Hobart: Travis Head spoiled a promising start for England in the Ashes on Friday with his second century of the series as Australia recovered from 12-3 to reach 241-6 at stumps on a rain-hit first day of the fifth Test.
Head, who scored 152 in the opening Test at Brisbane, counterpunched England’s early success with an aggressive 101 off 113 balls in the day-night test as Australia came back strongly after losing the toss.
Cameron Green contributed an authoritative 74 and Marnus Labuschagne scored a rapid 44 before rain arrived around half an hour after tea and prevented further play.
Head entered with Australia in serious trouble after a brilliant spell of swing and seam bowling from Ollie Robinson (2-24), one of the five changes England made, and Stuart Broad (2-48) on a lively green wicket.
Head, who missed the Sydney Test due to the coronavirus, first put the innings back on track with a 71-run stand with Labuschagne, but not before Zak Crawley had dropped Labuschagne at second slip before the batter had scored.
That drop proved costly for England which has already lost the Ashes after losing the first three test matches at Brisbane, Adelaide and Melbourne before the draw in Sydney.
Labuschagne counterpunched the pace of Chris Woakes (1-50) and Mark Wood (1-79) by clobbering nine boundaries before getting dismissed in a bizarre fashion just before the first session.
Labuschagne was clean bowled in an unusual style when he appeared to slip in the crease and Broad had the middle stump knocked back with the batsman falling over on his knees while going way across his stumps.
But Head and Green continued to prosper against Wood and Woakes in a dominant middle session which yielded 130 runs.
Brief Scores: Australia 241/6 in 59.3 overs (Travis Head 101, Cameron Green 74; Ollie Robinson 2/24, Stuart Broad 2/48) vs England.
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