MITCHELL JOHNSON: Ben Stokes-led England’s arrogance will be their undoing if they think Test is won on day 1

Ben Stokes gave us a little preview of the overconfidence that was bubbling in the England camp on the first day of the Ashes series.

The way the England captain celebrated during his five-wicket haul in the first innings in Perth, you’d swear he thought the job was done.

That’s the mistake you can’t afford in Test cricket. It isn’t over until it’s over, and on a ground like Optus Stadium, momentum can flip in one over.

Add in his press conference a few days earlier, where Stokes labelled ex-players as “has-beens”, well, let’s say he might want to remember he’ll be one of those soon enough.

When the day comes and he’s asked to give commentary or opinion, what then? Silence?

It’s disrespectful, especially when most ex-players on both sides aren’t trying to tear players down. We give opinions because we’ve lived it. Sometimes those opinions sting, but they’re rarely personal.

They’re part of the game, part of the discussion that drives the sport. Fans have their favourites, they get emotional, and that’s fine. But disagreement doesn’t mean disrespect.

Two-day Test matches always spark the same reaction: excitement and entertainment first, questions second.

As an Aussie, watching England get flattened in real time in Perth, that feeling never gets old.

The psychological damage to England is already visible. Stokes’s post-match tone said plenty, even if he didn’t realise it.

You could practically see the energy drain out of their shoulders as the wickets fell, and for us, that’s great theatre. But whether it’s actually good for Test cricket, that’s where the debate begins.

From a player’s perspective? Fantastic. From the outside? Depends on what you value. Think about the hype leading in, the swing of the match, England on top, then Australia wobbling, then both sides unsure. That’s why Test cricket is unmatched.

And that’s precisely why Travis Head’s decision to open the batting in the chase was huge. He backed himself, he read the conditions, and he realised something England didn’t: on a day two Perth pitch, batting is often at its best.

We even saw England’s tail look comfortable at times. He saw an opportunity, and he took on the pressure and showed he wasn’t afraid of it.

One moment really stood out to me: Head choosing to face the first ball of the innings. That’s leadership. He took the heat off Jake Weatherald on debut.

Compare that to the first innings, where the decision went the other way and Marnus Labuschagne left the debutant exposed. Small details matter in Test cricket, and that move told me a lot about Head’s mindset.

And still, even watching Head dominate, you couldn’t be certain Australia would win. That uncertainty, that’s the magic. Then suddenly the game flipped. It always comes fast in Perth.

The psychological damage to England is already visible. Stokes’s post-match tone said plenty, even if he didn’t realise it.

Is the series over? Absolutely not. You never think that as a player. But the confidence, the arrogance, the chest-out approach England brought in, that’s taken a hit.

I’ll be honest, I enjoy seeing that deflated. It’s part of the rivalry. And who knows when the next match is over, it could be the opposite.

Walking out of Optus Stadium last Saturday, two English supporters grabbed a photo with me. They looked shattered but still upbeat enough to have a joke with me.

One of them said their flight from the UK lasted longer than the match. You could see how deflated they were deep down, and that’s when it hit me. They’d saved, travelled, built their whole trip around this match.

And it was over in a blink, with some fans only coming for one Test match.

That’s the part of Test cricket we can’t forget. It’s theatre, it’s endurance, it’s emotional investment. A two-day match delivers shock and spectacle, but they are not the reasons why we love Test cricket.