Travball 1-0 Bazball: Head’s big numbers add up to a damning zero for England

In short, England tried to play a certain style of Test cricket. Travis Head succeeded at it . As his numbers grew on the second afternoon of the Perth Test, what they represented grew more astonishing.

A normal 16 runs from 20 balls became brisk at 26 from 23. By the time it was 50 from 37, the frame of the usual had disappeared. Soon it was 68 from 49. Yes, players have scored faster now and then, but imagine batting in a fourth-innings Ashes chase on 84 from 59 balls. Imagine coming from behind in the first Test of a series to score 92 from 61.

When it arrived, Head’s century had taken 69 balls, the second fastest in the history of the Ashes. It trailed only Adam Gilchrist’s onslaught in 2006, across the river in this same city, when Gilchrist aptly punished Monty Panesar, the Engla