Play gets underway early once more, featuring an extended morning session of two and a half hours to recover some of the time lost on the first day. The athletes are making final preparations to step onto the ground.
Charity and Command on Display
They do things well in Australia. The opening day of this final Test featured a fitting tribute to the victims and first responders of the Bondi tragedy, and on the third day the Sydney Cricket Ground was became a ocean of pink to once again raise funds for the McGrath Foundation.
Out in the middle, however, Australian benevolence was in far scarcer quantity. Across three sessions their batters ground England’s bowlers into the dust, addressing any queries about their drive since securing the Ashes and raising a few more concerning their beaten opponents.
Looking drained after the toil, 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 come after the second half of Travis Head’s sizzling 163 from 166, and with it Australia had reached 518 for seven from 124 overs. The lead stood at 134 runs overnight and looked an ominous one.
A Cricketing Icon's Opinion
The renowned Neil Harvey, 97, gave his views in a charming interview.
I've been unimpressed with England. I think the way they approach 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 average opponents but when you get a class side like Australia it's a different ballgame. 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 aggressive approach it lessens the probability of winning an important Test. I'd like to see them pull their hooves in.
A Tough Introduction
Almost an hour into a somewhat cloudy morning at the Sydney Cricket Ground, Matt Potts entered the England attack from the Randwick End, and immediately began utilizing his different deliveries.
His first ball was full and 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 back of a length and pulled past midwicket by Travis Head. His fourth ball was negotiated with a show of furrowed caution, to loud, mocking cheers 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 peak of his batting mastery, when “best since Bradman” was used with confidence. The thing about that line is that even when the recipient has reigned supreme for years, it gets bestowed too quickly, given the point of comparison is a career spanning twenty years. Lots of players hit their peak for a time, no other has stayed as long.
The combination of those phases, though, took him to a uncommon position on the third day. In the record books of the game there are landmarks, then there are summits. 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 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, perhaps the most underwhelming series in the 144 years since Fred Spofforth caused havoc at The Oval, is limping towards a fitting conclusion. Australia are poised to defeat comprehensively England at Sydney and win the series 4-1, a margin not even the most one-eyed Pom could dispute.
It's been a success of know-how, maturity, application, ability and Travis Head. His audacious 123 at Perth exposed English frailties that have yet to recover; four Tests later he is happily compounding their misery. Head's seemingly relentless 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 Anglocentric view. It's not Australia's fault that England failed to turn up – even if, on some level, they probably craved a greater challenge.
The last rites 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 exhausted, their confidence broken, their spirit broken. It's nearly time for everyone to go home.
