It’s another early start today, as a lengthy two-and-a-half-hour morning stint to make up some of the time lost on the first day. The cricketers 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 moving homage to the sufferers and heroes of the Bondi incident, and on the third day the Sydney Cricket Ground was transformed into a sea of pink to once again generate donations for the McGrath Foundation.
Between the wickets, however, Australian generosity was in far more limited availability. Across three sessions their batters wore down the English attack, answering any questions about their motivation since securing the Ashes and throwing up a few more regarding their beaten opponents.
Visibly weary from the effort, Ben Stokes and his team walked off at stumps seeing pink elephants. Steve Smith’s 37th hundred in Tests, 129 not out from 205 balls, had come after the second half of Travis Head’s explosive 163 from 166, and with it Australia had attained 518 for seven from 124 overs. The lead sat at 134 runs overnight and looked an daunting one.
A Cricketing Icon's Opinion
The famed Neil Harvey, 97, offered his perspective in a delightful interview.
I've been unimpressed with England. I think the way they tackle 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 ordinary teams but when you get a top-tier team like Australia it's a completely different proposition. I used to score runs relatively quickly, and everyone gets a lot of satisfaction out of it, but when you try to play this Bazball style it takes the odds away from winning an important Test. I'd like to see them rein themselves in.
A Baptism of Fire
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 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 hacked over gully by Travis Head. His third ball was back of a length and smashed past midwicket by Travis Head. His fourth ball was blocked with a show of furrowed caution, to raucous, sarcastic applause from a crowd that had begun to settle in for the day's play. 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 pinnacle of his batting mastery, when “best since Bradman” was used with confidence. The thing about that phrase is that even when the recipient has reigned supreme for years, it gets applied too quickly, given the point of comparison is a career lasting two decades. Lots of players hit their peak for a time, no other has remained there.
The blend of those phases, though, propelled him into a exceptional position on the third day. In the annals of the game there are landmarks, then there are peaks. 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 conquer. Jack Hobbs's 3,636 runs against Australia is the one he surpassed on Tuesday.
Preamble: A Forgone Conclusion
The current Ashes battle, arguably the most underwhelming series in the 144 years since Fred Spofforth made history at The Oval, is staggering to a suitable finale. Australia are on course to overwhelm England at Sydney and win the series 4-1, a margin not even the most partisan Pom could argue with.
It's been a success of know-how, composure, skill, skill and Travis Head. His audacious 123 at Perth opened English wounds that have yet to recover; four Tests later he is merrily adding to their woes. 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 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 understand. Maybe that's an Pommy outlook. It's not Australia's fault that England failed to turn up – even if, on some level, they probably desired a greater challenge.
The final act 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 final innings of 2013-14 and 2021-22. Their bodies are weary, their confidence broken, their spirit dented. It's nearly time for everyone to go home.
