Play gets underway early once more, featuring an extended morning session of two and a half hours to compensate for some of the overs lost on the first day. The athletes are preparing to step onto the ground.
Charity and Command on Display
Australia knows how to host an event. This fifth Test commenced with a moving homage to the victims and first responders of the Bondi atrocity, and on the third day the Sydney Cricket Ground was transformed into a ocean of pink to once again collect money for the McGrath Foundation.
On the field of play, though, Australian charity was in far more limited availability. Across three sessions their batsmen ground England’s bowlers into the dust, addressing any queries about their drive since securing the Ashes and throwing up a few more about their beaten opponents.
Faces flush from the ordeal, Ben Stokes and his team trudged off at stumps seeing pink elephants. Steve Smith’s century number thirty-seven, 129 not out from 205 balls, had come after the second half of Travis Head’s explosive 163 from 166, and with it Australia had attained 518 for seven from 124 overs. The lead stood at 134 runs overnight and looked an threatening one.
Legendary Critique
The famed Neil Harvey, 97, shared his thoughts in a charming interview.
I've been disappointed in England. I think the way they tackle the batting side of things, they get too careless, nobody seems to want to build an innings, like a Cowdrey or a Boycott.
It might work against ordinary teams but when you get a quality outfit like Australia it's a completely different proposition. I used to score runs quite rapidly, and everyone gets a lot of pleasure out of it, but when you try to play this Bazball thing it lessens the probability of winning an important Test. I'd like to see them pull their hooves in.
A Baptism of Fire
Shortly after the start of a gloomy morning at the Sydney Cricket Ground, Matt Potts was introduced into the England attack from the Randwick End, and immediately began trying out his change-ups.
His first ball was sprayed down the leg side and hammered through cover by Travis Head. His second ball was both short outside off stump and cut over gully by Travis Head. His third ball was short and straight and smashed past midwicket by Travis Head. His fourth ball was defended with a show of concentrated care, to loud, mocking cheers from a crowd that had begun to get involved. Welcome to the treadmill, Pottsy. And yes, it's always like this around here.
Joining the Pantheon
There was a time, while Steve Smith was at the height of his batting mastery, when “best since Bradman” was used with assurance. The thing about that line is that even when the recipient has reigned supreme for years, it gets applied too quickly, given the point of comparison is a career spanning twenty years. Lots of players reach the top for a time, no other has maintained that level.
The combination of those phases, though, took him to a uncommon position on the third day. In the statistics of the game there are achievements, then there are summits. 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 scale. Jack Hobbs's 3,636 runs against Australia is the one he surpassed on Tuesday.
Preamble: An Anticlimactic Finale
The latest Ashes series, 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 poised to crush England at Sydney and win the series 4-1, a result not even the most partisan Pom could dispute.
It's been a success of experience, composure, application, talent and Travis Head. His daring 123 at Perth hurt England that have yet to recover; four Tests later he is happily compounding their misery. Head's deceptively pitiless 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 faultlines in their team, have won the series with an simplicity that is hard to understand. Maybe that's an Pommy outlook. 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 shattered, their spirit broken. It's nearly time for everyone to go home.
