Play gets underway early once more, with a two-and-a-half-hour morning session to compensate for some of the play washed out on the first day. The players are preparing to begin play.
Pink Tributes and Batting Might
Events are handled superbly in Australia. The opening day of this final Test featured a moving homage to the sufferers and heroes of the Bondi atrocity, and on the third day the Sydney Cricket Ground was transformed into a ocean of pink to once again generate donations 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, answering any questions about their incentive since securing the Ashes and throwing up a few more regarding their beaten opponents.
Faces flush from the ordeal, Ben Stokes and his team departed at stumps exhausted and overwhelmed. Steve Smith’s 37th hundred in Tests, 129 not out from 205 balls, had come after the second half of Travis Head’s sizzling 163 from 166, and with it Australia had attained 518 for seven from 124 overs. The lead was 134 runs overnight and looked an threatening one.
Legendary Critique
The famed Neil Harvey, 97, gave his views in a charming interview.
I've been disappointed in England. I think the way they approach 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 average opponents but when you get a top-tier team like Australia it's a different ballgame. I used to score runs at a fair pace, and everyone gets a lot of enjoyment out of it, but when you try to play this Bazball thing it reduces the chances of winning an important Test. I'd like to see them rein themselves in.
A Baptism of Fire
Shortly after the start of a somewhat cloudy morning at the Sydney Cricket Ground, Matt Potts was introduced into the England attack from the Randwick End, and immediately began running through his change-ups.
His first ball was full and wide and hammered through cover by Travis Head. His second ball was both short and wide and slashed over gully by Travis Head. His third ball was back of a length and driven past midwicket by Travis Head. His fourth ball was defended with a show of furrowed caution, to loud, mocking cheers from a crowd that had begun to tuck into the day. Welcome to the treadmill, Pottsy. And yes, it's always like this around here.
A Historic Achievement
There was a time, while Steve Smith was at the pinnacle of his batting mastery, when “best since Bradman” was used with confidence. The thing about that line is that even when the recipient has dominated for years, it gets granted 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 stayed as long.
The combination of those phases, though, elevated him to a rare position on the third day. In the record books 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 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: A One-Sided Conclusion
The latest Ashes series, arguably the most anticlimactic series in the 144 years since Fred Spofforth caused havoc 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 one-eyed Pom could contest.
It's been a triumph of know-how, maturity, skill, ability and Travis Head. His audacious 123 at Perth opened English wounds that have yet to heal; 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 continue 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 comfort that is hard to fathom. 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 craved a greater challenge.
The final act will be delivered 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 broken. It's nearly time for everyone to go home.
