It’s another early start today, as a lengthy two-and-a-half-hour morning stint to compensate for 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. On the first day of this fifth Test came a appropriate remembrance to the sufferers and heroes of the Bondi incident, and on the third day the Sydney Cricket Ground was became a sea of pink to once again collect money for the McGrath Foundation.
On the field of play, though, Australian benevolence was in far shorter supply. Across three sessions their batmen dominated the English bowling, answering any questions about their motivation since securing the Ashes and posing a few more concerning their beaten opponents.
Visibly weary from the effort, Ben Stokes and his team trudged off at stumps exhausted and overwhelmed. Steve Smith’s 37th hundred in Tests, 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 stood at 134 runs overnight and looked an daunting one.
Legendary Critique
The famed Neil Harvey, 97, offered his perspective in a delightful interview.
I've been unimpressed with England. I think the way they handle 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 lesser sides but when you get a quality outfit like Australia it's a completely different proposition. I used to score runs relatively quickly, and everyone gets a lot of enjoyment out of it, but when you try to play this aggressive approach it reduces the chances of winning an important Test. I'd like to see them rein themselves in.
A Baptism of Fire
Forty-five minutes 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 change-ups.
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 hacked over gully by Travis Head. His third ball was on a good length and driven past midwicket by Travis Head. His fourth ball was negotiated with a show of concentrated care, 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 peak of his batting mastery, when “best since Bradman” was used with assurance. The thing about that description is that even when the recipient has dominated for years, it gets applied 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 remained there.
The combination of those phases, though, elevated him to a exceptional position on the third day. In the statistics of the game there are landmarks, then there are mountaintops. For a long time in Smith's Ashes-centric 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 scale. Jack Hobbs's 3,636 runs against Australia is the one he ascended on Tuesday.
Preamble: A One-Sided Conclusion
The 2025-26 Ashes, arguably the most underwhelming series in the 144 years since Fred Spofforth caused havoc at The Oval, is limping towards a fitting conclusion. Australia are set 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, maturity, discipline, skill and Travis Head. His daring 123 at Perth hurt England that have yet to heal; 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 continue on 129 after making a century that looked certain even before he faced his first ball.
Australia, despite a number of weaknesses 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 wanted a greater challenge.
The concluding chapter will be conducted either this evening or tomorrow. There's a chance of a one-sided finish when England bat, just as there was in the final innings of 2013-14 and 2021-22. Their bodies are tired, their confidence broken, their spirit crushed. It's nearly time for everyone to go home.
