‘Travball’ blew woeful England away in Perth with a brutal reminder of the difficulties of winning in Australia.
Australia defeated England in the first Ashes test match with a dominant display in a game that lasted only 2 days, as a ten wicket haul from Mitchell Starc and destructive century from Travis Head confirmed victory for the Aussies.
The 2025/2026 Ashes series down under got underway on Friday morning, as possibly the most built-up series for a generation. England came into the tour with, no doubt, the best team they have had since they last won on Australian soil in 2010/11.
Many England fans and even neutrals would have probably tipped England with a chance of winning the series prior to the first test, mainly due to Australia’s ageing side that appears to be in a transition period currently.
England won the toss and, contrary to what captain Ben Stokes usually tends to do, chose to bat. England’s little and large opening duo, Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett, who have formed a strong partnership over the last few years, did not get England off to a strong start.
Despite keeping out the first ball, unlike Rory Burns did last series, Crawley all too familiarly nicked off to Mitchell Starc for a duck in the first over to give the Aussies the breakthrough. Despite a brief counter by Ollie Pope (46) and vice-captain Harry Brook (52), England were ultimately bowled out for 172 in just 32.5 overs. The highlight of the innings was undoubtedly Starc's 7-58 career-best figures, dismantling the England batters and cleaning up the tail.
Despite in the driving seat, debutant Jake Weatherald was also dismissed for a duck off the second ball of the innings thanks to an explosive Jofra Archer delivery that knocked the Darwin batsman off his feet and trapped him in front of the stumps after a review. With the England crowd fired up, the England bowlers were magnificent and the wickets of Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne in rather quick succession further lifted the travelling fans.
Throughout the course of the afternoon, and a heroic bowling display from Stokes, Australia found themselves in disbelief as they ended the first day of the test 9 wickets down with only 121 runs on the board. Gloveman Alex Carey found himself as the top scorer for his team (26), with only four other Australians getting into double figures for the innings.
As the second day got underway, England came out aggressive in search of the final Australian wicket with rapid Mark Wood taking the ball in the first over. The Aussie tail wagged, as it so often does, but England finally found their 10th wicket through Brydon Carse.
Halfway through the first session of day two, England walked out to bat with 3 and a half days still to play in the match. Their second innings started all too the same as Zak Crawley once again gave his wicket away attempting to drive in the first over, as Starc claimed his pole for the second time in the match.
England’s 2nd innings carried on similarly to their first as Duckett and Pope confidently escorted their team to lunch with a 110 -run lead, only one wicket down. Things fell apart on the other side of tea, however, as wickets quickly fell as the middle order capitulated. Perhaps perceived as England’s strongest batsman when they are up against it, Joe Root and Ben Stokes both failed to make double figures, once again thanks to Starc.
England’s bowlers had to squeeze as many runs out of Australia as they could muster, and succeeded, as Gus Atkinson and Carse made 37 and 20 runs respectively. An immature batting display saw England throw away a rare chance to get on top of the Aussies in the match, as they finished their innings leaving Australia with only 205 runs to chase to go 1-0 up in the series.
Weatherald (23) made his first runs as an international cricketer, but the highlight of the 4th innings was, of course, Travis Head. He missed out in their first innings but was determined to make a difference in the game as he replaced the injured Usman Khawaja opening the batting, a position he is familiar with in the shorter form of the game.
He made England look like amateurs as he made an unbeaten 123 off 83 balls to win Australia the test match inside two days. Supported by Labuschagne (51*), he put on a clinic of batting on an Australian wicket and simply blew the visitors away. Many people talk about ‘Bazball’, but the middle order batsman played one of the greatest Ashes knocks to brutally remind England of the challenges of winning in Australia.
The two teams now head to Brisbane for a day-night test, of which England has not played since their last visit there. The talk before the series suggested England had a great chance of winning, but this game exposed the faults in England’s approach to test cricket.
By Finn Littlewood | 24th November 2025
Harrogate Town v Newcastle u21 | Tuesday 11th November 2025
A superb Tom Cursons double sealed the win for Harrogate over Newcastle United u21’s in the EFL Vertu Trophy last night at the Exercise Stadium.
Newcastle u21’s wasted the kick off as Sean Neave kicked the ball towards the Harrogate corner flag for a Harrogate goal kick. Newcastle started the game timidly, with Harrogate not looking like a team that has already qualified.
The sulphurites hard work in the first ten minutes paid dividends when Ellis Taylor, who had earlier struck a chance wide, struck the ball powerfully into the roof of the net after cutting inside from his right wing.
Harrogate didn’t look like slowing down after taking the lead and continued to press, however Newcastle managed to grow more comfortably into the game and take more possession midway into the second half.
In the 25th minute, Liam Gibson looked to take a knock and had to be replaced by Zico Asare. In the 37th minute, Tom Hill looked to have also taken a knock and had to be replaced by Conor McAleny.
Newcastle looked to be more of a threat after Harrogate’s substitutions and dominated possession for almost all the rest of the half.
Deep into stoppage time of the first half, Harrison Ashby played a well-timed ball for Alfie Harrison to run onto, as Harrison finished tidily despite James Belshaw’s best efforts to deny him.
The teams went into the break level 1-1, but Newcastle looked to grow progressively more comfortable as the game went on, leaving ominous sounds for a jaded Harrogate team for the second half.
The second half began with substitutes for each team, as Tom Cursons replaced McAleny for Harrogate and Scott Bailey replaced Anthony Munda for Newcastle.
Ciaran Thompson replaced Ashby and Joe Brayson replaced Ben Parkinson in the 62nd minute.
A goal somewhat from nowhere came in the 64th from Tom Cursons as a deflected shot from the edge of the box beat James Taylor to put Harrogate into the lead. A few minutes later Cursons scored another goal, but it was ruled to be offside by the linesman.
Harrogate searched for a goal that would put the game to bed but came unstuck, as Newcastle grabbed hold of the game yet again, similar to the way they did before their first goal.
Despite Newcastle’s flashy, possession football, Harrogate proved to resist this with physical dominance, and they looked to work as a unit much better than Newcastle did. This showed with a 3rd goal for the evening for Harrogate as Taylor’s blocked shot was slotted home by Cursons for his second of the game.
Newcastle’s top scorer Sean Neave departed the field after an underwhelming performance for the Magpies’ star man, as Darren Palmer replaced him.
Big tackles continued to fly in from Harrogate, aided by the heavy rain that fell throughout the game, while the visitors aimed to claw their way back into the game. Their attempts were unsuccessful as Harrogate’s defence prevailed.
The game ended with a few minutes of stoppage time, but Newcastle failed to challenge the Harrogate goal again.
By Finn Littlewood | 12th November 2025