Play gets underway early once more, featuring an extended morning session of two and a half hours to make up some of the play washed out on the first day. The players are getting ready to begin play.
Pink Tributes and Batting Might
Events are handled superbly in Australia. The opening day of this final Test featured a appropriate remembrance to the sufferers and heroes of the Bondi atrocity, and on the third day the Sydney Cricket Ground was turned into a ocean of pink to once again generate donations for the McGrath Foundation.
On the field of play, though, Australian generosity was in far more limited availability. Across three sessions their batsmen wore down the English attack, addressing any queries about their drive since securing the Ashes and raising a few more about their vanquished foes.
Faces flush from the ordeal, Ben Stokes and his team walked off at stumps exhausted and overwhelmed. Steve Smith’s century number thirty-seven, 129 not out from 205 balls, had followed the concluding stages of Travis Head’s blistering 163 from 166, and with it Australia had achieved 518 for seven from 124 overs. The lead was 134 runs overnight and looked an ominous one.
Legendary Critique
The legendary 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 impetuous, 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 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 thing it reduces the chances of winning an important Test. I'd like to see them show more restraint.
A Baptism of Fire
Forty-five minutes into a gloomy 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 wide and smashed through cover by Travis Head. His second ball was both back of a length and outside off and cut over gully by Travis Head. His third ball was on a good length and driven 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 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 peak of his batting prowess, when “best since Bradman” was used with confidence. The thing about that description is that even when the recipient has reigned supreme for years, it gets bestowed too quickly, given the point of comparison is a career enduring for 20 years. Lots of players reach the top for a time, no other has stayed as long.
The amalgamation of those phases, though, elevated him to a exceptional 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 slowly approaching in the mist. Donald Bradman's 5,028 runs against England is one that even Smith will never climb. Jack Hobbs's 3,636 runs against Australia is the one he overtook on Tuesday.
Preamble: A One-Sided Conclusion
The latest Ashes series, arguably the most disappointing 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 result not even the most one-eyed Pom could argue with.
It's been a triumph of maturity, discipline, discipline, ability and Travis Head. His bold 123 at Perth exposed English frailties that have yet to recover; four Tests later he is merrily adding to their woes. 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 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 comprehend. Maybe that's an Pommy outlook. It's not Australia's fault that England were not competitive – even if, on some level, they probably craved a greater challenge.
The last rites 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 final innings of 2013-14 and 2021-22. Their bodies are weary, their confidence broken, their spirit crushed. It's nearly time for everyone to go home.
