"Wowza..."

That was Steve Smith's one-word reaction to what we'd all witnessed from Travis Head at Perth Stadium. Not in the moment, but nearly an hour later. And he still looked suitably awestruck, and suitably amazed with what Head had just pulled off.

There will be thousands of words said and written about the South Australian left-hander's latest knock for a long time to come. But the one-word exclamation from the Australian captain though summed it up best. Especially on the day when Australia had wrapped up a stunning first Test victory, having gone from being backs to the wall to eight-wicket winners in the space of two sessions. All courtesy the latest Travis Head symphony of destruction. Aided also by England's own self-destruction with the bat.

By now, we've become accustomed to Head scripting extraordinary centuries in the grandest of settings. Whether it's the World Test Championship final or the 50-over World Cup final. But what he produced in Perth on Saturday was probably his most incredible statement piece to date.

In every way possible. Firstly, the enormity of the situation. Starting with this being the opening Test of the most heavily built-up Ashes series. Then an English outfit who were touted by many to be the first real Ashes threat for this Australian team on home soil. Also an England side that had called the shots for large portions of the Test match, and probably given themselves the best chance in 40 years to take a 1-0 lead.

Then the challenge. An attack who had bullied and roughed up the Australian batters only 24 hours earlier. And who despite their batters' collective failings, still had 205 to defend, the target for Australia 33 more than the highest total managed in the three innings leading up to it. Not to forget the lack of clarity around who was going to open the batting for Australia with Usman Khawaja having limped off the field.

Perhaps the loudest blow Head struck on Saturday to the English spirits came before he even emerged as the surprise partner for Jake Weatherald at the top of the order. When, as Nathan Lyon would reveal later, he'd get up in the dressing room and say he'd take on the job of opening the batting while stating, "Can't be that hard. I might as well go and get 'em...'" in trademark Head fashion.

Too often there is a reductionist view to what makes Head such a destructive batter. Whether it's the old cliche of him just being someone who "sees the ball and hits the ball" or him being this risk-taking basher of a cricket ball.

If anything, he's proved over and over again that he's up there with Steve Smith as the best problem-solver in this Australian batting line-up. But also that there is more method than madness to what Head does with the bat.

There's also a lot more complexity to his batting skills in terms of how he can manipulate the fields that are set for him. England under bowling coach David Saker have decided that this time around they are going to block the off-side square of the wicket and try to get Head dismissed by playing to his strengths. But the fact that the 31-year-old still manages to keep penetrating those fields or even clearing them is a testament to how he uses his hands and his wrists to almost direct the ball into spaces where he wants it to go.

But above all, it's his ability to read the game situation and react accordingly that sets him apart even more.

In what was his first outing as a Test opener in Australia, Head started off rather conservatively. He wasn't being defensive but he was being cautious and after 14 balls had scored only 3 runs. The fact that he made 97 off the next 55 balls he faced happened as a result of how he gave himself the chance to dominate the bowling rather than simply assuming the right or power to do so.

What transpired from that point on was a brutal taking down of a bowling attack who only a day earlier had looked like the most menacing ever from England to have landed on these shores since probably the Bodyline days. The straight pull six off Archer over long-on probably being the loudest slap, both literally and figuratively, he landed on the visitors.

If anything, Head actually bats in Test cricket the way this English team imagine they do. Even if they will never admit it.

He does take risks, but they are mostly calculated. He does play outrageous shots, but they are always built more around probability than simply to make a statement to the bowler. There is always a blend of instinct and thought rather than pure ego, unlike what we've seen with the English batters with their current brand.

How they expect to thrive on batting for too long on the bounciest Test pitch in Australia by repeatedly driving at balls outside off stump on the up, with no remorse or repercussion, is a sign of how far away from tradition they've drifted as a batting unit. In addition to the constant refusal to listen to or tolerate any criticism externally as to their keenness to keeping "batting the way they want to".

Head, as he's proved over the last few years, has shown that he doesn't thrive on his own ego, he instead plays with the bowlers' egos and often crushes them for good. Like he did on Saturday, where 24 hours after Archer & Co. had seemingly roughed up the Australian batters, it was Head's time to bully them, and by the end, play around with them.

He lives out the principles that England love to profess all the time. He bats with freedom, he carries a swagger to the crease, and he lives to entertain. But he's never reckless.

And for England going forward, their best chance to make a real impact with the bat in this series is maybe attempting a version of how Head goes about taking down bowlers.

Not that there's any guarantee it will come off like it did for Head. For there aren't too many who can do what Head does. And when he does orchestrate one of his superhits, you're left awestruck and often with little to say, except maybe do a Steve Smith and go, "Wowza".