Travis Head?s quickfire century puts Australia in Ashes control against England

There was a period either side of tea on the second day at the Gabba where the Brisbane-based battalion of the Barmy Army were in full voice and the sleep-deprived viewers watching at home in the UK had been rewarded for a collective patience that had been sorely tested.

Mark Wood had kept Steve Smith down to a mere 12 runs on a day of searing speeds, Ollie Robinson had found himself on a hat-trick by ending David Warner's charmed pursuit of a 25th Test century on 94 and persuading Cameron Green to leave a ball on off stump, and Chris Woakes had profited from Alex Carey's skittish first innings as a Test batsman when a long-hop was clothed to mid-wicket on 12.

Australia were wobbling for the first time in the match on 236 for six, having lost four for 47 in the space of 11.4 overs. Although thoughts of waiting for both sides to bat before judging what represented a good first innings total had long since evaporated - hint: it wasn't 147 all out after winning the toss - a lead of 89 runs meant Joe Root's tourists were still just about still breathing.

Yet as the players left Woolloongabba's concrete coliseum after three sessions of 31C temperatures that baked a previously green surface, the two teams felt much the same way as 24 hours earlier. Travis Head had just blitzed the third fastest century in Ashes history, needing just 85 balls to do so in the space of a session and driving home Australia's advantage. At stumps the freshly-recalled left-hander was unbeaten on 112, his side 343 for seven for a lead of 196, and England once more in the mire.

Head over Usman Khawaja was probably England's preference when Australia chewed over the No 5 spot. But in the blink of an eye such thoughts were being revised as a weary attack was taken for 12 fours and two sixes that required none of the Big Bash League's pyrotechnics to whip 20,000 Queenslanders into a frenzy. With a moustache akin to that of David Boon, and similar fortitude when struck on both elbow and chin by Wood (the second blow a vicious beamer that was accepted as accidental), Head's selection was vindicated.

English heads might have dropped from the outset at the sight of azure skies over Queensland first thing or been haunted all day by the two Banquos, Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad, wheeling away in the nets throughout. However the three frontline seam bowlers selected did themselves justice in the main. Robinson in particular impressed during his first Ashes outing, figures of three for 48 reflecting the nagging accuracy and extra bounce that has been the hallmark of his nascent international career.

Woakes, handed a new ball he might have been primed for earlier in England's year-long preparations, took time to find his length but beat the edge while keeping it tight. And Wood didn't just satisfy those with a lust for pace - achieved when his fifth ball was clocked at 94.1mph, quicker than anything England sent down four years ago - but offered a constant physical menace.