🔗 Share this article The Baggy Greens v England – Fifth Ashes Test, The Fourth Day: Live Updates It’s another early start today, with a two-and-a-half-hour morning session to compensate for some of the overs lost on the first day. The players are making final preparations to step onto the ground. Pink Tributes and Batting Might They do things well in Australia. On the first day of this fifth Test came a fitting tribute to the sufferers and heroes of the Bondi atrocity, and on the third day the Sydney Cricket Ground was turned 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 batters ground England’s bowlers into the dust, answering any questions about their motivation since securing the Ashes and raising a few more concerning their beaten opponents. Visibly weary from the effort, 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 concluding stages of Travis Head’s blistering 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 daunting one. A Cricketing Icon's Opinion The famed Neil Harvey, 97, gave his views 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 construct a knock, like a Cowdrey or a Boycott. It might work against lesser sides but when you get a class side like Australia it's a different ballgame. 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 style it reduces the chances of winning an important Test. I'd like to see them show more restraint. A Tough Introduction Almost an hour 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 running through his different deliveries. His first ball was wide and clobbered through cover by Travis Head. His second ball was both short outside off stump 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 defended with a show of concentrated care, to raucous, sarcastic applause 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 peak of his batting skill, when “best since Bradman” was used with assurance. 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 lasting two decades. Lots of players reach the top for a time, no other has stayed as long. The combination of those phases, though, propelled him into a rare position on the third day. In the statistics of the game there are milestones, then there are mountaintops. For a long time in Smith's Ashes-centric 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 One-Sided Conclusion The 2025-26 Ashes, perhaps the most underwhelming series in the 144 years since Fred Spofforth raised hell at The Oval, is limping towards a suitable finale. Australia are set to crush England at Sydney and win the series 4-1, a margin not even the most biased Pom could dispute. It's been a victory of experience, discipline, skill, talent and Travis Head. His audacious 123 at Perth hurt England 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 resume 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 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 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 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.
It’s another early start today, with a two-and-a-half-hour morning session to compensate for some of the overs lost on the first day. The players are making final preparations to step onto the ground.
Pink Tributes and Batting Might They do things well in Australia. On the first day of this fifth Test came a fitting tribute to the sufferers and heroes of the Bondi atrocity, and on the third day the Sydney Cricket Ground was turned 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 batters ground England’s bowlers into the dust, answering any questions about their motivation since securing the Ashes and raising a few more concerning their beaten opponents. Visibly weary from the effort, 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 concluding stages of Travis Head’s blistering 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 daunting one.
A Cricketing Icon's Opinion The famed Neil Harvey, 97, gave his views 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 construct a knock, like a Cowdrey or a Boycott. It might work against lesser sides but when you get a class side like Australia it's a different ballgame. 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 style it reduces the chances of winning an important Test. I'd like to see them show more restraint.
A Tough Introduction Almost an hour 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 running through his different deliveries. His first ball was wide and clobbered through cover by Travis Head. His second ball was both short outside off stump 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 defended with a show of concentrated care, to raucous, sarcastic applause 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 peak of his batting skill, when “best since Bradman” was used with assurance. 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 lasting two decades. Lots of players reach the top for a time, no other has stayed as long. The combination of those phases, though, propelled him into a rare position on the third day. In the statistics of the game there are milestones, then there are mountaintops. For a long time in Smith's Ashes-centric 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 One-Sided Conclusion The 2025-26 Ashes, perhaps the most underwhelming series in the 144 years since Fred Spofforth raised hell at The Oval, is limping towards a suitable finale. Australia are set to crush England at Sydney and win the series 4-1, a margin not even the most biased Pom could dispute. It's been a victory of experience, discipline, skill, talent and Travis Head. His audacious 123 at Perth hurt England 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 resume 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 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 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 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.