India, Nov. 23 -- Brendon McCullum is not easily dazzled, but in Perth, he sounded like a coach who had just watched his own philosophy turned back on him. Travis Head's riotous 123 off 83 deliveries dragged a challenging fourth-innings chase of 205 runs into the realm of a net session, as Australia romped home by eight wickets in just 28.2 overs to go 1-0 up in the series.

On a surface where 19 wickets had fallen on day one and England's second-innings score of 164 felt like a hard-earned scrap, Head's 69-ball hundred flipped the entire narrative. The first Ashes Test to finish inside two days in more than a century ended not with Bazball fireworks, but with what was effectively "Travball", and even McCullum could only stand back and ap...