Adelaide [Australia], December 19 : Travis Head was in fine form for Australia once again on home turf as he further embodied the role of an enforcer at the top of the batting order against England in the third Ashes Test.

Head pummelled the English line-up and ended day 3 with a brilliant 142* in 196 balls, with 13 fours and two sixes, with a strike rate of over 72.

"I was just going to bide my time. Went through it well. We got there eventually. It wasn't probably too long," Travis Head said.

He secured a fourth century at the Adelaide Oval, equalling David Warner, David Boon and Allan Border's tally at the venue. The 31-year-old had some frantic moments before reaching his century as it took him nine deliveries to get to triple-figures, which included being dropped by Harry Brook at gully.

He sealed his century with a boundary after stepping down to Joe Root's off-spin and followed with a kiss to the deck, where he averages a mammoth 87.33 on. He ended the day batting on 142* off 196 balls, with 13 fours and two maximums.

"I didn't think I'd get one (hundred at Adelaide Oval), so to get four is not too bad. I felt all right," Head added.

The day started with England batting, fending off their final two wickets, with Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer at the crease, still trailing by 158 runs.

However, Archer's knock of 51 off 105 showed more resilience alongside his skipper as the pair put up 106 runs for the ninth wicket, their highest in this Ashes series, offering England a glimmer of hope.

Ben Stokes, pushing himself to the absolute limit in the searing Adelaide heat, finally saw his resistance broken off a jaffa from Mitchell Starc, the 12th time the left-arm pacer has had the England skipper's scalp in Ashes Tests.

Jofra Archer soon followed his skipper as he was caught in the slip cordon off Scott Boland as England were bowled out for 286, still trailing the hosts by 85 runs.

The visitors started off well with the ball, with Brydon Carse trapping Jake Weatherald (1) in front of his stumps, while Josh Tongue picked off Marnus Labuschagne (13).

However, Usman Khawaja, coming in for Steve Smith, put in an impressive showing as he steadied the ship along with Head. The 39-year-old put up an 86-run partnership with Head as England's troubles worsened with Ben Stokes off the field.

"Not surprised, played really well again today, a calm head, with a lot of experience", said Head on Khawaja's resilient knock.

Khawaja (40) was picked off by a half-tracker off Will Jacks as Cameron Green (7) soon followed, nicking one off Tongue as Harry Brook held on, leaving Australia at 149-4.

First innings hero, Carey teamed up with Travis Head as they pulled the game further out of England's grasp with an exceptional batting display as they put up an unbeaten 122-run stand. Carey found himself at 52* at the end of the day's play as Australia had a massive lead of 356 runs as they closed the action at 271/4.

Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor