The action begins ahead of schedule again, with a two-and-a-half-hour morning session to recover some of the time lost on the first day. The athletes are getting ready to step onto the ground.
Pink Tributes and Batting Might
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 tragedy, and on the third day the Sydney Cricket Ground was became a sea of pink to once again generate donations for the McGrath Foundation.
On the field of play, though, Australian generosity was in far more limited availability. Across three sessions their batsmen dominated the English bowling, addressing any queries about their motivation since securing the Ashes and raising a few more regarding their beaten opponents.
Visibly weary from the effort, Ben Stokes and his team walked off at stumps exhausted and overwhelmed. Steve Smith’s 37th hundred in Tests, 129 not out from 205 balls, had followed 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 sat at 134 runs overnight and looked an ominous one.
Veteran's Viewpoint
The renowned Neil Harvey, 97, offered his perspective in a engaging interview.
I've been let down by 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 lesser sides but when you get a class side like Australia it's a different ballgame. I used to score runs relatively quickly, and everyone gets a lot of satisfaction out of it, but when you try to play this aggressive approach it takes the odds away from winning an important Test. I'd like to see them show more restraint.
A Baptism of Fire
Forty-five minutes into a somewhat cloudy morning at the Sydney Cricket Ground, Matt Potts came 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 smashed past midwicket by Travis Head. His fourth ball was blocked with a show of concentrated care, to loud, mocking cheers from a crowd that had begun to settle in for the day's play. 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 height of his batting prowess, when “best since Bradman” was used with assurance. 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 attain greatness for a time, no other has maintained that level.
The combination of those phases, though, propelled him into a uncommon position on the third day. In the statistics 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 conquer. Jack Hobbs's 3,636 runs against Australia is the one he surpassed on Tuesday.
Preamble: An Anticlimactic Finale
The current Ashes battle, perhaps the most disappointing series in the 144 years since Fred Spofforth made history at The Oval, is heading for a fitting conclusion. Australia are poised to overwhelm England at Sydney and win the series 4-1, a scoreline not even the most partisan Pom could contest.
It's been a triumph of know-how, maturity, skill, ability 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 deceptively pitiless 163 helped Australia to 518 for 7 at the end of day three, a lead of 134. Steve Smith will start again 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 comfort that is hard to fathom. 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 wanted a greater challenge.
The concluding chapter will be delivered 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 shattered, their spirit crushed. It's nearly time for everyone to go home.
