Broad Urges England to Rethink Plan as Head Dominates Ashes Start

When a man with 604 Test wickets leans forward and says England missed a trick, you listen. Stuart Broad did just that this week, offering a sharp breakdown of how Travis Head ripped open the first Ashes Test and why the visitors must rethink almost every plan they carried into Perth. And honestly, few saw this coming.

Head’s 123 in the fourth innings didn’t just tilt the match. It shifted the mood of the series. The left-hander walked out as a stand-in opener, a role he wasn’t even expected to play until Usman Khawaja pulled up with back spasms. Suddenly, the script flipped. Jake Weatherald, on debut, held one end, and Head unleashed the kind of innings that leaves bowlers staring at the turf and fans shaking their heads in disbelief.

Broad watched it all, perhaps with a touch of sympathy for England’s fast men. But he didn’t hide from the truth. “You can’t just let him keep flaying it for hours,” he said on SEN radio, sounding more like a coach delivering homework than a retired quick enjoying his morning. Short line, long message.

‘Take the bite out of it’

Broad believes England’s four-man pace attack fell into the trap of chasing wickets instead of building tension. Jofra Archer and Mark Wood sent unplayable deliveries past Head’s shoulders, and for a few deliveries each spell looked dangerous. Then the tempo slipped, the lengths wandered, and Head feasted.

According to Broad, the answer wasn’t more fire. It was more patience. “Get him off strike. Let him face one ball an over,” he said. Just imagine that: a batter brimming with adrenaline suddenly forced into a waiting game. A single clipped away, then silence as Marnus Labuschagne becomes the pressure target. Dots pile up, and the mood shifts. Eventually, the shot that isn’t really on suddenly becomes too tempting.

“That’s how you make him do something different,” Broad added. “He scores 120 off 80 balls because he sees too much of the strike.”

It’s a simple suggestion, almost oddly old-school in an era obsessed with matchups and aggressive templates. But to be fair, it fits Head’s personality. He hates standing still. You could almost see the boredom on his face when play slowed for even a moment.

A plan scrambled on the fly

What struck Broad the most was how unprepared England seemed for the scenario. They walked into the series expecting Head at No.5, not facing the new ball under lights. The moment Khawaja was ruled out, everything changed, and Broad believes the tourists didn’t adjust quickly enough.

“It’s the first time I’ve seen Ben Stokes without a tactical answer,” he said. That line alone tells you how unusual the evening felt. Stokes is usually the one with a trick ready, a field tweak, a funky angle, something to stem the bleeding. But not this time. The ball flew to the rope too often, and England’s response felt scattered. One lineup shuffle, and England’s entire blueprint looked dated.

Pressure back on the visitors 

With the second Test beginning on December 4 in Brisbane, the visitors find themselves racing the clock. Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum now have a puzzle to solve: how do you quiet a batter who looks eager to decide the series on his own terms?

Broad didn’t sugar-coat the stakes. England, he said, must think beyond pace and power. They need control. Boring overs. Bowlers working in pairs to trap not only Head but the man at the other end. “Forty minutes of dots can feel like an eternity for him,” Broad explained. That one moment flipped everything in Perth. Another could do the same in Brisbane, but only if the visitors show more patience.

You could feel the disappointment written on English faces that night. Gasps even rolled around the ground when Head kept threading gaps through packed offside fields. And that shot he smoked past mid-on? It had the crowd on its feet.

Now the ball is back with England. New venue. New ball. New plan, hopefully. Because if Head keeps swinging freely, the series might run away before the tourists even settle in.