Play gets underway early once more, featuring an extended morning session of two and a half hours to recover some of the overs lost on the first day. The athletes are preparing to step onto the ground.
A Sea of Pink and a Display of Dominance
They do things well in Australia. On the first day of this fifth Test came a fitting tribute 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 sea of pink to once again raise funds for the McGrath Foundation.
Between the wickets, however, Australian generosity was in far scarcer quantity. Across three sessions their batsmen wore down the English attack, addressing any queries about their incentive since securing the Ashes and raising a few more about their beaten opponents.
Looking drained after the toil, Ben Stokes and his team walked off at stumps battle-weary. Steve Smith’s 37th Test century, 129 not out from 205 balls, had followed the concluding stages of Travis Head’s sizzling 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 threatening one.
A Cricketing Icon's Opinion
The famed Neil Harvey, 97, offered his perspective in a engaging interview.
I've been unimpressed with England. I think the way they approach the batting side of things, they get too careless, nobody seems to want to build an innings, like a Cowdrey or a Boycott.
It might work against lesser sides but when you get a quality outfit like Australia it's a different ballgame. I used to score runs relatively quickly, and everyone gets a lot of pleasure out of it, but when you try to play this Bazball style it reduces the chances of winning an important Test. I'd like to see them pull their hooves in.
A Baptism of Fire
Shortly after the start of 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 different deliveries.
His first ball was sprayed down the leg side and smashed 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 defended with a show of studious defense, to jeering shouts from a crowd that had begun to settle in for the day's play. Welcome to the treadmill, Pottsy. And yes, it's always like this around here.
Joining the Pantheon
There was a time, while Steve Smith was at the height of his batting prowess, 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 granted too quickly, given the point of comparison is a career lasting two decades. Lots of players attain greatness for a time, no other has stayed as long.
The combination of those phases, though, elevated him to a uncommon position on the third day. In the record books 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 looming ever nearer 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 surpassed 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 fitting conclusion. Australia are on course to defeat comprehensively England at Sydney and win the series 4-1, a result not even the most partisan Pom could dispute.
It's been a triumph of maturity, maturity, application, skill and Travis Head. His daring 123 at Perth opened English wounds that have yet to heal; four Tests later he is happily compounding their misery. 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 certain even before he faced his first ball.
Australia, despite a number of faultlines in their team, have won the series with an ease that is hard to fathom. 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 craved a greater challenge.
The concluding chapter 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 exhausted, their confidence shot, their spirit dented. It's nearly time for everyone to go home.
