It’s another early start today, featuring an extended morning session of two and a half hours to make up some of the overs lost on the first day. The athletes are getting ready to begin play.
A Sea of Pink and a Display of Dominance
They do things well in Australia. 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 turned into a wave of pink to once again generate donations for the McGrath Foundation.
Out in the middle, however, Australian benevolence was in far scarcer quantity. Across three sessions their batsmen ground England’s bowlers into the dust, addressing any queries about their drive since securing the Ashes and raising a few more regarding their beaten opponents.
Looking drained after the toil, 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 blistering 163 from 166, and with it Australia had achieved 518 for seven from 124 overs. The lead sat at 134 runs overnight and looked an ominous one.
A Cricketing Icon's Opinion
The legendary Neil Harvey, 97, gave his views in a engaging 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 construct a knock, like a Cowdrey or a Boycott.
It might work against ordinary teams but when you get a class side like Australia it's a different ballgame. 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 pull their hooves in.
A Harsh Welcome
Shortly after the start of 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 full and wide and clobbered through cover by Travis Head. His second ball was both short and wide and cut over gully by Travis Head. His third ball was short and straight and pulled past midwicket by Travis Head. His fourth ball was negotiated with a show of furrowed caution, to raucous, sarcastic applause 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 peak of his batting skill, 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 enduring for 20 years. Lots of players hit their peak for a time, no other has maintained that level.
The combination of those phases, though, elevated him to a uncommon position on the third day. In the annals of the game there are milestones, then there are peaks. For a long time in Smith's Ashes-heavy 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 scale. Jack Hobbs's 3,636 runs against Australia is the one he overtook on Tuesday.
Preamble: An Anticlimactic Finale
The latest Ashes series, perhaps the most disappointing series in the 144 years since Fred Spofforth made history 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 partisan Pom could contest.
It's been a triumph of know-how, composure, application, ability and Travis Head. His audacious 123 at Perth opened English wounds 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 start again on 129 after making a century that looked unavoidable 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 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 last knock of 2013-14 and 2021-22. Their bodies are weary, their confidence shot, their spirit dented. It's nearly time for everyone to go home.
