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The West Australian has once again mocked Joe Root and England after Ben Stokes’ side fell to a dramatic eight-wicket defeat on the second day of the opening Ashes Test in Perth.
Ahead of the series, the newspaper had ruffled the feathers of several former England players, after it published an image of the Yorkshire batsman arriving in Australia while branding him a ‘Dud Root Down Under’.
The West Australian’s Sunday edition, The Sunday Times, chose to run a picture of Travis Head celebrating his sensational century on Saturday afternoon, but also threw a dig at England and Root in the process.
The headline read: 'Dud Root' but the paper had crossed out the word 'Root' with a big red 'X' and instead had inserted 'England'. They had also published a play on England's Bazball, with the word 'Travball!' being published in bold writing underneath.
‘Sensational Head turns the tables on pathetic Poms, with history-making match-winning century,’ the subheading read.
The back page of The Sunday Times was equally scathing, with editors pasting a picture of a disgruntled Stokes above a the headline: ‘Pommelled’.
The West Australian has once again mocked Joe Root and England after Ben Stokes’ side fell to a dramatic eight-wicket victory on the second day of the opening Ashes Test in Perth. The paper's Sunday edition praised star man Travis Head on its front page, while branding England 'pathetic Poms'
The paper also sent a jibe at Ben Stokes on it's backpage, publishing a picture of the England skipper looking disgruntled, with the headline 'Pommelled'
The West Australian continued to mock England into Monday, publishing an image of Travis Head with his wife Jessica holding one of their kids, with the headline: 'England's Daddy'
‘Bazball flipped on its Head, as Aussies win inside two days,’ the subheading read.
‘Travball murders Bazball,’ the paper added.
The outlet didn't stop there, with the West Australian publishing an image of Head with his partner Jessica and one of their kids with the headline: 'England's Daddy'.
The subheading added: 'Head's early family reunion after heroics hands 20,000 glum Poms three-day holiday in Perth.'
Prior to the series, the outlet mocked Root’s form Down Under, with the Englishman having never scored a Test century during an Ashes series in Australia.
‘Dud Root Down Under: Hero in the homeland, pretender in Australia. The stats that haunt England’s greatest batter ahead of Ashes showdown,’ the subheading read, with the paper also brutally calling Root ‘Average Joe.’
The phrase a ‘dud root’ is Aussie slang for someone who isn’t very good in bed.
Cricket legend Mark Butcher hit back at Australian media for their pre-Ashes sledges, branding them 'playground insults'.
The paper had previously mocked Joe Root by branding him an 'Average Joe' and a 'dud Root'
The West Australian took aim at Root's inability to score a Test century in Australia
Ben Stokes' side were left 'shellshocked' after Head flipped the Test upside down with his outstanding century
Root (left) was dismissed twice during the match by Mitchell Starc, going for a duck in the first innings before scoring eight runs in the second
England had set Australia a 204 target on Saturday but Head, who came out to open in place of Usman Khawaja, and beat the tourists at their own game
‘They've decided to have a pop at Ben Stokes and Joe Root, and they are very experienced in playing in Australia and know exactly what to expect.
‘I suppose the only disappointing thing from my point of view is they've had four years to come up with some stuff and most of it was pretty rubbish - at least the articles could have been vaguely amusing!’
‘They were just basic playground insults at people and I don't think that will have a massive effect on the likes of Root and Stokes. But, there's half a chance that people who have never experienced it before will be taken aback.’
Stokes had also bitten back at the Australian press, stating: 'I was a bit gutted when they turned their attention over to Rooty, because I was waking up waiting to see what the next headline of me was.’
The Aussies, though, do have plenty to smile about, after their bowlers decimated England’s top order, while Head produced an innings for the ages, striking his 10th Test century in just 69 deliveries.
England had set Australia a 204 target on Saturday but Head, who came out to open in place of Usman Khawaja and beat the tourists at their own game.
‘Bazball? This was Travball at its most fearsome and it pricked the pride of England and illustrated a truth of England’s much-debated approach to Test cricket,’ Fox Sports wrote, revelling in Head’s fiery and brutal innings, that left England stunned.
It was the second-fastest century ever scored in an Ashes series.
Root is the second-highest run scorer in the history of Test cricket, but remarkably has never scored a century in Australia, averaging only 33 runs Down Under
England now have 11 days to prepare for the next Test in Brisbane and Stokes says he will now be focusing on lifting the side back up after the opening Test defeat
And it left Stokes ‘shellshocked’.
‘Let emotions like this sink in, it has got to hurt,’ the England captain said.
‘There’s two sides of sport, winning and losing, and the emotions are completely different.
‘The highs of winning - you have to let that go and move onto the next one, just as you do when you have these feelings. You have to feel it all.’
England now have 11 days to prepare for the next Test in Brisbane and Stokes says he will now be focusing on lifting the side back up after the opening Test defeat.
‘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 in achieving a goal,’ Stokes continued.
‘We have to not take any baggage from this result into Brisbane, because we need to win that one.
‘All of my focus and all of my energy will be going into getting the group back up.’
