It’s another early start today, with a two-and-a-half-hour morning session to recover some of the overs lost on the first day. The cricketers are getting ready to step onto the ground.
A Sea of Pink and a Display of Dominance
Australia knows how to host an event. The opening day of this final Test featured a appropriate remembrance to the sufferers and heroes of the Bondi incident, and on the third day the Sydney Cricket Ground was turned into a sea of pink to once again raise funds for the McGrath Foundation.
Out in the middle, however, Australian benevolence was in far more limited availability. Across three sessions their batsmen ground England’s bowlers into the dust, addressing any queries about their incentive since securing the Ashes and posing a few more concerning their defeated rivals.
Visibly weary from the effort, Ben Stokes and his team departed at stumps battle-weary. Steve Smith’s 37th hundred in Tests, 129 not out from 205 balls, had succeeded the latter part of Travis Head’s blistering 163 from 166, and with it Australia had attained 518 for seven from 124 overs. The lead was 134 runs overnight and looked an threatening one.
Legendary Critique
The famed Neil Harvey, 97, gave his views in a engaging interview.
I've been unimpressed with England. I think the way they handle the batting side of things, they get too reckless, nobody seems to want to build an innings, like a Cowdrey or a Boycott.
It might work against lesser sides but when you get a class side like Australia it's a different ballgame. 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 rein themselves in.
A Tough Introduction
Almost an hour into a quietly overcast morning at the Sydney Cricket Ground, Matt Potts entered the England attack from the Randwick End, and immediately began utilizing his variations.
His first ball was full and wide and clobbered 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 short and straight and smashed past midwicket by Travis Head. His fourth ball was blocked with a show of studious defense, to raucous, sarcastic applause from a crowd that had begun to tuck into the day. A tough initiation, Pottsy. And yes, it's always like this around here.
A Historic Achievement
There was a time, while Steve Smith was at the height of his batting skill, when “best since Bradman” was used with assurance. The thing about that description is that even when the recipient has reigned supreme for years, it gets granted too quickly, given the point of comparison is a career enduring for 20 years. Lots of players reach the top 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 milestones, 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 climb. Jack Hobbs's 3,636 runs against Australia is the one he ascended on Tuesday.
Preamble: A One-Sided Conclusion
The 2025-26 Ashes, perhaps the most disappointing series in the 144 years since Fred Spofforth made history at The Oval, is staggering to a suitable finale. Australia are on course to defeat comprehensively England at Sydney and win the series 4-1, a margin not even the most one-eyed Pom could argue with.
It's been a victory of experience, discipline, discipline, talent and Travis Head. His bold 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 inevitable even before he faced his first ball.
Australia, despite a number of flaws in their team, have won the series with an ease that is hard to understand. Maybe that's an Anglocentric view. It's not Australia's fault that England did not show up – even if, on some level, they probably desired a greater challenge.
The last rites will be administered 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 broken. It's nearly time for everyone to go home.
