Play gets underway early once more, as a lengthy two-and-a-half-hour morning stint to compensate for some of the overs lost on the first day. The athletes are making final preparations to begin play.
Pink Tributes and Batting Might
Australia knows how to host an event. The opening day of this final Test featured a moving homage to the sufferers and heroes of the Bondi tragedy, and on the third day the Sydney Cricket Ground was became a wave of pink to once again raise funds for the McGrath Foundation.
Out in the middle, however, Australian charity was in far more limited availability. Across three sessions their batmen wore down the English attack, addressing any queries about their drive since securing the Ashes and throwing up a few more regarding their defeated rivals.
Looking drained after the toil, Ben Stokes and his team trudged 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 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 threatening one.
Legendary Critique
The renowned Neil Harvey, 97, offered his perspective in a delightful interview.
I've been unimpressed with England. I think the way they approach 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 lesser sides but when you get a quality outfit like Australia it's a completely different proposition. I used to score runs quite rapidly, and everyone gets a lot of enjoyment out of it, but when you try to play this Bazball style it reduces the chances of winning an important Test. I'd like to see them show more restraint.
A Baptism of Fire
Shortly after the start of a gloomy morning at the Sydney Cricket Ground, Matt Potts was introduced into the England attack from the Randwick End, and immediately began utilizing his different deliveries.
His first ball was wide and clobbered through cover by Travis Head. His second ball was both short outside off stump and hacked over gully by Travis Head. His third ball was back of a length and driven past midwicket by Travis Head. His fourth ball was defended with a show of studious defense, to jeering shouts 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.
Scaling the Ashes Mountain
There was a time, while Steve Smith was at the peak of his batting prowess, when “best since Bradman” was used with assurance. The thing about that line is that even when the recipient has excelled for years, it gets granted too quickly, given the point of comparison is a career enduring for 20 years. Lots of players hit their peak for a time, no other has remained there.
The amalgamation of those phases, though, elevated him to a rare position on the third day. In the record books 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 slowly approaching 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 ascended on Tuesday.
Preamble: A Forgone Conclusion
The current Ashes battle, possibly the most disappointing series in the 144 years since Fred Spofforth raised hell at The Oval, is staggering to a appropriate end. Australia are on course to overwhelm England at Sydney and win the series 4-1, a scoreline not even the most biased Pom could dispute.
It's been a triumph of maturity, maturity, discipline, talent and Travis Head. His bold 123 at Perth opened English wounds that have yet to recover; four Tests later he is happily compounding their misery. Head's surprisingly ruthless 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 inevitable 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 understand. 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 concluding chapter will be delivered 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 shot, their spirit broken. It's nearly time for everyone to go home.
