Australia v England – Fifth Ashes Test, The Fourth Day: Live Updates
It’s another early start today, featuring an extended morning session of two and a half hours to make up some of the time lost on the first day. The cricketers 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 fitting tribute to the victims and first responders of the Bondi incident, and on the third day the Sydney Cricket Ground was turned into a ocean 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 batmen ground England’s bowlers into the dust, dispelling any doubts 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 seeing pink elephants. Steve Smith’s century number thirty-seven, 129 not out from 205 balls, had followed the latter part of Travis Head’s explosive 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, offered his perspective in a delightful 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 play a long innings, 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 relatively quickly, and everyone gets a lot of enjoyment out of it, but when you try to play this Bazball style it lessens the probability of winning an important Test. I'd like to see them rein themselves in.
A Baptism of Fire
Almost an hour into a gloomy morning at the Sydney Cricket Ground, Matt Potts came into the England attack from the Randwick End, and immediately began utilizing his variations.
His first ball was sprayed down the leg side and clobbered through cover by Travis Head. His second ball was both short and wide 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 studious defense, to jeering shouts from a crowd that had begun to get involved. 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 height of his batting mastery, when “best since Bradman” was used with certainty. The thing about that line is that even when the recipient has reigned supreme for years, it gets granted 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 maintained that level.
The combination of those phases, though, elevated him to a exceptional position on the third day. In the annals 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 scale. Jack Hobbs's 3,636 runs against Australia is the one he overtook on Tuesday.
Preamble: A One-Sided Conclusion
The latest Ashes series, arguably the most disappointing series in the 144 years since Fred Spofforth made history at The Oval, is heading for a appropriate end. Australia are on course to overwhelm England at Sydney and win the series 4-1, a margin not even the most biased Pom could dispute.
It's been a success of experience, composure, discipline, ability and Travis Head. His bold 123 at Perth hurt England that have yet to recover; four Tests later he is cheerily grinding salt into them. 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 weaknesses in their team, have won the series with an simplicity 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 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 concluding effort of 2013-14 and 2021-22. Their bodies are weary, their confidence shattered, their spirit dented. It's nearly time for everyone to go home.
