Australia v The Three Lions – Fifth Ashes Test, Day Four: Live Updates
It’s another early start today, with a two-and-a-half-hour morning session to make up some of the time lost on the first day. The cricketers are preparing to take the field.
Charity and Command on Display
Events are handled superbly in Australia. On the first day of this fifth Test came a appropriate remembrance 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 sea of pink to once again collect money for the McGrath Foundation.
Out in the middle, however, Australian charity was in far scarcer quantity. Across three sessions their batters ground England’s bowlers into the dust, dispelling any doubts about their drive since securing the Ashes and raising a few more about their vanquished foes.
Faces flush from the ordeal, Ben Stokes and his team departed at stumps seeing pink elephants. Steve Smith’s 37th Test century, 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 reached 518 for seven from 124 overs. The lead was 134 runs overnight and looked an ominous one.
Legendary Critique
The famed Neil Harvey, 97, shared his thoughts 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 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 class side like Australia it's a completely different proposition. I used to score runs relatively quickly, and everyone gets a lot of satisfaction out of it, but when you try to play this Bazball thing it lessens the probability of winning an important Test. I'd like to see them show more restraint.
A Baptism of Fire
Forty-five minutes into a quietly overcast morning at the Sydney Cricket Ground, Matt Potts was introduced into the England attack from the Randwick End, and immediately began trying out his change-ups.
His first ball was full and wide and hammered 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 pulled past midwicket by Travis Head. His fourth ball was blocked with a show of furrowed caution, to loud, mocking cheers from a crowd that had begun to tuck into the day. A grueling introduction, Pottsy. And yes, it's always like this around here.
A Historic Achievement
There was a time, while Steve Smith was at the pinnacle of his batting prowess, when “best since Bradman” was used with confidence. The thing about that line is that even when the recipient has dominated for years, it gets granted too quickly, given the point of comparison is a career enduring for 20 years. Lots of players hit their peak for a time, no other has remained there.
The blend of those phases, though, took him to a rare position on the third day. In the statistics 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: An Anticlimactic Finale
The 2025-26 Ashes, perhaps the most underwhelming series in the 144 years since Fred Spofforth caused havoc at The Oval, is staggering to a fitting conclusion. Australia are on course to overwhelm England at Sydney and win the series 4-1, a scoreline not even the most biased Pom could dispute.
It's been a triumph of maturity, maturity, discipline, talent and Travis Head. His audacious 123 at Perth opened English wounds that have yet to mend; four Tests later he is happily compounding their misery. 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 certain 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 comprehend. Maybe that's an Anglocentric view. It's not Australia's fault that England did not show up – even if, on some level, they probably desired a greater challenge.
The last rites will be administered 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 exhausted, their confidence shot, their spirit broken. It's nearly time for everyone to go home.
