The action begins ahead of schedule again, as a lengthy two-and-a-half-hour morning stint to recover some of the time lost on the first day. The players are preparing to take the field.
Charity and Command on Display
Australia knows how to host an event. The opening day of this final Test featured a appropriate remembrance to the sufferers and heroes of the Bondi tragedy, and on the third day the Sydney Cricket Ground was became a sea of pink to once again collect money for the McGrath Foundation.
On the field of play, though, Australian benevolence was in far more limited availability. Across three sessions their batmen wore down the English attack, addressing any queries about their drive since securing the Ashes and throwing up a few more about their defeated rivals.
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 come after the latter part of Travis Head’s blistering 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 threatening one.
Veteran's Viewpoint
The legendary Neil Harvey, 97, gave his views in a delightful interview.
I've been disappointed in England. I think the way they tackle the batting side of things, they get too careless, nobody seems to want to build an innings, like a Cowdrey or a Boycott.
It might work against lesser sides but when you get a class side like Australia it's a whole new challenge. I used to score runs quite rapidly, and everyone gets a lot of satisfaction 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 show more restraint.
A Baptism of Fire
Forty-five minutes into a somewhat cloudy morning at the Sydney Cricket Ground, Matt Potts entered the England attack from the Randwick End, and immediately began utilizing his change-ups.
His first ball was wide and smashed 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 driven past midwicket by Travis Head. His fourth ball was defended with a show of studious defense, to jeering shouts 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 mastery, when “best since Bradman” was used with certainty. The thing about that description is that even when the recipient has reigned supreme for years, it gets bestowed too quickly, given the point of comparison is a career enduring for 20 years. Lots of players reach the top for a time, no other has remained there.
The blend of those phases, though, elevated him to a exceptional position on the third day. In the statistics 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 drawing gradually closer 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 overtook on Tuesday.
Preamble: An Anticlimactic Finale
The current Ashes battle, perhaps the most disappointing series in the 144 years since Fred Spofforth caused havoc at The Oval, is staggering to a appropriate end. Australia are set to crush England at Sydney and win the series 4-1, a scoreline not even the most biased Pom could argue with.
It's been a victory of experience, composure, application, skill and Travis Head. His bold 123 at Perth exposed English frailties that have yet to recover; four Tests later he is happily compounding their misery. Head's surprisingly ruthless 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 faultlines in their team, have won the series with an comfort that is hard to understand. Maybe that's an Pommy outlook. It's not Australia's fault that England did not show up – even if, on some level, they probably wanted a greater challenge.
The last rites 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 concluding effort of 2013-14 and 2021-22. Their bodies are tired, their confidence shattered, their spirit crushed. It's nearly time for everyone to go home.
