Play gets underway early once more, as a lengthy two-and-a-half-hour morning stint to recover some of the play washed out on the first day. The players are preparing to step onto the ground.
Charity and Command on Display
They do things well in Australia. This fifth Test commenced with 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 transformed into a wave of pink to once again generate donations for the McGrath Foundation.
Between the wickets, however, Australian benevolence 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 vanquished foes.
Looking drained after the toil, 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 followed the latter part of Travis Head’s sizzling 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 threatening one.
Legendary Critique
The renowned Neil Harvey, 97, shared his thoughts in a engaging interview.
I've been disappointed in 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 average opponents but when you get a quality outfit like Australia it's a whole new challenge. I used to score runs relatively quickly, and everyone gets a lot of enjoyment out of it, but when you try to play this Bazball thing it takes the odds away from winning an important Test. I'd like to see them pull their hooves in.
A Harsh Welcome
Almost an hour into a somewhat cloudy morning at the Sydney Cricket Ground, Matt Potts entered the England attack from the Randwick End, and immediately began trying out his variations.
His first ball was wide and clobbered 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 defended with a show of furrowed caution, to jeering shouts from a crowd that had begun to tuck into the day. A tough initiation, 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 phrase is that even when the recipient has excelled for years, it gets applied too quickly, given the point of comparison is a career lasting two decades. Lots of players attain greatness for a time, no other has maintained that level.
The amalgamation of those phases, though, elevated him to a exceptional position on the third day. In the annals of the game there are milestones, then there are mountaintops. 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 ascended on Tuesday.
Preamble: A Forgone Conclusion
The latest Ashes series, perhaps the most anticlimactic series in the 144 years since Fred Spofforth made history at The Oval, is staggering to a fitting conclusion. Australia are set to overwhelm England at Sydney and win the series 4-1, a margin not even the most biased Pom could argue with.
It's been a triumph of know-how, maturity, skill, talent and Travis Head. His daring 123 at Perth exposed English frailties that have yet to heal; four Tests later he is happily compounding their misery. Head's surprisingly ruthless 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 flaws in their team, have won the series with an ease that is hard to understand. Maybe that's an English perspective. It's not Australia's fault that England were not competitive – even if, on some level, they probably desired a greater challenge.
The last rites will be delivered either this evening or tomorrow. There's a chance of a complete blowout when England bat, just as there was in the final innings of 2013-14 and 2021-22. Their bodies are weary, their confidence shot, their spirit broken. It's nearly time for everyone to go home.
