Travis Head hits the fastest Ashes Century in YEARS, a breakdown

Also did note, I played, you know, I

played my way into the innings. I didn't

just go crazy right away. He saw himself

in. You can see here all the first

couple overs. He's just, you know

playing defense, playing proper cricket

shots, not going crazy. He go starts

going crazy later on. Now, Stokes said

of the innings, they were shell shocked

at what he was doing. They tried

multiple strategies, multiple plans, and

nothing worked. So, I was interested. I

just want to kind of review his innings

and go through it, see what I could

find. There's some fun stuff for sure.

The first six he got was a little bit in

baseball, you'd say an excuse me swing

or uh you know, just a don't mind if I

do. Car is in. It's the first ball he's

going to face from Cars. goes shorter

and he just kind of guides it up and

over the shorter boundary behind him for

six. That was his first six. Just

gently. Oh, you're going there. Why not

go there? That's better. I could I could

leave it or I could just bump you on

your way.

It looks kind of easy. That's very not

that easy. I don't think I think you got

to have confidence. And then I like

this. Couple balls later, two balls

later. I think he thinks he's going to

get another one. So, he crouched low. He

doesn't. and he's able to power that

through basically from a squat sitting

on the toilet and he's able to flick

that. I mean, it's not a flick, it's

you know, with some strength for four

the other way. So, I thought that was

cool. That was fun. There's a couple

overs here that I enjoyed watching back.

This is the 11th over. I'd say this is

when they went to plan B for the first

time. They set a new field. Stokes is

moving everyone over and they're really

going to commit to the shorter ball. try

to put it in his armpit, you know, right

at his shoulder. He's a lefty batter.

Make him feel the pressure of it. See

what he does with that. And he leaves

that one. But you can see they're aiming

over there. They want to get him to just

play it like that and bump it on its

way. Pop it up in the air. Do something.

Get out. And he's not fully comfortable

with it. He doesn't know where. Oh boy.

Never mind. He steps across. It's the

shorter boundary. Like that is close to

being a catch if the boundary is a bit

deeper, BUT IT'S NOT. OH, that's kind of

what we wanted, but instead it went for

six runs and not the wicket. But that's

a strategy they definitely tried was

just that armpit ball trying to get him

bunched up, trying to pop it up and have

him just bump it to the the fielders

behind him. It doesn't end up working.

They go back to it a bunch. At this

point, he's got his 50. He's tipped his

bat to the crowd. Captain Stokes says

"Let me in here. I'll do what I do. I'll

pull a wicket out of thin air. I'll just

I'll just out muscle him or something.

That is uh way off. And he just throws

his bat at it and gets four. This this

was, kind, of a, brutal, over, for, Stokes

who's been doing such a good job

captaining. Pulled five wickets out of

nowhere. Goes for backto back

boundaries. And then a third just right

back up the middle. Rolls it all the

way. Four, four, four. The crowd loves

it. Stokes doesn't. A little wink. Yep.

You like it? He's probably winking as a

teammate, but it's fun to think that

he's winking at Stokes there. And then

after that, Stokes is going to find the

ball. That top of off stump, that one

they were going at the beginning that he

he didn't really do much with the whole

time. I think this is where they

probably could have stayed for a while

longer.

That length seemed to be working. That

line seemed to be working. He wasn't

doing much with it. Instead, he's going

to go shorter again. and Head reads that

out of the hand and is able to get up

and get on top of it so fast. Just

instantly

seeing the ball well jumps up contact

with both feet looking like Jack Doyle

in the warehouse. 444 dot four. What's

he do now? He goes off again and that is

sent for a single. That was a bad over

for Stokes. I mean that's a lot of runs.

He's at 67 now. He's like, "Oh, I

thought I was gonna put myself in. I was

gonna do the thing where I get wickets.

H, not good." So then Archer comes back

in and again, I think they found the

line in the length again. I think he

looks uncomfortable there. I know he

hits it. He He gets one, but he looks a

little less comfortable. And there

should I play that little bump shot or

should I not?

Then he's going to find that line in

length again. And Head is able to handle

that one pretty good. And now they're

just thinking they can't beat him. But I

they could have maybe I I'm not an

expert at all at all. But it seems to me

like they they could have stayed at that

top of off stump. It was kind of tying

him up. He wasn't doing whatever he

wanted. And you can see Archer saying

here like, "Let's get him to play the

cover drive. Let's play a little more

full." And then he wants the fielders

closer together and tighter. think I

don't, know if, this, is, all, a, bluff, or, he

just misses his spot because you would

think he's going to go more full after

saying, that, he's, going to, play, the, cover

drive, get the field right and instead

he kind of bounces that one short again

and headed is able to just throw his

hands. Oh, in cricket, you're judging

the ball by the height it is when it

reaches the batter, but you're

describing that height by where it

bounces on the wicket, which really is a

brain pretzel to me. Like, I could just

say that's a higher ball or a lower ball

because that's how we're judging it, the

height it is at when it passes the

batter. But instead, we say a shorter

ball or a fuller ball, which is where it

bounces on the pitch. But all pitches

act differently. Whatever. It's a

conundrum that kind of is confusing when

you're trying to explain cricket to new

people. He hit that for six and that was

a big shot. I mean, he just got ready

saw it again, didn't get on top of that

one, got under it, goes for six. The

crowd absolutely loves it. They're going

crazy. Moving on to this Atkinson over

and Travis Head feels very comfortable

in the crease. They are not bowling

around the stumps anymore and he knows

that and he's just going to do whatever

he wants. They're not bowling at the

stumps. So, he's saying, "Well, I'll

just move my feet, get it myself in a

good position, and hit it wherever I

want to hit it." Backs completely off

the stumps and just hits it the other

way., Then, the, next, ball,, he's, going to

walk across his stumps a little bit and

he's going to turn on it all the way and

hit it for four behind him. So he is

just if you're going to bowl it that

armpit ball at my body, I I now feel so

good. I'm seeing the ball so well. I'm

going to create my own shot. Except if

you do that and it comes on my head

which he respected, to be honest. Like

he, ducks, out, of the, way,, left, his, bat

up, but he gives him this look right

here like, "Okay

fair is fair. I'm going to be moving

around like that. Fair's fair." Look at

him leave his bat up. Probably shouldn't

have done that. Got to get that bat down

head. Come on now. Two overs later

Atinson's got the ball again. And

they're going to do the same routine.

He's going to back off his stumps. He's

going to set himself up to hit it to the

off side. Now, he doesn't get as much

power on that. And then he's going to

walk across. It's the same sequence, but

that one was too high. So, you can see

on the first ball, he did the same thing

where he backed off his stumps, opened

himself up to hit it to his offside. And

then the next ball, he's going to gently

come across his stumps to try and turn

on it, except it's too high. So, he

leaves it for a wide. So, he's doing the

same thing to Atinson that he did the

over before. And now, the third ball of

the over, he's going to do it again

where he backs off and is able to just

drive it. We would say oppo in baseball

but to his off side for four. So, you

got two wide, four, and bam, lets it get

deep, sees it all the way in, and then

throws it to his offside. Next ball goes

short again and he's able to get the bat

on that and just plops it into the field

in front of the fielders. Picks up 100

runs. Look at the eye focus. Look at the

intensity. Come on. Come on. Bam.

And uh yeah, he had them shell shocked.

That's what Stokes said. Shell shocked.

They tried a bunch of plans and none of

them worked. Instead, he gets all the

runs. He cost

Australia millions of dollars. You know

had to refund a lot of tickets. People

were going to stay for three more days.

Instead, they're just flying home. And

that was the innings of Travis Head

versus Australia, which one of the

better innings. He did play himself kind

of slow into it and then took off and

was just doing whatever he wanted. I

think the three strategies they tried to

do top of off stump to find an edge and

then obviously the armpit balls bowling

it shorter at his body and then I think

they tried to bowl off a bunch. I showed

you Stokesy but a lot of other bowlers

were trying to bowl him off maybe get

him chop on or just swing at that's what

um every every batter in England did

basically that's how they collapsed so

they're like maybe he'll do what we do.

He didn't. scored a ton of runs.