It’s another early start today, with a two-and-a-half-hour morning session to compensate for some of the overs lost on the first day. The cricketers are preparing to step onto the ground.
Charity and Command on Display
Events are handled superbly in Australia. The opening day of this final Test featured a moving homage to the victims and first responders of the Bondi atrocity, and on the third day the Sydney Cricket Ground was turned into a sea of pink to once again collect money for the McGrath Foundation.
Out in the middle, however, Australian benevolence was in far shorter supply. Across three sessions their batmen dominated the English bowling, addressing any queries 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 seeing pink elephants. Steve Smith’s century number thirty-seven, 129 not out from 205 balls, had succeeded the concluding stages of Travis Head’s explosive 163 from 166, and with it Australia had attained 518 for seven from 124 overs. The lead was 134 runs overnight and looked an ominous one.
Legendary Critique
The famed Neil Harvey, 97, shared his thoughts in a delightful interview.
I've been disappointed in England. I think the way they tackle the batting side of things, they get too reckless, nobody seems to want to construct a knock, like a Cowdrey or a Boycott.
It might work against ordinary teams but when you get a top-tier team like Australia it's a completely different proposition. I used to score runs at a fair pace, and everyone gets a lot of satisfaction 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 rein themselves in.
A Harsh Welcome
Forty-five minutes into a quietly overcast morning at the Sydney Cricket Ground, Matt Potts entered the England attack from the Randwick End, and immediately began running through his change-ups.
His first ball was sprayed down the leg side and smashed 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 short and straight and driven past midwicket by Travis Head. His fourth ball was blocked with a show of concentrated care, to loud, mocking cheers 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 peak of his batting mastery, when “best since Bradman” was used with confidence. 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 enduring for 20 years. Lots of players attain greatness for a time, no other has remained there.
The amalgamation of those phases, though, took him to a uncommon position on the third day. In the annals of the game there are achievements, then there are mountaintops. For a long time in Smith's Ashes-heavy 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 climb. Jack Hobbs's 3,636 runs against Australia is the one he surpassed on Tuesday.
Preamble: An Anticlimactic Finale
The current Ashes battle, arguably the most disappointing series in the 144 years since Fred Spofforth raised hell at The Oval, is staggering to a appropriate end. Australia are set to crush England at Sydney and win the series 4-1, a margin not even the most partisan Pom could argue with.
It's been a victory of maturity, composure, discipline, ability and Travis Head. His audacious 123 at Perth exposed English frailties that have yet to mend; four Tests later he is merrily adding to their woes. Head's surprisingly ruthless 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 weaknesses 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 were not competitive – even if, on some level, they probably wanted 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 exhausted, their confidence broken, their spirit crushed. It's nearly time for everyone to go home.
