'Hard to argue': Ricky Ponting doubts Travis Head experiment will last but it has made selectors think

Former Australian captain Ricky Ponting believes Australian selectors will seriously consider leaving Travis Head at the top of the order for the Ashes but Usman Khawaja will retain his spot at the top of the order for the Brisbane Test.

Head scored his match-winning century as a second-innings opener in Khawaja's place and coach Andrew McDonald suggested it was a role the South Australian might reprise in future matches.

Ponting claims Head's barnstorming 123 from 83 balls to win the game will stay in the minds of selectors but they won't act quickly.

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"It was a scenario that suited, but when you saw it unfold it was like 'why don't we do that all the time'," Ponting told The Sydney Morning Herald.

"Don't get me wrong, I don't think they'll do it, I think they'll go back to Uzzy in Brisbane, but it was pretty irresistible watching it yesterday.

"If England want to come out here with all the huff and puff and Wood and Archer and these guys, why don't we fight fire with fire and put it back on them. As soon as it happened they didn't know what to do, they didn't know where to turn, so I'm sure it will be spoken about, not just in the media, but they'd have to be chatting around it.

"The regeneration of the batting order is going to happen soon anyway, so is now the right time to bring in a young guy into the middle order and try to change things up? Probably not. But when you see what Travis did, it's hard to argue against leaving him there."

The 31-year-old, habitually tops the order in short formats for his country, but he usually plays in the middle for the long form of the game.

Australia were no certainties to produce the dominant win that emerged at Perth Stadium, with England bowled out for 172 and 164.

The home side did not perform any better with a disappointing 132 in their first innings.

But Head looked like he was playing on an entirely different wicket than the one which both side's fast bowlers feasted on for the better part of five sessions, clubbing four sixes and 16 boundaries in a single-session knock for the ages.

Australian coach Andrew McDonald said Khawaja had returned home for checks but was not guaranteed to start in Brisbane even if he was fit.

"It's a long way out, a lot of information to gather between now and then, and hopefully Usman is fit and available for selection," he said.

"I think anytime you spasm, it's a result of something going on in your back. So I think that further investigation is just due diligence around that."

The Aussie coach did not shy away from Head's performance and what he can bring at the top and said selectors have had conversations around the switch.

"I think it gave us a little bit of a lens potentially to the future in terms of adjusting batting orders in second innings," he said.

"You do it in one-day cricket, you front-end some of your innings if you know the back end is going to be difficult to chase down the runs.

"It's a conversation that we have had. We've had a conversation around Travis opening the batting for a long period of time, and Trav has been on the record this week around that also."

Pink ball tests, particularly the evening sessions, are often dominated by pace bowling but McDonald said spinner Nathan Lyon would not be lightly discarded for the Gabba.

"It's not something that we like doing," the coach said. "If you look at Australian pink ball cricket in general terms, the middle sessions have been quite benign, and Nathan's done a lot of work there."