"England's fastest ever attack has scrambled minds and even rattled Steve Smith", screamed The Telegraph, backed up by columnist and ex-England captain Michael Vaughan, who declared day one "the most exciting first day of an Ashes series I can remember". The paper's chief sportswriter Oliver Brown ventured further.

Former Australia batters Sam Konstas and Kurtis Patterson have been dismissed cheaply in NSW's crushing innings and 58-run Sheffield Shield defeat to Tasmania. In a match in which neither team was able to take all 10 wickets in the first innings, the Blues collapsed on day four to be all out for 174 in 92 overs at Cricket Central in Sydney.

Two days after Australia’s third Test in the Caribbean in July – when the West Indies were skittled for 27 on another bowler-friendly pitch – coach Andrew McDonald sensed the storm clouds forming and moved early to douse speculation by backing Khawaja to play in the Ashes despite the veteran making just 117 runs at an average of 19.5 on that tour.

An Ashes Test with a plot less believable than a bad Netflix movie was decided by the blade of a rampaging Travis Head, whose match-winning century for the ages ripped the heart out of England and gave Australia an improbable 1-0 series lead at Perth Stadium.