PERTH, Australia — Ashes 2025 began with Australia crushing England by eight wickets on Saturday as Travis Head’s 123 and Mitchell Starc’s 10-wicket haul added a flourish to the Test that finished inside two days at Perth Stadium. Their speed and unrelenting pursuit of 205 transformed a game that England led at lunch into one of the fastest Ashes defeats of modern times, Saturday, Nov. 22.
Opting to bat, England then crumbled for 172 and 164 in their two innings of the Ashes 2025 opener, with Australia managing only 132 in response before racing to 205-2 in a mere 28.2 overs. The two-day conclusion was the first time an Ashes Test had seen a result inside 48 hours since 1921, and it was the briefest in terms of overs bowled since 1888.
Struck early on in his innings by cramps, Head, who was promoted from his No.5 position in the order to open after Usman Khawaja had earlier withdrawn with back spasms, lashed 16 fours and four sixes in an 83-ball assault that saw him raise three figures off just 69 deliveries. Australia scored at more than seven runs an over as he carved England’s all-seam attack to all parts of Perth Stadium.
For fans of England, the chaos was old hat. Head had already ruined one Ashes opener with his 152 in Brisbane in 2021, a rip-roaring hundred that set the tone for the series’ first Test at the Gabba to be a procession, as still evidenced by the scorecard.
He would become man of the series in the 2021-22 Ashes, scoring 357 runs in five Tests, as confirmed by official statistics, and his latest Ashes 2025 blitz only served to reinforce just how entirely he now owns this rivalry on home soil.
Head had long lobbied to open in Tests and pounced on Khawaja’s injury as an opportunity. “It’s been brewing for a bit. I just felt it was the time to do it,” he said later, telling reporters, “The moment came right.” He assessed England’s weary attack as he made his calculations.
And at the other end of Ashes 2025’s opening salvo, Starc delivered one of his finest performances in the format. After taking career-best figures of 7-58 on day one, his even more telling 3-55 second time around earned him 10-113, his first Ashes ten-for and the third of a Test career stretching to 409 wickets.
Before Head’s fireworks, another bit of history was already written by Starc. On Friday, he claimed three of England’s top four in the opening session, including his 100th Ashes scalp when Joe Root feathered an edge to third slip, and became the first left-arm seamer to that milestone as 19 wickets clattered on a wild opening day at Perth.
For all the noise around Bazball, England’s downfall here was a familiar combination of loose strokes and brittle temperament. From 65-1 at lunch and leading by 105, they subsided to 9-99 as Scott Boland bowled a hostile spell of 4-33, and Starc returned with a burst to dismiss Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Harry Brook, and Root in quick succession.
A feisty 50-run stand between Brydon Carse and Gus Atkinson clawed England up to 164, and left Australia needing a modest 205 in this Ashes 2025 chase –a target that felt like it would be awkward on this spikey pitch until Head walked out swinging. Less than 29 overs later, the chase was complete, England’s quicks marked men and Perth in full revelling mode.
The outcome also magnified England’s long, unhappy history in Australia and resurrected ghosts they had hoped were long buried. Their previous finish inside two days was in Ahmedabad against India last year, with statisticians pointing out they hadn’t lost in such a fashion since an Ashes Test at Trent Bridge in 1921, for the image contrast.
England captain Ben Stokes said his team had been “a little bit shellshocked” by Head’s assault and told the host broadcaster that the innings had “knocked the wind out of us” before they could figure out how the game slipped away.
This 2025 Ashes destruction meant so much more than a 1-0 lead for Australia. It restored Starc as heir apparent to Mitchell Johnson and left England with a mountain to climb in the series’ day-night second Test at the Gabba, where recent Ashes history has already been scripted in Head’s favour.
