Travis Head's love affair with Adelaide grows profound, leaves England staring at Ashes defeat

Travis Head's love affair with the Adelaide Oval grew more profound as he racked up his fourth ton at the venue on day three of the third Ashes Test. Head's sensational hundred has pushed England to the brink of yet another series loss on Australian shores.

England resumed their innings on day three with Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer adding 61 more to their overnight score of 213. Having given up on the Bazball approach, Stokes took his time and crafted a sedate 83 off 198 balls, including eight boundaries. Stokes was denied his hundred by his nemesis Mitchell Starc as the latter rattled his stumps, using a wobble seam delivery that obliterated his defence.

Archer also scored a well-deserved fifty (51) and took England to 286 before Scott Boland got him caught by Labuschagne. 

With a first innings lead of 85 runs, Australia needed to pile on the pain, and Head led the charge with the willow, having eased into his role at the top of the order.

The southpaw lost his opening partner, Jake Weatherald, with just eight runs on the board, but that didn't have any impact on his mindset. He added 45 runs for the second wicket with Marnus Labuschagne before Josh Tongue dismissed the latter.

Head primarily scored square of the wicket as England bowlers ran out of patience. He was given a reprieve on 99 as she slashed hard at a wide delivery off Archer, but Harry Brook couldn't hold on at gully. He came dancing down the track to Joe Root on the second delivery of the 52nd over to smoke it over long-off for a boundary and brought his majestic hundred. 

Travis Head's Test record in Adelaide

The 31-year-old kissed the wicket and acknowledged the rousing appreciation he received from a capacity crowd at the venue. During the course of his innings, he added 86 runs for the third wicket alongside Usman Khawaja (40) and 122 runs for the fifth wicket with Alex Carey. Head (142*) and Carey (52*) remained unbeaten at the end as Australia's lead grew to 356 at stumps on day three. He has already struck 13 fours and two sixes.

Head's first two centuries (175 and 119) at the Adelaide Oval came against the West Indies in December 2022 and January 2024, respectively, whereas his third ton (140) was against India in December 2024.