Stokes' fourth delivery - could have stood.

Cricket Australia later said the technology TV umpires use to check no-balls wasn't working. England had to use all their chances to keep their hopes of saving everything from their first Test after their disastrous start on Wednesday when they were eliminated in just 50.1 disastrous overs.

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They started well when Robinson claimed his first Ashes wicket, Marcus Harris, with a score of 10. England had gone to the test without experienced sailors Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad, surprising many, including Australian captain Pat Cummins.

But Robinson’s seam attack, Chris Woakes and Wood’s downright pace managed to keep the Australian batter down with some tight and precise bowling games early on. Robinson was particularly dangerous and made the breakthrough when he tricked Harris into playing a ball forward that easily left him.

Warner and Marnus Labuschagne consolidated, but late in the second session Labuschagne cut an attempt to cut Leach to Wood at the back point to drop to 74. Soon after, Wood, who was bowling at real pace all day, cheered up when he removed the dangerous Smith - so often England's tormentor - in the penultimate over of the second session.