Australia v The Three Lions – The Final Ashes Test, The Fourth Day: Action Unfolds
The action begins ahead of schedule again, with a two-and-a-half-hour morning session to recover some of the play washed out on the first day. The athletes are making final preparations to take the field.
Pink Tributes and Batting Might
Events are handled superbly in Australia. This fifth Test commenced with a fitting tribute to the those affected and the emergency services of the Bondi atrocity, 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.
Between the wickets, however, Australian generosity was in far scarcer quantity. Across three sessions their batsmen ground England’s bowlers into the dust, answering any questions about their motivation since securing the Ashes and throwing up a few more concerning their vanquished foes.
Looking drained after the toil, Ben Stokes and his team walked off 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 sizzling 163 from 166, and with it Australia had achieved 518 for seven from 124 overs. The lead stood at 134 runs overnight and looked an ominous one.
Veteran's Viewpoint
The renowned Neil Harvey, 97, offered his perspective in a charming interview.
I've been let down by England. I think the way they handle the batting side of things, they get too reckless, nobody seems to want to play a long innings, like a Cowdrey or a Boycott.
It might work against lesser sides but when you get a quality outfit like Australia it's a different ballgame. I used to score runs relatively quickly, and everyone gets a lot of pleasure 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 rein themselves in.
A Baptism of Fire
Shortly after the start of a gloomy morning at the Sydney Cricket Ground, Matt Potts came into the England attack from the Randwick End, and immediately began running through his different deliveries.
His first ball was wide and hammered through cover by Travis Head. His second ball was both short and wide and cut over gully by Travis Head. His third ball was on a good length and driven past midwicket by Travis Head. His fourth ball was blocked with a show of furrowed caution, to jeering shouts from a crowd that had begun to settle in for the day's play. A tough initiation, Pottsy. And yes, it's always like this around here.
Joining the Pantheon
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 description is that even when the recipient has excelled for years, it gets applied too quickly, given the point of comparison is a career spanning twenty years. Lots of players reach the top for a time, no other has stayed as long.
The amalgamation of those phases, though, took him to a uncommon position on the third day. In the record books of the game there are landmarks, then there are summits. For a long time in Smith's Ashes-centric career there have been two peaks looming ever nearer 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 Forgone Conclusion
The latest Ashes series, perhaps the most anticlimactic series in the 144 years since Fred Spofforth caused havoc at The Oval, is staggering to a fitting conclusion. Australia are set to overwhelm England at Sydney and win the series 4-1, a margin not even the most partisan Pom could dispute.
It's been a triumph of experience, discipline, application, talent and Travis Head. His audacious 123 at Perth exposed English frailties that have yet to mend; 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 start again on 129 after making a century that looked unavoidable even before he faced his first ball.
Australia, despite a number of weaknesses in their team, have won the series with an ease that is hard to understand. Maybe that's an English perspective. It's not Australia's fault that England did not show up – even if, on some level, they probably desired a greater challenge.
The final act will be administered either this evening or tomorrow. There's a chance of a one-sided finish when England bat, just as there was in the concluding effort of 2013-14 and 2021-22. Their bodies are weary, their confidence shot, their spirit crushed. It's nearly time for everyone to go home.