Brendon McCullum , England's head coach, said that his beaten players would double down on their team unity after a chastening loss in the first Test at Perth , and vowed to block out the outside noise after what he acknowledged was "a very bad day".

Speaking to TNT Sports after Travis Head' s 69-ball century had condemned England to a crushing eight-wicket defeat inside two days, McCullum revealed he had been confident of his team's chances of defending a slender total of 205, on a pitch that had offered pace and movement throughout, and on which Australia had been rolled aside for 132 in their first innings.

Instead, Head came out swinging as a stand-in opener for the injured Usman Khawaja, and succeeded in knocking England off the aggressive lengths that had worked so well for

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