The Baggy Greens v England – The Final Ashes Test, Day Four: Live Updates
Play gets underway early once more, with a two-and-a-half-hour morning session to compensate for some of the overs lost on the first day. The players are preparing to step onto the ground.
Charity and Command on Display
They do things well in Australia. This fifth Test commenced with a appropriate remembrance to the victims and first responders of the Bondi atrocity, and on the third day the Sydney Cricket Ground was became a ocean of pink to once again generate donations for the McGrath Foundation.
Between the wickets, however, Australian charity was in far more limited availability. Across three sessions their batters wore down the English attack, answering any questions about their incentive since securing the Ashes and posing a few more regarding their defeated rivals.
Faces flush from the ordeal, Ben Stokes and his team walked off at stumps exhausted and overwhelmed. Steve Smith’s 37th Test century, 129 not out from 205 balls, had succeeded the second half of Travis Head’s blistering 163 from 166, and with it Australia had achieved 518 for seven from 124 overs. The lead was 134 runs overnight and looked an ominous one.
A Cricketing Icon's Opinion
The famed Neil Harvey, 97, offered his perspective in a charming 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 lesser sides but when you get a top-tier team like Australia it's a whole new challenge. I used to score runs at a fair pace, and everyone gets a lot of satisfaction out of it, but when you try to play this Bazball thing it reduces the chances of winning an important Test. I'd like to see them show more restraint.
A Harsh Welcome
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 trying out his change-ups.
His first ball was sprayed down the leg side and clobbered through cover by Travis Head. His second ball was both short and wide and hacked over gully by Travis Head. His third ball was on a good length and smashed past midwicket by Travis Head. His fourth ball was negotiated with a show of concentrated care, 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.
Joining the Pantheon
There was a time, while Steve Smith was at the peak of his batting mastery, when “best since Bradman” was used with certainty. The thing about that line is that even when the recipient has dominated 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 maintained that level.
The amalgamation of those phases, though, propelled him into a exceptional position on the third day. In the annals 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 looming ever nearer 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 ascended on Tuesday.
Preamble: An Anticlimactic Finale
The 2025-26 Ashes, perhaps the most anticlimactic series in the 144 years since Fred Spofforth made history at The Oval, is limping towards a appropriate end. Australia are poised to defeat comprehensively 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 know-how, composure, discipline, skill and Travis Head. His audacious 123 at Perth hurt England that have yet to recover; four Tests later he is merrily adding to their woes. Head's seemingly relentless 163 helped Australia to 518 for 7 at the end of day three, a lead of 134. Steve Smith will resume 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 understand. 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 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 final innings of 2013-14 and 2021-22. Their bodies are weary, their confidence broken, their spirit dented. It's nearly time for everyone to go home.
