Brendon McCullum walked down the Perth steps with a thin smile that told its own story. England had just lost the opening Ashes Test by eight wickets, the match done and dusted inside two days. The head coach, still new enough to the job to remember how quickly things turn, insisted the series remains “a marathon, not a sprint”.
England made only 205 in their second innings – not a disastrous figure on a spicy surface – and, when Australia had been bowled out for 132 first time round, McCullum thought his seamers would have enough. They did not. Travis Head, pressed into opening because of Usman Khawaja’s back spasm, smashed a 69-ball century and Australia motored to 208 for 2.
“I thought 200 was actually a pretty good score for us to try and defend in the last innings,” McCullum said. “But the way Travis Head played was absolutely outstanding. It’s one of the best knocks I’ve seen in a pressure situation on a tough wicket.”
The New Zealander had taken soundings from Adam Gilchrist just before Australia began the chase. “I spoke to Gilly [former Australia wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist] about five minutes before their last innings, and he said, ‘I think you guys have got 30 too many’. I said, ‘I hope so’, but we might have needed another 230 the way that Travis played.”
England’s bowlers, so effective the previous evening, could not locate the same full, attacking length once Head started carving anything loose. “Fair play. We’ve always said that if someone’s able to stand up to what we throw at them, and be able to put us under pressure and deliver a performance such as that, then you have to tip your cap.”
Head had looked scratchy for his 21 in the first dig, pinned to the crease by Mark Wood and Jimmy Anderson. Put to the top, he was suddenly in charge – 16 fours, four sixes and not a hint of self-doubt. His opening stand of 75 with debutant Jake Weatherald calmed home nerves, then 117 with Marnus Labuschagne finished the contest. Australia now have a selection puzzle of the happier kind: if Khawaja is fit for Adelaide, does anyone move Head back down?
“We will look at how we can control things better if that confronts us again,” McCullum said. “But at the same time, you’ve got to just acknowledge how special that knock was, particularly out of batting position as well. I thought was a brave call from the Australian coaches and from Travis Head as well, to put himself up the order.”
England’s batting, by contrast, remains fragile. All 20 wickets fell in 67.3 overs – barely a day’s work. Ollie Pope edged behind twice, Ben Duckett was bowled by one that scuttled, and Jonny Bairstow’s hooking instinct got the better of him. The drop-in pitch had pace and seam, yet Australia showed it could be tamed by decisive footwork.
McCullum, unsurprisingly, is not minded to rein in England’s aggressive template. “Clearly, they wanted to try and make that ball as soft as what they could, as quickly as they could,” he said. “You do that through two ways. Right? You either do it through absorbing pressure and letting them all go through to the keeper, or you try and do what Travis he did, and batter it to all parts and make teams go away from their lengths. And he was superb.”
Privately, senior players admit the collapse hurt more because the attack had given them a foothold. Wood clocked 93mph with the new ball, Chris Woakes found late swing, and Anderson, even at 43, trapped Labuschagne lbw with a wobble-seam delivery. But defence of 205 needs early wickets, and once Head pierced the cover field twice in the opening over, the tone was set.
Former captain Nasser Hussain, speaking on UK television, felt the lesson was simple enough: “On pitches with this much zip, you either leave well or hit hard. Head chose the latter and England couldn’t respond quickly enough.”
Looking ahead, McCullum is not expected to make wholesale changes. Moeen Ali’s finger has healed and could bring balance on Adelaide’s traditionally slower surface, while Gus Atkinson is pushing for a first cap if Wood’s workload is managed. But there is no sense of panic.
“We’ve been here before,” said the coach, almost shrugging. “The lads in that dressing room stick together. We’ll take the punches, learn fast, and come out swinging in Adelaide.”
The Ashes rarely hinge on the first Test, yet momentum can snowball. England fly east tomorrow, a bruised but defiant group. McCullum’s message is straightforward: trust the method, tune out the noise, and give Australia something to think about next week.
