Root’s 160 Answered: Head Fires Back in Ashes Finale
Travis Head’s explosive 91* puts Australia in control after Joe Root’s 160 in the Ashes finale, exposing England’s bowling flaws in Sydney Test drama.
On the second day of the fifth Ashes Test in Sydney, Australian opener Travis Head responded to England's Joe Root's magnificent 160 with a superb innings of his own.
Root's brilliant knock helped England post a competitive score of 384 at the Sydney Cricket Ground, but Head capitalized on some wayward bowling to score an unbeaten 91 off 87 balls. Australia finished the day on 166-2 after 34.1 overs, reducing the deficit to 218 runs.
Earlier, the visitors had suffered a collapse, losing 7-158, including a final slump of 5-61 sparked by a poor dismissal of Jamie Smith.
Smith, who was caught out off a no-ball and had enjoyed several slices of luck during his 46-run innings, played a loose shot off part-time medium-pacer Marnus Labuschagne and was caught.
On a pitch that offered more assistance to the bowlers on Monday, England's total looked about par, and the Australian batsmen scored freely, aided by some wayward bowling from the visitors and two dropped catches.
New-ball bowlers Brydon Carse and Matthew Potts were expensive, and Jake Weatherald was given two lives as he and Head added 50 runs in 9.2 overs.
Captain Ben Stokes had to bring himself on to bowl to dismiss Weatherald leg before wicket, after which Head added a further 105 runs with Labuschagne. There was some verbal exchange between Stokes and Labuschagne before the England captain had him caught at slip for 48.
Head remains at the crease, closing in on his third century of the series. Root's fitness would also have been a concern for England, but his absence from the field at the end of the day was later attributed to back spasms.
A mixed day at the end of a strange Ashes series
Much hyped and anticipated, this has proven to be a poor Ashes series, lacking in quality, individual brilliance, and magical moments.
The second day of this final Test followed a similar pattern. Root and Head stood head and shoulders above the rest, and Michael Neser took 4-60 in a better bowling performance from Australia, but England were sloppy with the ball, and Smith's dismissal was particularly poor.
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Even Australia's tactics were bizarre. Labuschagne, who had never taken a Test wicket with his seam bowling before, had seven fielders on the boundary for some gentle bouncers.
Yet, Smith continued his poor tour by hitting a forehand shot to Scott Boland at deepish cover. It was a dismissal that epitomized the carelessness that so often plagues this England team.
Only three teams have lost a Test match at this ground after scoring more than England's 384 in the first innings, and the pitch is already showing signs of uneven bounce.
But Australia have the brilliant Head, a chance to overtake England's score on Tuesday, and the ability to put pressure on the fragile visiting team in the third innings.
Head threatens England again
Sending Head to open in the second innings of the first Test in Perth was a defining moment of this series, and the left-hander is once again dominating England's bowling attack.
Somehow, England are playing to his strengths outside off stump. Perhaps neither Carr nor Potts – playing his first Test in over a year – should have opened the bowling, and they allowed Australia to get off to a good start.
To be fair, every bowler dropped a catch off Weatherald. When Weatherald was on 9, Root took a difficult high catch at first slip off Potts' bowling, then Ben Duckett dropped an easy chance at mid-wicket off Carson's bowling when Weatherald was on 14.
Stokes, who came on in the 11th over, ensured that neither of those misses proved too costly. On his eighth ball, the captain forced Weatherald to play all around a full delivery.
After his intervention with the ball, Labuschagne settled into a rhythm with Head. Head played shots on the off side, while Labuschagne played clips and drives. The clouds gathered, and Potts' economy rate climbed to over eight runs per over.
As the umpires discussed the light, Stokes and Labuschagne exchanged words. Play continued, Stokes got his wicket, and Head slowed his scoring rate to wait until the next day for his century.
Root remained at the crease
Root's performance in this series has been either brilliant or terrible. Before this Test, his magnificent century in Brisbane was one of only two occasions where he had scored more than 20 runs. In Sydney, the city where he was dropped from the team for the first and only time in his Test career and where he once had to be hospitalized due to extreme heat, the former captain produced a superb performance.
Without Root, England would have squandered their healthy overnight score of 211-3. Harry Brook played a poor shot off Scott Boland and was caught in the slips for 84, and Stokes was dismissed for a duck off 11 balls by a brilliant delivery from Mitchell Starc, meaning the visitors lost two wickets for just two runs in four overs.
While Smith played a crucial role in the 94-run partnership with Root, the wicketkeeper was fortunate to survive as long as he did. He was caught off a Cameron Green no-ball on 22, then edged and mistimed another delivery from the same bowler. His dismissal to Labuschagne's short-ball plan after the second new ball was a very poor piece of cricket.
By this time, Root had progressed from his overnight score of 72 to three figures. After hitting a shot over the slips off Neser for 94, he drove the same bowler down the ground to reach his century, equalling the 41 Test centuries of Australian great Ricky Ponting – only India's Sachin Tendulkar and South Africa's Jacques Kallis have scored more. He celebrated with the same shrug of the shoulders he had displayed in Brisbane.
He continued to bat, adding 52 runs for the seventh wicket with Will Jacks. He passed the 150-run mark for the 17th time in Tests – only four other players have done so more often. Eventually, Root gave Neser a leading edge while diving in the bowler's follow-through, which was part of England's final collapse to 4-9. After carrying the England batting on his shoulders, it's perhaps not surprising that he later suffered a back injury.
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