Does Travis Head’s knock deserve to be among the greatest ever Ashes innings? | Martin Pegan
Cometh the hour, cometh Travis Head,The always swashbuckling but recently out-of-sorts middle-order batter put his hand up and said “I’ll do it,” as Australia were again left scrambling to find an opener to step in for Usman Khawaja in the first Test,The last-minute decision for Head to partner debutant Jake Weatherald at the top of the order and begin the fourth-innings run chase with England in command is the sort of after-the-fact masterstroke that fills the pages of Ashes history,But even with a backstory of heroic and match-defining knocks, few could have expected Head to flip the script in a Test that had seen just 468 runs scored as 30 wickets fell, with an onslaught that immediately etched its place in Ashes folklore as one of the great innings,Head rocketed to his 10th Test century from 69 balls – the second fastest in Ashes history, the third quickest by an Australian in Tests, and the most rapid in a fourth innings – and celebrated with a few casual twirls of his bat and a half-hearted fist pump.
When the 31-year-old was eventually caught in the deep for 123 from 83 deliveries with four sixes and 16 boundaries, emotion flowed in an embrace with Marnus Labuschagne with Australia then just 13 runs from sealing what, 136 minutes earlier, had seemed like an improbable Test victory.The left-hander has an ever-expanding catalogue of heroic knocks for Australia against different opponents and in all formats – including 152 in the opening game the last time England toured for Tests – but was one of several notable absentees from the Guardian’s list of the 100 best players in the history of the men’s Ashes.Head may well have paid the price for a career still to be completed and the guardrails put in place to ensure cricketers from eras now only remembered in the record books were suitably considered.Even accounting for recency bias, Head’s barnstorming innings at Perth Stadium would probably be enough for him to force his way into any future editions of the survey.For now, it is too late for Head to leap into the list of the top 100 players – but his latest knock deserves to be ranked among some other great men’s Ashes innings.
(Listed in reverse chronological order)Smith had returned to international cricket in extraordinary form after serving a 12-month ban for his role in “sandpapergate”.His twin hundreds in the Ashes opener at Edgbaston deserve a special mention but it is the double ton in the fourth Test that is among Smith’s best and helped lift Australia to a rousing victory.Smith had missed the third Test after being ruled out with delayed concussion symptoms from a head knock when facing Jofra Archer at Lord’s, but returned with the sort of controlled innings off 319 deliveries and across 513 minutes that defined the peak of his career and ensured Australia retained the Ashes.Stokes’s Headingley heroics are recent enough to still give Australia players and fans nightmares, while filling England followers with reason to hope that their inspirational skipper will again drag them from the depths of despair and across the line.The tourists were within reach of retaining the urn when England needed 73 runs with one wicket in hand before Stokes’s counterattack combined destructive power-hitting with masterful farming of the strike.
The all-rounder’s guttural roar and arms-held-out celebration delivered an iconic image to stand alongside one of the all-time great Test innings,Not even Head at Perth Stadium could match the blistering pace set by Gilchrist as the keeper-batter put England to the sword with what remains the fastest century in Ashes history,Australia were chasing quick runs to take them to within reach of a win in the third Test that would ensure they regained the urn after a shock defeat 18 months earlier,Even an out-of-form Gilchrist was just the player to put the foot down,He reached his century from 57 balls with Australia able to declare from a position of strength in the middle of what turned into a series sweep.
In a series filled with twists and turns and magical moments, it was Pietersen’s first Test century that sealed England’s historic series victory and wrested back the urn after 16 years of misery.Australia entered the final day still with some hope of snatching a win in the fifth Test and retaining the Ashes, especially with leg-spinning great Shane Warne in full flight.But Pietersen’s devastating knock from 187 deliveries with seven sixes and 15 boundaries took the game away from the tourists and ensured England held on for a famous draw.The series that would become known as “Botham’s Ashes” was flipped on its head as England recovered from being forced to follow on and their imperious all-rounder ensured Australia were set a challenging chase in the third Test.With the shackles of the England captaincy thrown from his shoulders, Botham unleashed an innings that blended beauty and the beast with 27 boundaries and a single six in the 148-balls faced.
When Australia fell 11 runs short of their 130-run target, England had levelled the series at 1-1 and would go on to win two more matches and retain the urn,Sign up to The SpinSubscribe to our cricket newsletter for our writers' thoughts on the biggest stories and a review of the week’s actionafter newsletter promotionIn an era of timeless Tests that could hardly differ more from the new age approach of all-out attack, Hutton batted for more than 13 hours in a record-breaking knock to guide England to an eye-popping total of 903-7,Even with Australia already assured of retaining the Ashes, the England opener wore down the wounded tourists with an 847-ball knock that set up an innings victory and tied the four-Test series at 1-1,Bradman fell one place short of being ranked top of the Guardian’s list of the 100 best men’s Ashes players but could easily have filled most of the spots in the best innings of all time,The Don’s double hundred at the MCG stands out among his 19 Test tons against England after he came to the crease and took control even with the tourists holding a 2-0 lead in the series.
Bradman famously flipped the batting order in the hope that a sticky wicket in the years before pitches were covered would have time to recover, then took the third Test away from England to all but turn the tide as Australia won the series 3-2.Bradman truly broke out during the 1930 Ashes and his triple century to begin the third Test rubber stamped his status at the top of the game.The No 3 was largely untroubled in the record-breaking knock that would become the highest score in an innings until Hutton bettered the mark eight years later, with 46 boundaries from 448 deliveries.Bradman’s historic innings remained the Australian benchmark for 73 years and sparked a contentious tactical revolution two-and-a-half years later that still defines the rivalry.An innings from another time might now only be remembered in the record books but jumps off the page for being the first century scored before lunch on the opening morning of a Test – a feat since matched by only five men.
Trumper carved England open with stylish cuts and cover drives and was undefeated on 103 as Australia went to the break on 173 for one, before eventually winning an early Ashes classic by three runs.
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European defence company stocks have dropped at the start of trading, and wholesale gas price are down too, after officials from Washington and Kyiv held weekend talks in Geneva over how to end the Ukraine-Russia war.Last night, the US and Ukraine said they had created an “updated and refined peace framework” to end the war with Russia, after a row over an original US-backed document that included many of Moscow’s demands.The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, said he was “very optimistic” about the progress of the talks in Switzerland.Rubio told reporters:“I think we made a tremendous amount of progress.We’ve really moved forward, so I feel very optimistic that we’re going to get there in a very reasonable period of time, very soon
Labour will listen to bosses’ concerns on workers’ rights, says business secretary
The business secretary, Peter Kyle, has opened the door to bosses to influence Labour’s landmark changes to workers’ rights, amid boardroom fears over jobs and growth.In a signal the government could consider watering down the overhaul of employment rights, Kyle told business leaders at the CBI conference in London that he would hold a series of 26 consultations with companies after the bill became law.“When we launch these consultations, please engage with it,” he said. “Make your voice heard and engage with me and my department to make sure we get it right.”With Labour under pressure to reboot the economy before the autumn budget on Wednesday, Kyle committed to ensure that businesses would not “lose” as a result of the changes, which include a ban on zero-hour contracts and day-one protections for workers against unfair dismissal
One in four unconcerned by sexual deepfakes created without consent, survey finds
One in four people think there is nothing wrong with creating and sharing sexual deepfakes, or they feel neutral about it, even when the person depicted has not consented, according to a police-commissioned survey.The findings prompted a senior police officer to warn that the use of AI is accelerating an epidemic in violence against women and girls (VAWG), and that technology companies are complicit in this abuse.The survey of 1,700 people commissioned by the office of the police chief scientific adviser found 13% felt there was nothing wrong with creating and sharing sexual or intimate deepfakes – digitally altered content made using AI without consent.A further 12% felt neutral about the moral and legal acceptability of making and sharing such deepfakes.Det Ch Supt Claire Hammond, from the national centre for VAWG and public protection, reminded the public that “sharing intimate images of someone without their consent, whether they are real images or not, is deeply violating”
Can’t tech a joke: AI does not understand puns, study finds
Comedians who rely on clever wordplay and writers of witty headlines can rest a little easier, for the moment at least, research on AI suggests.Experts from universities in the UK and Italy have been investigating whether large language models (LLMs) understand puns – and found them wanting.The team from Cardiff University, in south Wales, and Ca’ Foscari University of Venice concluded that LLMs were able to spot the structure of a pun but did not really get the joke.An example they tested was: “I used to be a comedian, but my life became a joke.” If they replaced this with: “I used to be a comedian, but my life became chaotic,” LLMs still tended to perceive the presence of a pun
Argentina lodge complaint and urge investigation into Tom Curry over alleged tunnel scuffle
Argentina have lodged a complaint and called for an investigation into the alleged tunnel scuffle involving the England flanker Tom Curry and their head coach, Felipe Contepomi, after Sunday’s game at Twickenham.In an extraordinary press conference after England’s 27-23 victory, Contepomi described Curry as a “bully” and accused the flanker of shoving him in the tunnel and telling him to “fuck off”. Contepomi also claimed Curry had “broken” the knee of the Argentina full-back Juan Cruz Mallía with a “reckless” tackle – an incident that seemed to spark the bad blood after the final whistle.Argentina have confirmed that Mallía has a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee after Curry’s tackle. There is a 24-hour citing window for Six Nations Rugby – organiser of the Autumn Nations Series – to bring action against the England back-row for the tackle, while it can also begin disciplinary proceedings into the incident in the tunnel
How did McLaren get it so wrong with their cars in Las Vegas? | Giles Richards
As misjudgments go, McLaren’s error in calculations that led to the disqualification of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri from the Las Vegas Grand Prix on Sunday could barely have been more cataclysmic nor more poorly timed. Quite how they got it wrong just when they wanted to close out the drivers’ championship with as little fuss as possible will take no little explanation.Norris and Piastri, second and fourth respectively to Max Verstappen’s win in Nevada, had been solid enough results until the FIA discovered the skid blocks on their cars had been worn beyond the 9mm limit. In one fell swoop, Verstappen was right back in the fight, alongside Piastri, 24 points back from Norris.It is exactly the sort of proximity to set nerves jangling unnecessarily with two meetings remaining and 58 points up for grabs
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