Travis Head''s century leads Australia to an 8-wicket victory over England in Ashes series opener
Perth (AP): Travis Head flipped the narrative and dominated the England pace bowlers with one of the great centuries in Ashes cricket Saturday as Australia raced to an eight-wicket victory with three days to spare in the first Test.
Head turned England's “Bazball” tactics back on the visitors, clobbering a century from 69 deliveries after being promoted up the order to open the innings when Usman Khawaja was injured.
In three innings across five sessions, fast bowlers were right on top as 30 wickets fell for 468 runs 113 overs in Perth — 19 on an extraordinary Day 1 and 11 before the tea interval on Day 2.
Set 205 to win, Head went in as a makeshift opener and plundered 123 from 83 balls, hitting boundaries to all parts of the ground as he hit the rope 16 times and cleared it on four occasions.
He was caught in the outfield trying to rush to victory, with Australia needing just 13 runs to win at 192-2.
Marnus Labuschagne leveled the scores with a six and was unbeaten on 51 when Australia reached 205-2.
The second test in the five-match series starts Dec. 4 at the Gabba in Brisbane.
Australia extended its unbeaten run in home Ashes tests to 16, with 14 victories and two draws since losing the 2010-11 series.
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Rupee falls 9 paise to all-time low of 90.58 against US dollar in early trade
Mumbai (PTI): Rupee depreciated 9 paise to an all-time low of 90.58 against US dollar in early trade on Monday, weighed down by uncertainty over an India-US trade deal and persistent foreign fund outflows.
Forex traders said rupee is trading with a negative bias as investors are in wait and watch mode and awaiting cues from the India-US trade deal front.
At the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee opened at 90.53 against the US dollar, then fell further to an all-time intraday low of 90.58 against the greenback, registering a fall of 9 paise over its previous close.
On Friday, the rupee had slipped 17 paise to close at an all-time low of 90.49 against the American currency.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.05 per cent lower at 98.35.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was trading higher by 0.52 per cent at USD 61.44 per barrel in futures trade.
On the domestic equity market front, the 30-share benchmark index Sensex was trading 298.86 points lower at 84,968.80, while the Nifty was down 121.40 points at 25,925.55.
Foreign Institutional Investors sold equities worth Rs 1,114.22 crore on Friday, according to exchange data.
"FPIs continue to be in selling mode in equity and debt while RBI has been selling dollars to fund their long positions," said Anil Kumar Bhansali, Head of Treasury and Executive Director Finrex Treasury Advisors LLP.
