The action begins ahead of schedule again, with a two-and-a-half-hour morning session to compensate for some of the play washed out on the first day. The cricketers are preparing to step onto the ground.
Pink Tributes and Batting Might
They do things well in Australia. This fifth Test commenced with a fitting tribute to the sufferers and heroes of the Bondi tragedy, and on the third day the Sydney Cricket Ground was became a sea of pink to once again raise funds for the McGrath Foundation.
Between the wickets, however, Australian generosity was in far more limited availability. Across three sessions their batmen ground England’s bowlers into the dust, dispelling any doubts about their motivation since securing the Ashes and posing a few more regarding their defeated rivals.
Looking drained after the toil, Ben Stokes and his team trudged off at stumps battle-weary. Steve Smith’s century number thirty-seven, 129 not out from 205 balls, had come after the concluding stages of Travis Head’s blistering 163 from 166, and with it Australia had attained 518 for seven from 124 overs. The lead sat at 134 runs overnight and looked an daunting one.
A Cricketing Icon's Opinion
The famed Neil Harvey, 97, gave his views in a charming interview.
I've been disappointed in England. I think the way they handle the batting side of things, they get too careless, 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 class side like Australia it's a whole new challenge. I used to score runs quite rapidly, and everyone gets a lot of satisfaction 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 show more restraint.
A Tough Introduction
Shortly after the start of a quietly overcast morning at the Sydney Cricket Ground, Matt Potts was introduced into the England attack from the Randwick End, and immediately began trying out his variations.
His first ball was sprayed down the leg side and smashed through cover by Travis Head. His second ball was both back of a length and outside off and slashed over gully by Travis Head. His third ball was back of a length and pulled past midwicket by Travis Head. His fourth ball was blocked with a show of furrowed caution, to loud, mocking cheers from a crowd that had begun to settle in for the day's play. A grueling introduction, Pottsy. And yes, it's always like this around here.
Scaling the Ashes Mountain
There was a time, while Steve Smith was at the pinnacle of his batting mastery, when “best since Bradman” was used with certainty. The thing about that line is that even when the recipient has dominated for years, it gets applied too quickly, given the point of comparison is a career spanning twenty years. Lots of players hit their peak for a time, no other has remained there.
The blend of those phases, though, propelled him into a rare position on the third day. In the statistics of the game there are milestones, 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 conquer. Jack Hobbs's 3,636 runs against Australia is the one he surpassed on Tuesday.
Preamble: A Forgone Conclusion
The current Ashes battle, possibly the most anticlimactic series in the 144 years since Fred Spofforth raised hell at The Oval, is staggering to a suitable finale. Australia are on course to overwhelm England at Sydney and win the series 4-1, a scoreline not even the most biased Pom could contest.
It's been a triumph of experience, maturity, skill, skill and Travis Head. His bold 123 at Perth hurt England that have yet to recover; four Tests later he is cheerily grinding salt into them. Head's deceptively pitiless 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 flaws in their team, have won the series with an simplicity that is hard to comprehend. Maybe that's an Pommy outlook. It's not Australia's fault that England did not show up – even if, on some level, they probably desired a greater challenge.
The final act will be administered either this evening or tomorrow. There's a chance of a total collapse when England bat, just as there was in the concluding effort of 2013-14 and 2021-22. Their bodies are weary, their confidence broken, their spirit dented. It's nearly time for everyone to go home.
