Ashes 2021-22: Head punishes sloppy England as Australia recover in Hobart

The
hosts,
who
have
an
unassailable
3-0
lead,
finished
Friday
on
241-6
having
earlier
been
reduced
to
12-3
by
an
England
side
who
won
the
toss
and
chose
to
bowl
first.

England
showed
five
changes
from
last
week’s
drawn
fourth
Test
in
Sydney,
including
a
debut
for
Sam
Billings,
and
started
in
an
impressive
manner.

David
Warner
(0),
Usman
Khawaja
(6)
and
Steve
Smith
(0)
all
went
by
the
start
of
the
10th
over,
while
Marnus
Labuschagne
would
have
followed
had
Zak
Crawley
not
fumbled.

The
700th
player
to
represent
our
Men’s
Test
team.

Congratulations

@sambillingspic.twitter.com/KKdonFxnhL

—
England
Cricket
(@englandcricket)

January
14,
2022

That
may
well
prove
a
decisive
moment
in
the
final
Test
as
Labuschagne
and
Head
launched
a
counter-attack
by
scoring
53
runs
from
the
next
seven
overs.

But
on
71
from
72
balls,
Labuschagne
comically
wrong-footed
himself
when
attacking
a
Stuart
Broad
delivery
and
could
only
watch
from
the
floor
as
Australia
lost
another
wicket.

England
lost
bowler
Ollie
Robinson
to
injury
and
their
problems
were
compounded
by
the
work
of
Head,
who
continued
to
rack
up
the
runs
when
joined
by
Cameron
Green.

Head
survived
a
big
scare
on
his
way
to
reaching
101
from
113
balls,
but
his
day
was
ended
after
he
chipped
a
Chris
Woakes
delivery
to
Robinson
at
mid-on.

Green
got
to
74
before
holing
out
at
deep
mid-wicket
and
only
nine
more
balls
were
bowled
due
to
rain,
with
Mitch
Starc
(0)
and
Alex
Carey
(10)
to
resume
play
on
Saturday.

Travis
keeps
his
Head
after
Crawley
loses
his

England
could
not
have
asked
for
a
much
better
start
on
the
green
surface,
with
Robinson
and
Broad
dismantling
Australia’s
top
order
by
dismissing
Warner
and
Smith
for
ducks.

But
Crawley’s
drop
of
Labuschagne,
combined
with
England’s
wayward
bowling
from
that
point
on,
allowed
Head
–
recently
sidelined
due
to
COVID-19
isolation
–
to
grab
the
fifth
Test
by
the
scruff
of
the
neck.

He
went
past
the
100
mark,
becoming
the
seventh
Australian
to
do
so
in
a
day/night
men’s
Test
innings
after
Warner,
Labuschagne,
Khawaja,
Smith,
Shaun
Marsh
and
Peter
Handscomb.

Green
shoots
of
recovery

Australia
all-rounder
Green
had
a
maiden
hundred
in
his
sights,
only
to
fall
to
Mark
Wood’s
short-ball
trap
16
runs
shot
of
three
figures.

At
22
years
and
225
days,
he
is
the
youngest
player
to
score
50
or
more
runs
in
a
men’s
Test
innings
for
Australia
at
Bellerive
Oval
and
the
fourth
youngest
overall
at
the
ground.