The Baggy Greens v England – The Final Ashes Test, The Fourth Day: Live Updates

Australia knows how to host an event. The opening day of this final Test featured 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 ocean of pink to once again raise funds for the McGrath Foundation.

On the field of play, though, Australian charity was in far scarcer quantity. Across three sessions their batters wore down the English attack, addressing any queries about their motivation since securing the Ashes and throwing up a few more concerning their vanquished foes.

Faces flush from the ordeal, Ben Stokes and his team trudged off at stumps battle-weary. Steve Smith’s 37th Test century, 129 not out from 205 balls, had followed the second half of Travis Head’s sizzling 163 from 166, and with it Australia had reached 518 for seven from 124 overs. The lead sat at 134 runs overnight and looked an threatening one.

The legendary Neil Harvey, 97, shared his thoughts in a engaging interview.

I've been unimpressed with England. I think the way they approach 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 lesser sides 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 aggressive approach it lessens the probability of winning an important Test. I'd like to see them rein themselves in.

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

His first ball was wide and smashed through cover by Travis Head. His second ball was both short and wide and cut over gully by Travis Head. His third ball was back of a length and smashed past midwicket by Travis Head. His fourth ball was negotiated with a show of furrowed caution, to jeering shouts 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 peak of his batting mastery, when “best since Bradman” was used with assurance. The thing about that phrase is that even when the recipient has dominated for years, it gets applied too quickly, given the point of comparison is a career spanning twenty years. Lots of players reach the top 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 record books of the game there are milestones, then there are peaks. For a long time in Smith's Ashes-centric 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 conquer. Jack Hobbs's 3,636 runs against Australia is the one he ascended on Tuesday.

The 2025-26 Ashes, arguably the most disappointing series in the 144 years since Fred Spofforth raised hell at The Oval, is heading for a fitting conclusion. Australia are poised to crush England at Sydney and win the series 4-1, a scoreline not even the most biased Pom could contest.

It's been a success of maturity, composure, application, skill and Travis Head. His audacious 123 at Perth hurt England that have yet to heal; 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 continue 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 comfort that is hard to understand. Maybe that's an Pommy outlook. It's not Australia's fault that England failed to turn up – even if, on some level, they probably desired a greater challenge.

The final act will be delivered either this evening or tomorrow. There's a chance of a one-sided finish when England bat, just as there was in the last knock of 2013-14 and 2021-22. Their bodies are exhausted, their confidence shattered, their spirit broken. It's nearly time for everyone to go home.