Head century helps Australia cease control of the first Ashes Test in Brisbane

England’s hopes of winning in Brisbane for the first time in 35 years appear to be fading as Travis Head’s century helped the hosts dominate the opening Ashes Test.

Dropped from the Test side after last year’s Boxing Day clash against India, Head smashed a formidable 85-ball century to put his side well and truly in the driving seat.

The South Australian hit 14 boundaries including two maximums on his way to scoring the third fastest Ashes century.

Head showed England’s batsmen why seeing off the new ball can be so vital down under, something that will need to be done if Joe Root’s side are to avoid a probable defeat.

Yet, the tourists’ biggest mistake was a clear one in hindsight with Root opting to bat first. Whilst traditionally a safe option at The Gabba, conditions somewhat resembled English ones with a green top perhaps playing into the hands of England’s attack.

That then brought into question why Stuart Broad had not been included, especially when the 35-year-old’s record against David Warner is taken into consideration.

Regardless, Pat Cummins could not have wished for a better start to life as Australia captain. Mitchell Starc bowled out Rory Burns with the first ball of the match, a dismissal the Surrey opener will be very disappointed with.

Dawid Malan (6) soon fell after edging Josh Hazelwood’s delivery into the hands of debutant wicketkeeper Alex Carey and left England 11-2.

Then came the most significant blow of all. Hazelwood once again demonstrated his skills and consistency to tempt Root as the England captain bowed out of the innings with no runs scored.

Cummins joined the party himself to see off Ben Stokes for five, England’s lack of match practice evident in their inability to leave the ball.

Haseeb Hameed (25) battled well to reach lunchtime before Cummins struck again. Then came England’s brightest period during the innings. Jos Buttler (39) joined Ollie Pope (35) at the crease as their proactive nature applied slight pressure onto the Aussie attack.

The former hit a string of eye-catching boundaries in a partnership worth 62 runs, while Pope showed little nerves on his Ashes debut to rotate the strike well.

Despite looking in fine touch, Buttler failed to translate a start into big runs as he joined the list of batsmen who failed to deal with the extra bounce and edged through to Carey.

Any expectations of posting a competitive total were fully eradicated when Hazelwood took a superb catch at deep-fine-leg to hand Cameron Green a first Test wicket and end Pope’s innings.

Eventually, England were bowled out for 147 with Cummins claiming a maiden Ashes five-for before weather brought play to an abrupt halt.

Looking to hit back on day two, the Three Lions started brightly as Ollie Robinson dismissed Marcus Harris (3) before needless errors again crept in.

Warner also began shakily at the crease and saw his stumps cleaned up by Stokes for 17 only for the third umpire to confirm that the all-rounder had overstepped the line.

The T20 World Cup Player of the Tournament would be handed two further lives as Burns put down a simple chance at second slip and Hameed missed out on a simple run out.

He would make England pay too, as Warner and Marnus Labuschagne (74) put on 156 runs for the second wicket.

Australia particularly targeted Jack Leach’s left-arm off-spin as the Somerset man conceded 95 runs from only 11 overs.

He did, though, claim the wicket of Labuschagne and England even managed to dismiss Steve Smith for just 12, his lowest Ashes score in four years.

Warner then fell 10 runs short of a century as he holed out to Stokes off the bowling of Robinson, who found himself on a hat-trick as Green left a delivery that cannoned into off-stump.

Head then stepped up to the mark and played an astonishing innings. He even survived an accidental Mark Wood beamer late on in the day as Australia go into day three at 196 runs ahead of their counterparts at 343-7.

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