Play gets underway early once more, with a two-and-a-half-hour morning session to recover some of the time lost on the first day. The players are preparing 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 incident, and on the third day the Sydney Cricket Ground was became a sea of pink to once again collect money for the McGrath Foundation.
Between the wickets, however, Australian generosity was in far shorter supply. Across three sessions their batmen ground England’s bowlers into the dust, dispelling any doubts about their motivation since securing the Ashes and throwing up a few more regarding their defeated rivals.
Faces flush from the ordeal, Ben Stokes and his team walked off at stumps battle-weary. Steve Smith’s 37th hundred in Tests, 129 not out from 205 balls, had come after the latter part of Travis Head’s sizzling 163 from 166, and with it Australia had achieved 518 for seven from 124 overs. The lead was 134 runs overnight and looked an daunting one.
Veteran's Viewpoint
The legendary Neil Harvey, 97, gave his views in a delightful interview.
I've been unimpressed with England. I think the way they handle the batting side of things, they get too reckless, nobody seems to want to play a long innings, like a Cowdrey or a Boycott.
It might work against lesser sides but when you get a top-tier team like Australia it's a whole new challenge. 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 style it takes the odds away from winning an important Test. I'd like to see them rein themselves in.
A Tough Introduction
Forty-five minutes into a quietly overcast 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 sprayed down the leg side and hammered through cover by Travis Head. His second ball was both back of a length and outside off and hacked over gully by Travis Head. His third ball was short and straight and pulled past midwicket by Travis Head. His fourth ball was blocked with a show of studious defense, to jeering shouts from a crowd that had begun to get involved. A grueling introduction, Pottsy. And yes, it's always like this around here.
A Historic Achievement
There was a time, while Steve Smith was at the height of his batting skill, when “best since Bradman” was used with confidence. The thing about that line is that even when the recipient has excelled for years, it gets bestowed too quickly, given the point of comparison is a career spanning twenty years. Lots of players attain greatness for a time, no other has remained there.
The amalgamation of those phases, though, took him to a exceptional position on the third day. In the statistics of the game there are achievements, then there are peaks. For a long time in Smith's Ashes-focused career there have been two peaks slowly approaching in the mist. Donald Bradman's 5,028 runs against England is one that even Smith will never climb. Jack Hobbs's 3,636 runs against Australia is the one he surpassed on Tuesday.
Preamble: A One-Sided Conclusion
The current Ashes battle, possibly the most disappointing series in the 144 years since Fred Spofforth raised hell at The Oval, is staggering to a fitting conclusion. Australia are on course to defeat comprehensively England at Sydney and win the series 4-1, a margin not even the most biased Pom could contest.
It's been a success of know-how, discipline, skill, skill and Travis Head. His audacious 123 at Perth hurt England that have yet to recover; four Tests later he is cheerily grinding salt into them. Head's surprisingly ruthless 163 helped Australia to 518 for 7 at the end of day three, a lead of 134. Steve Smith will resume 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 last rites will be delivered 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 exhausted, their confidence broken, their spirit crushed. It's nearly time for everyone to go home.
