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 athletes are getting ready to begin play.
A Sea of Pink and a Display of Dominance
Australia knows how to host an event. This fifth Test commenced with a fitting tribute to the sufferers and heroes of the Bondi incident, and on the third day the Sydney Cricket Ground was transformed into a ocean of pink to once again collect money for the McGrath Foundation.
Out in the middle, however, Australian benevolence was in far scarcer quantity. Across three sessions their batmen dominated the English bowling, dispelling any doubts about their incentive since securing the Ashes and throwing up a few more about their vanquished foes.
Visibly weary from the effort, Ben Stokes and his team departed at stumps seeing pink elephants. Steve Smith’s century number thirty-seven, 129 not out from 205 balls, had followed the concluding stages of Travis Head’s explosive 163 from 166, and with it Australia had reached 518 for seven from 124 overs. The lead sat at 134 runs overnight and looked an threatening one.
Veteran's Viewpoint
The famed Neil Harvey, 97, gave his views in a engaging interview.
I've been disappointed in England. I think the way they approach 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 ordinary teams but when you get a top-tier team like Australia it's a completely different proposition. 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 Bazball thing it takes the odds away from winning an important Test. I'd like to see them rein themselves in.
A Baptism of Fire
Shortly after the start of a quietly overcast morning at the Sydney Cricket Ground, Matt Potts entered the England attack from the Randwick End, and immediately began running through his variations.
His first ball was full and wide and smashed through cover by Travis Head. His second ball was both short outside off stump and slashed over gully by Travis Head. His third ball was on a good length and smashed past midwicket by Travis Head. His fourth ball was defended with a show of furrowed caution, to jeering shouts from a crowd that had begun to get involved. A tough initiation, 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 confidence. The thing about that phrase is that even when the recipient has dominated for years, it gets granted 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 remained there.
The combination 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-focused career there have been two peaks drawing gradually closer 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 surpassed on Tuesday.
Preamble: A One-Sided Conclusion
The 2025-26 Ashes, arguably the most underwhelming series in the 144 years since Fred Spofforth made history at The Oval, is limping towards a suitable finale. Australia are set to crush England at Sydney and win the series 4-1, a margin not even the most biased Pom could dispute.
It's been a victory of maturity, composure, application, talent and Travis Head. His daring 123 at Perth hurt England that have yet to recover; 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 continue on 129 after making a century that looked certain even before he faced his first ball.
Australia, despite a number of flaws in their team, have won the series with an comfort that is hard to comprehend. Maybe that's an Anglocentric view. It's not Australia's fault that England were not competitive – even if, on some level, they probably craved a greater challenge.
The last rites will be delivered either this evening or tomorrow. There's a chance of a one-sided finish when England bat, just as there was in the final innings of 2013-14 and 2021-22. Their bodies are tired, their confidence broken, their spirit dented. It's nearly time for everyone to go home.
