🔗 Share this article The Baggy Greens v The Three Lions – The Final Ashes Test, Day Four: Action Unfolds It’s another early start today, featuring an extended morning session of two and a half hours to recover some of the play washed out on the first day. The players are getting ready 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 victims and first responders of the Bondi incident, and on the third day the Sydney Cricket Ground was became a sea of pink to once again collect money for the McGrath Foundation. Between the wickets, however, Australian benevolence was in far more limited availability. Across three sessions their batsmen dominated the English bowling, addressing any queries about their incentive since securing the Ashes and raising a few more about their beaten opponents. Visibly weary from the effort, Ben Stokes and his team departed at stumps seeing pink elephants. Steve Smith’s 37th hundred in Tests, 129 not out from 205 balls, had followed the second half of Travis Head’s blistering 163 from 166, and with it Australia had achieved 518 for seven from 124 overs. The lead was 134 runs overnight and looked an daunting one. A Cricketing Icon's Opinion 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 careless, nobody seems to want to construct a knock, like a Cowdrey or a Boycott. It might work against average opponents but when you get a top-tier team like Australia it's a whole new challenge. I used to score runs at a fair pace, and everyone gets a lot of pleasure out of it, but when you try to play this aggressive approach it reduces the chances of winning an important Test. I'd like to see them pull their hooves in. A Baptism of Fire Almost an hour into a somewhat cloudy morning at the Sydney Cricket Ground, Matt Potts was introduced into the England attack from the Randwick End, and immediately began trying out his variations. His first ball was wide and smashed through cover by Travis Head. His second ball was both short outside off stump and cut over gully by Travis Head. His third ball was short and straight and driven past midwicket by Travis Head. His fourth ball was negotiated with a show of concentrated care, to loud, mocking cheers from a crowd that had begun to tuck into the day. A grueling introduction, 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 certainty. The thing about that line is that even when the recipient has dominated for years, it gets applied 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 maintained that level. The combination of those phases, though, propelled him into a rare position on the third day. In the annals of the game there are milestones, then there are mountaintops. For a long time in Smith's Ashes-focused 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 surpassed on Tuesday. Preamble: A One-Sided Conclusion The latest Ashes series, perhaps the most underwhelming series in the 144 years since Fred Spofforth raised hell at The Oval, is heading for a fitting conclusion. Australia are set 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 success of maturity, composure, discipline, skill and Travis Head. His audacious 123 at Perth hurt England that have yet to heal; 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 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 fathom. 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 desired a greater challenge. The final act will be conducted either this evening or tomorrow. There's a chance of a total collapse when England bat, just as there was in the last knock of 2013-14 and 2021-22. Their bodies are weary, their confidence broken, their spirit broken. It's nearly time for everyone to go home.
It’s another early start today, featuring an extended morning session of two and a half hours to recover some of the play washed out on the first day. The players are getting ready 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 victims and first responders of the Bondi incident, and on the third day the Sydney Cricket Ground was became a sea of pink to once again collect money for the McGrath Foundation. Between the wickets, however, Australian benevolence was in far more limited availability. Across three sessions their batsmen dominated the English bowling, addressing any queries about their incentive since securing the Ashes and raising a few more about their beaten opponents. Visibly weary from the effort, Ben Stokes and his team departed at stumps seeing pink elephants. Steve Smith’s 37th hundred in Tests, 129 not out from 205 balls, had followed the second half of Travis Head’s blistering 163 from 166, and with it Australia had achieved 518 for seven from 124 overs. The lead was 134 runs overnight and looked an daunting one.
A Cricketing Icon's Opinion 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 careless, nobody seems to want to construct a knock, like a Cowdrey or a Boycott. It might work against average opponents but when you get a top-tier team like Australia it's a whole new challenge. I used to score runs at a fair pace, and everyone gets a lot of pleasure out of it, but when you try to play this aggressive approach it reduces the chances of winning an important Test. I'd like to see them pull their hooves in.
A Baptism of Fire Almost an hour into a somewhat cloudy morning at the Sydney Cricket Ground, Matt Potts was introduced into the England attack from the Randwick End, and immediately began trying out his variations. His first ball was wide and smashed through cover by Travis Head. His second ball was both short outside off stump and cut over gully by Travis Head. His third ball was short and straight and driven past midwicket by Travis Head. His fourth ball was negotiated with a show of concentrated care, to loud, mocking cheers from a crowd that had begun to tuck into the day. A grueling introduction, 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 certainty. The thing about that line is that even when the recipient has dominated for years, it gets applied 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 maintained that level. The combination of those phases, though, propelled him into a rare position on the third day. In the annals of the game there are milestones, then there are mountaintops. For a long time in Smith's Ashes-focused 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 surpassed on Tuesday.
Preamble: A One-Sided Conclusion The latest Ashes series, perhaps the most underwhelming series in the 144 years since Fred Spofforth raised hell at The Oval, is heading for a fitting conclusion. Australia are set 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 success of maturity, composure, discipline, skill and Travis Head. His audacious 123 at Perth hurt England that have yet to heal; 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 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 fathom. 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 desired a greater challenge. The final act will be conducted either this evening or tomorrow. There's a chance of a total collapse when England bat, just as there was in the last knock of 2013-14 and 2021-22. Their bodies are weary, their confidence broken, their spirit broken. It's nearly time for everyone to go home.