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This was a rare day in modern Ashes history down under as England began it in the ascendancy, but a horror afternoon session ceded the momentum and Australia charged into a series lead before sunset.
Here, Daily Mail Sport assesses the key moments:
Australia took a 1-0 series lead in the Ashes after a dominant eigfht-wicket victory over England in Perth
Ben Stokes and his troops will rue their second innings collapse with them in control at 65-1
CATCH OF THE DAY
Mitchell Starc contorted his body this way and that to punish Zak Crawley for driving at a back-of-a-length delivery once again, twisting in his follow-through to clasp the ball in his left hand and then turning his hand in his dive to prevent it making contact with the turf. The 25th time he had struck in the first over of a Test innings.
Mitchell Starc contorted his body this way and that to punish Zak Crawley for driving at a back-of-a-length delivery
CONTROVERSY OF THE DAY
It took an eternity for television umpire Sharfuddoula to decide that Jamie Smith had got a tickle on a leg-side delivery from Brendan Doggett. Initially, he could be heard saying: ‘As the ball passes there is nothing there.’
Yet he continued to monitor replays for almost five minutes, eventually changing his mind because of the appearance of a noise murmur on the real-time snickometer.
On-field official Nitin Menon was instructed to overturn his on-field decision and England were 104 for seven.
Ex-Australian umpire Simon Taufel later insisted the correct decision was made, because ‘if you get a spike up to one frame past the bat, that is conclusive. And in this particular case, that is exactly what was there.’
It took an eternity for television umpire Sharfuddoula to decide that Jamie Smith had got a tickle on a leg-side delivery
Smith initially walked halfway down the field after the Australian signalled for the review
SHOT OF THE DAY
Take your pick. Revelling as Australia’s second emergency opener of the match, after Usman Khawaja’s latest back spasm, Travis Head’s 69-ball hundred, the second fastest in Ashes history, was chock-full of audacity: levering a length delivery from Brydon Carse over a running Ben Duckett at third man and over the rope, bringing up a half-century partnership with debutant Jake Weatherald in the process.
Or the straight pulled six off Jofra Archer that moved him into the 80s on an extraordinary evening’s charge to an eight-wicket win.
Travis Head lit up the Optus Stadium with an incredible array of drives that helped him reach a ton in just 69 balls
GROUNDHOG DAY
England were 105 runs ahead when Scott Boland prised out Ben Duckett, finding the edge from a defensive push for Australia’s second second-innings wicket.
But the next few dismissals in a sequence of nine for 99, from a senior score of the side including Joe Root, Harry Brook and Ollie Pope were infuriatingly repetitive as the middle order followed Crawley’s lead by driving at deliveries that were nowhere near half-volley length.
