Ashes 2023 | Twitter reacts as Travis Head's explosive effort under cloudy skies on Day 3 sets England 251 to chase

England got off to a flying start on Saturday at Headingley as Chris Woakes got rid of both Mitchell Marsh and Alex Carey within the first six overs of play to leave Australia reeling at 139/6. With the ball dancing about every which way, a quick collapse seemed to be on the cards for the visitors but Travis Head had other plans. Unbeaten overnight at 21, the southpaw took advantage of the hosts' short-ball tactics and employed an aggressive approach with the tail at the other end of the crease. He ended up finding the fence six times in the tricky conditions while clearing it an additional three times, including two back-to-back strikes against express speedster Mark Wood, to register his 16th Test half-century. Head eventually became Stuart Broad's third victim in the innings and departed for a score of 77, taking Australia's score to 224 in addition to their first-innings lead of 26 runs.

In response, England had much friendlier conditions to deal with as the sun was suddenly beating down hard in Leeds, further extending their stroke of good fortune with regard to the weather. Nevertheless, Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc produced a few close calls with the new Dukes ball to trouble Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett but the duo stood their ground for the five overs bowled. They remained unbeaten on 9 and 18 respectively to have the hosts 27 for no loss at Stumps, leaving them 224 more to chase with two days of play remaining.

What a day!

For sure!

Looking very confident!

Well!

That's true!

Hahaha! That would be too early!

Ashes for you!

Worth waiting!

hahaha!

hmmm!