🔗 Share this article Australia v The Three Lions – The Final Ashes Test, The Fourth Day: Action Unfolds It’s another early start today, featuring an extended morning session of two and a half hours to compensate for some of the play washed out on the first day. The athletes are making final preparations to take the field. Charity and Command on Display They do things well in Australia. This fifth Test commenced with a moving homage 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 raise funds for the McGrath Foundation. Between the wickets, however, Australian generosity was in far shorter supply. Across three sessions their batsmen dominated the English bowling, addressing any queries about their incentive since securing the Ashes and posing a few more about their beaten opponents. Visibly weary from the effort, Ben Stokes and his team departed at stumps exhausted and overwhelmed. Steve Smith’s 37th Test century, 129 not out from 205 balls, had succeeded the latter part of Travis Head’s sizzling 163 from 166, and with it Australia had attained 518 for seven from 124 overs. The lead stood at 134 runs overnight and looked an threatening one. A Cricketing Icon's Opinion The famed Neil Harvey, 97, shared his thoughts in a delightful interview. I've been unimpressed with England. I think the way they approach 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 average opponents but when you get a top-tier team like Australia it's a different ballgame. 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 Harsh Welcome Forty-five minutes into a gloomy morning at the Sydney Cricket Ground, Matt Potts entered the England attack from the Randwick End, and immediately began utilizing his different deliveries. His first ball was wide and smashed through cover by Travis Head. His second ball was both short outside off stump and cut over gully by Travis Head. His third ball was on a good length and pulled past midwicket by Travis Head. His fourth ball was defended with a show of concentrated care, 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. Scaling the Ashes Mountain There was a time, while Steve Smith was at the pinnacle of his batting mastery, when “best since Bradman” was used with certainty. The thing about that phrase is that even when the recipient has reigned supreme for years, it gets applied too quickly, given the point of comparison is a career enduring for 20 years. Lots of players attain greatness for a time, no other has stayed as long. The amalgamation of those phases, though, took him to a rare position on the third day. In the statistics of the game there are achievements, then there are summits. For a long time in Smith's Ashes-heavy 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 Forgone Conclusion The 2025-26 Ashes, possibly the most anticlimactic series in the 144 years since Fred Spofforth caused havoc at The Oval, is limping towards a suitable finale. Australia are poised to crush England at Sydney and win the series 4-1, a margin not even the most biased Pom could contest. It's been a triumph of maturity, discipline, skill, ability and Travis Head. His daring 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 certain even before he faced his first ball. Australia, despite a number of weaknesses in their team, have won the series with an comfort that is hard to fathom. Maybe that's an Anglocentric view. It's not Australia's fault that England failed to turn up – even if, on some level, they probably wanted a greater challenge. The final act will be conducted 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 shot, their spirit broken. It's nearly time for everyone to go home.
It’s another early start today, featuring an extended morning session of two and a half hours to compensate for some of the play washed out on the first day. The athletes are making final preparations to take the field.
Charity and Command on Display They do things well in Australia. This fifth Test commenced with a moving homage 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 raise funds for the McGrath Foundation. Between the wickets, however, Australian generosity was in far shorter supply. Across three sessions their batsmen dominated the English bowling, addressing any queries about their incentive since securing the Ashes and posing a few more about their beaten opponents. Visibly weary from the effort, Ben Stokes and his team departed at stumps exhausted and overwhelmed. Steve Smith’s 37th Test century, 129 not out from 205 balls, had succeeded the latter part of Travis Head’s sizzling 163 from 166, and with it Australia had attained 518 for seven from 124 overs. The lead stood at 134 runs overnight and looked an threatening one.
A Cricketing Icon's Opinion The famed Neil Harvey, 97, shared his thoughts in a delightful interview. I've been unimpressed with England. I think the way they approach 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 average opponents but when you get a top-tier team like Australia it's a different ballgame. 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 Harsh Welcome Forty-five minutes into a gloomy morning at the Sydney Cricket Ground, Matt Potts entered the England attack from the Randwick End, and immediately began utilizing his different deliveries. His first ball was wide and smashed through cover by Travis Head. His second ball was both short outside off stump and cut over gully by Travis Head. His third ball was on a good length and pulled past midwicket by Travis Head. His fourth ball was defended with a show of concentrated care, 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.
Scaling the Ashes Mountain There was a time, while Steve Smith was at the pinnacle of his batting mastery, when “best since Bradman” was used with certainty. The thing about that phrase is that even when the recipient has reigned supreme for years, it gets applied too quickly, given the point of comparison is a career enduring for 20 years. Lots of players attain greatness for a time, no other has stayed as long. The amalgamation of those phases, though, took him to a rare position on the third day. In the statistics of the game there are achievements, then there are summits. For a long time in Smith's Ashes-heavy 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 Forgone Conclusion The 2025-26 Ashes, possibly the most anticlimactic series in the 144 years since Fred Spofforth caused havoc at The Oval, is limping towards a suitable finale. Australia are poised to crush England at Sydney and win the series 4-1, a margin not even the most biased Pom could contest. It's been a triumph of maturity, discipline, skill, ability and Travis Head. His daring 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 certain even before he faced his first ball. Australia, despite a number of weaknesses in their team, have won the series with an comfort that is hard to fathom. Maybe that's an Anglocentric view. It's not Australia's fault that England failed to turn up – even if, on some level, they probably wanted a greater challenge. The final act will be conducted 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 shot, their spirit broken. It's nearly time for everyone to go home.