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England’s cricketers have been slowly re-merging after they were left ‘shellshocked’ by Travis Head and Australia on Saturday.
Several members of Ben Stokes’ side were seen back on the golf course on Monday, with Joe Root, Zak Crawley and Ollie Pope taking respite from some of the scathing headlines that have mocked the side following their two-day defeat in Perth this weekend.
While the Bazballers have been licking their wounds, the Aussie press have been ruthless in their appraisals of England’s performance, while simultaneously lumping praise on their hero Travis Head, branding the South Australian ‘England’s Daddy’.
Others have even gone as far as penning an obituary to ‘Bazball’, questioning where Brendan McCullum’s smash and grab brand of cricket can go next, especially in light of the struggles England’s batters had over the weekend.
The Australian’s Will Swanton asked the same question while penning a nod to the now historic obituary written by Reginald Brooks in The Sporting Times in 1882, when this age-old rivalry first began.
‘In affectionate remembrance of English cricket, which died at the Oval on 29th August, 1882,’ Brooks had written 143 years ago.
England’s cricketers have been slowly remerging after they were left ‘shellshocked’ by Travis Head and Australia on Saturday
Several members of Ben Stokes’ side were seen back on the golf course on Monday, taking a reprieve from some of the scathing headlines that have mocked the side following their two-day defeat in Perth this weekend
Travis Head (pictured) has meanwhile been hailed as a hero after the South Australian spurred Australia to a sensational eight-wicket victory with one of the fastest Test centuries in the sport
‘N.B. – The body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia.’
Swanton took no prisoners, repeating the historic lines before poking fun at McCullum’s side.
‘After England lost the first Ashes Test of the 2025-26 series inside two days, may I respectfully ink my quill and offer this like-minded obituary,’ Swanton wrote.
‘In Affectionate Remembrance of Bazball, which died at the Perth Stadium on 22nd November, 2025, deeply lamented by a large circle of sorrowing friends and acquaintances and anyone who had tickets for day three. R.I.P.
‘N.B. – The body will be cremated and the ashes put in the first flight to Heathrow.’
Swanton then puzzled what was next for Bazball, after Head arrived at the crease and aggressively smashed the tourists away, with the second-fastest Test century scored by an Australian in an Ashes series, ultimately playing England at their own game.
England had been ahead by 105 runs with nine wickets in hand just after lunch on day two and were poised to build on that through the afternoon. But England crumbled, with the tourists setting Australia a run-chase of 205.
Enter Head, who, in swashbuckling style, rattled off 16 fours and four sixes to wrap up the game before stumps could be called.
The West Australian continued to mock England into Monday, publishing an image of Travis Head with his wife Jessica holding one of their children, with the headline: 'England's Daddy'
The front page of The West Australian’s Sunday edition (left), The Sunday Times, was equally brutal.
‘England’s Daddy,’ The West Australian wrote, publishing a picture of Head returning to South Australia while stopping for a picture with his partner Jessica and one of their children.
‘Head’s early family reunion after heroics hands 20,000 glum Poms three-day holiday in Perth,’ the subheading read.
The front page of The West Australian’s Sunday edition, The Sunday Times, was equally brutal.
‘Dud Root,’ the paper wrote, crossing out the word Root and replacing it with ‘England.’
Underneath that in bold writing, the paper added: ‘Travball! Sensational Head turns the tables on pathetic Poms with history-making match-winning century.’
On the back page, the paper added the headline: ‘Pommelled.’
Swanton, in a separate piece for The Australian, outlined what he believes the tourists did wrong in Perth.
‘Bazball is a bit of a bozo. Fails to read the room or pitch. It’s like the boof-head bloke who thinks loud is impressive,’ he explained, before noting that Head rattled his way to a ton faster than any Englishman has done in the history of Test cricket.
One reporter Will Swanton wrote in The Australian that Head (left with Steve Smith) had played Bazball at its own game, writing: 'Travball 1, Bozoball 0'
England batter Zak Crawley (right) has also been scrutinised after he failed to score a single run in either innings
‘What a message. Travball 1, Bozoball 0.’
Head has been lauded by many other writers in Australia, including Daniel Brettig of The Sydney Morning Herald, who likened England to the hit TV show Slow Horses.
‘England’s brand of entertaining Test cricket is compulsively watchable,’ Brettig wrote. '"Bazball” should share equal billing with Slow Horses for the most entertaining limited series to come out of the UK since COVID.
‘But to win the Ashes on Australian soil, it will be necessary for the batsmen to take a few more cues from the bowlers. Saturday’s play was more River Cartwright than Jackson Lamb, and it was left to Travis Head to provide the popcorn.’
Calls are now being made for Head to open for Australia in Brisbane ahead of Usman Khawaja, who was ruled ineligible to open the batting for the hosts during their first innings after he had spent too much time off the field, while England were at the crease.
‘As England found out in Perth, Travis Head’s armoury is as modern as a nuclear rocket – yet it’s as if it’s fired from one of those old-fashioned big-wheeled cannons from a long lost war,’ Robert Craddock of The Courier Mail wrote.
‘Something old, something new… something to make England spew,’ he added, describing the Aussie star’s brand of cricket.
SEN journalist Gerard Whateley believes it is now time for Khawaja to make way for Head at the top of the order.
One BBC reporter claimed that England's batters 'folded like deckchairs' with Joe Root (pictured) and Harry Brook both struggling to score runs
The Aussies were equally scathing of some of their own stars, including Usman Khawaja (pictured) with Gerard Whateley telling SEN that the Queensland batter should be 'farewelled' during the upcoming Brisbane Test
The Queensland batter managed just two runs in his first innings, with Khawaja’s average across the eight Tests that he has played in 2025, now sitting at 35.61 runs.
‘He [Khawaja] guided Australia through a rickety period at the top of the order. He had good success; we’re in Bob Simpson territory with him,’ Whateley told SEN.
‘It would be a miracle if Khawaja had played a significant role with the bat, and now there are better alternatives.
‘With the greatest of respect, we salute him and his service was so needed, but his period of service is at an end.’
But England’s collapse has left some back at home fuming too, with the BBC’s Stephan Shemilt claiming ‘deckchairs show more resistance to folding’ than England’s batters, reflecting on their collapse on Saturday.
News has also emerged today that England are not set to send any of their squad to feature in a pink-ball match against the Prime Minister’s XI in Canberra ahead of the second Test at The Gabba on December 4.
Many, including ex-England skipper Michael Vaughan, have called for England to use the match to get acclimatised to the pink-ball and the day-night conditions.
It is a controversial move, with the tourists’ hierarchy instead stating that they want to keep the playing squad together ahead of the second Test, with Jacob Bethell, Matthew Potts and Josh Tongue, who were omitted from the squad to play in Perth, instead due to fly out to Canberra for the game.
Brook (pictured) scored 52 runs in his first innings but couldn't find his groove in the second innings, with the Yorkshire batsman being dismissed for a duck by Scott Boland
Mitchell Starc was imperious, taking 10 wickets during the match and will pose a major threat to England once again in Brisbane, considering his form with the pink-ball
As England try to pick themselves up from this weekend's defeat, a defiant Stokes (pictured) noted that England 'have been behind in a series before and were good at dealing with emotions'
In a column for The Telegraph, Vaughan claimed it would be ‘amateurish’ for England not to travel to take part in the match, after he and Stokes had engaged in a war of words following his criticisms of England’s preparations coming into the series.
England have not won a Test match at The Gabba since 1986 and their track record in day-night Tests leaves a lot to be desired too, having lost five of their last seven pink-ball matches.
That becomes an even more concerning stat when looking at Mitchell Starc’s past performance with the pink ball.
The Western Australian bowler has 74 wickets from 13 day-night Tests and poses a major threat to England coming into next week’s second Test.
Stokes, though, is hoping to lift his players back up following the shocking defeat.
‘I will wake up tomorrow and still be incredibly disappointed but all my focus and energy will be going into getting the group back up,’ he said after the match.
‘You have to get rid of it as quickly as possible while learning from it.
‘When we get to Brisbane, we need to be back to that mindset we had before this game. We are still very confident in our abilities to achieve a goal and we cannot take any baggage from this result into Brisbane, because we need to win that one.
‘We have been behind in series before and we're good at dealing with emotions.’
