The action begins ahead of schedule again, featuring an extended morning session of two and a half hours to make up some of the play washed out on the first day. The cricketers are making final preparations to take the field.
Charity and Command on Display
Events are handled superbly in Australia. On the first day of this fifth Test came a moving homage to the those affected and the emergency services of the Bondi atrocity, and on the third day the Sydney Cricket Ground was became a wave of pink to once again generate donations for the McGrath Foundation.
On the field of play, though, Australian benevolence was in far scarcer quantity. Across three sessions their batsmen ground England’s bowlers into the dust, addressing any queries about their incentive since securing the Ashes and posing a few more about their beaten opponents.
Visibly weary from the effort, Ben Stokes and his team walked off at stumps exhausted and overwhelmed. Steve Smith’s 37th Test century, 129 not out from 205 balls, had come after the concluding stages of Travis Head’s explosive 163 from 166, and with it Australia had achieved 518 for seven from 124 overs. The lead stood at 134 runs overnight and looked an ominous one.
Veteran's Viewpoint
The renowned Neil Harvey, 97, shared his thoughts in a charming interview.
I've been let down by England. I think the way they tackle the batting side of things, they get too impetuous, nobody seems to want to play a long innings, like a Cowdrey or a Boycott.
It might work against ordinary teams but when you get a top-tier team like Australia it's a completely different proposition. I used to score runs at a fair pace, and everyone gets a lot of pleasure out of it, but when you try to play this Bazball thing it takes the odds away from winning an important Test. I'd like to see them pull their hooves in.
A Baptism of Fire
Almost an hour into a somewhat cloudy morning at the Sydney Cricket Ground, Matt Potts came into the England attack from the Randwick End, and immediately began running through his variations.
His first ball was wide and hammered through cover by Travis Head. His second ball was both short and wide and cut over gully by Travis Head. His third ball was on a good length and smashed past midwicket by Travis Head. His fourth ball was defended with a show of furrowed caution, to raucous, sarcastic applause from a crowd that had begun to settle in for the day's play. A tough initiation, Pottsy. And yes, it's always like this around here.
Scaling the Ashes Mountain
There was a time, while Steve Smith was at the height of his batting skill, when “best since Bradman” was used with certainty. The thing about that line is that even when the recipient has excelled for years, it gets granted too quickly, given the point of comparison is a career lasting two decades. Lots of players hit their peak for a time, no other has maintained that level.
The amalgamation of those phases, though, propelled him into a uncommon position on the third day. In the annals of the game there are landmarks, then there are mountaintops. For a long time in Smith's Ashes-focused career there have been two peaks drawing gradually closer in the mist. Donald Bradman's 5,028 runs against England is one that even Smith will never conquer. Jack Hobbs's 3,636 runs against Australia is the one he overtook on Tuesday.
Preamble: A Forgone Conclusion
The current Ashes battle, perhaps the most anticlimactic series in the 144 years since Fred Spofforth caused havoc at The Oval, is limping towards a fitting conclusion. Australia are set to defeat comprehensively England at Sydney and win the series 4-1, a margin not even the most biased Pom could argue with.
It's been a success of maturity, composure, application, skill and Travis Head. His bold 123 at Perth opened English wounds that have yet to recover; four Tests later he is happily compounding their misery. Head's seemingly relentless 163 helped Australia to 518 for 7 at the end of day three, a lead of 134. Steve Smith will start again on 129 after making a century that looked inevitable even before he faced his first ball.
Australia, despite a number of weaknesses in their team, have won the series with an simplicity that is hard to understand. Maybe that's an Anglocentric view. It's not Australia's fault that England failed to turn up – even if, on some level, they probably wanted a greater challenge.
The final act will be conducted either this evening or tomorrow. There's a chance of a one-sided finish when England bat, just as there was in the final innings of 2013-14 and 2021-22. Their bodies are tired, their confidence broken, their spirit crushed. It's nearly time for everyone to go home.
