Australia v The Three Lions – Fifth Ashes Test, Day Four: Live Updates

They do things well in Australia. The opening day of this final Test featured a appropriate remembrance to the victims and first responders of the Bondi incident, and on the third day the Sydney Cricket Ground was became a ocean of pink to once again raise funds for the McGrath Foundation.

Out in the middle, however, Australian generosity was in far shorter supply. Across three sessions their batmen dominated the English bowling, dispelling any doubts about their motivation since securing the Ashes and posing a few more regarding their defeated rivals.

Faces flush from the ordeal, Ben Stokes and his team departed at stumps exhausted and overwhelmed. Steve Smith’s century number thirty-seven, 129 not out from 205 balls, had succeeded the concluding stages of Travis Head’s explosive 163 from 166, and with it Australia had attained 518 for seven from 124 overs. The lead was 134 runs overnight and looked an ominous one.

The renowned Neil Harvey, 97, offered his perspective in a delightful interview.

I've been disappointed in England. I think the way they tackle the batting side of things, they get too impetuous, 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 class side like Australia it's a whole new challenge. I used to score runs at a fair pace, and everyone gets a lot of enjoyment out of it, but when you try to play this aggressive approach it takes the odds away from winning an important Test. I'd like to see them pull their hooves in.

Almost an hour into a gloomy morning at the Sydney Cricket Ground, Matt Potts was introduced into the England attack from the Randwick End, and immediately began utilizing his change-ups.

His first ball was full and wide and hammered through cover by Travis Head. His second ball was both short and wide and cut 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 studious defense, 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.

There was a time, while Steve Smith was at the height of his batting prowess, when “best since Bradman” was used with assurance. The thing about that description is that even when the recipient has excelled for years, it gets granted too quickly, given the point of comparison is a career lasting two decades. Lots of players hit their peak for a time, no other has stayed as long.

The blend of those phases, though, took him to a uncommon position on the third day. In the record books of the game there are milestones, then there are peaks. For a long time in Smith's Ashes-heavy 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 overtook on Tuesday.

The 2025-26 Ashes, perhaps the most disappointing series in the 144 years since Fred Spofforth raised hell at The Oval, is limping towards a fitting conclusion. Australia are on course to defeat comprehensively England at Sydney and win the series 4-1, a result not even the most partisan Pom could dispute.

It's been a success of know-how, maturity, application, ability and Travis Head. His audacious 123 at Perth opened English wounds that have yet to mend; four Tests later he is cheerily grinding salt into them. Head's deceptively pitiless 163 helped Australia to 518 for 7 at the end of day three, a lead of 134. Steve Smith will continue on 129 after making a century that looked inevitable even before he faced his first ball.

Australia, despite a number of flaws 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 wanted a greater challenge.

The concluding chapter will be conducted either this evening or tomorrow. There's a chance of a total collapse when England bat, just as there was in the final innings of 2013-14 and 2021-22. Their bodies are exhausted, their confidence broken, their spirit broken. It's nearly time for everyone to go home.