It’s another early start today, with a two-and-a-half-hour morning session to recover some of the play washed out on the first day. The cricketers are preparing to take the field.
Charity and Command on Display
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 wave of pink to once again generate donations for the McGrath Foundation.
Between the wickets, however, Australian benevolence was in far scarcer quantity. Across three sessions their batsmen dominated the English bowling, answering any questions about their drive since securing the Ashes and raising a few more about their beaten opponents.
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 succeeded the second half of Travis Head’s sizzling 163 from 166, and with it Australia had achieved 518 for seven from 124 overs. The lead was 134 runs overnight and looked an daunting one.
A Cricketing Icon's Opinion
The legendary Neil Harvey, 97, offered his perspective in a delightful interview.
I've been let down by 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 ordinary teams but when you get a class side 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 lessens the probability of winning an important Test. I'd like to see them pull their hooves in.
A Baptism of Fire
Almost an hour into 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 back of a length and outside off and slashed over gully by Travis Head. His third ball was on a good length and smashed 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.
Joining the Pantheon
There was a time, while Steve Smith was at the pinnacle of his batting mastery, when “best since Bradman” was used with assurance. The thing about that phrase is that even when the recipient has reigned supreme for years, it gets bestowed too quickly, given the point of comparison is a career lasting two decades. Lots of players reach the top for a time, no other has maintained that level.
The blend 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 mountaintops. 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 overtook on Tuesday.
Preamble: A One-Sided Conclusion
The current Ashes battle, arguably the most disappointing series in the 144 years since Fred Spofforth raised hell at The Oval, is heading for a suitable finale. Australia are poised to crush England at Sydney and win the series 4-1, a scoreline not even the most partisan Pom could dispute.
It's been a triumph of maturity, composure, application, ability and Travis Head. His audacious 123 at Perth hurt England that have yet to mend; 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 flaws in their team, have won the series with an simplicity that is hard to fathom. 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 concluding chapter will be administered either this evening or tomorrow. There's a chance of a one-sided finish when England bat, just as there was in the concluding effort of 2013-14 and 2021-22. Their bodies are exhausted, their confidence broken, their spirit broken. It's nearly time for everyone to go home.
