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Bethell danced down the pitch and struck a four over long-on to bring up his first century in first-class cricket - Reuters/Asanka Brendon Ratnayake
It was celebrated with the nonchalance of an old timer, as if Jacob Bethell were raising his bat for a 41st Test hundred rather than a maiden first-class century.
There was no punch of the air or roar to the heavens, just a cool acknowledgement to all corners of the SCG. He waved his bat in the direction of his tearful parents Graham and Giselle and sister Laura sitting in the Brewongle Stand and sharing a family hug, relieved that Bethell had made it after an agonising 23 balls in the 90s.
In doing so Bethell salvaged something for England from the wreckage of the tour, a bit like Ben Stokes in the whitewash of 2013-14 when he too scored a hundred in his second Ashes Test and provided a ***** of light in a dark time.
It was a nerveless performance from Bethell who came in at four for one in the first over and walked off at the close 142 not out with Steve Smith shaking his hand and Stokes giving him a pat on the head as he walked into the England dressing room.
Without Bethell, England would have been beaten in four days and the series over at 4-1. That scoreline still feels inevitable, with England 302 for eight, just 119 ahead and their bowling reduced by Stokes’s groin strain.
To put into context how well Bethell played, no other England batsman scored more than 42 or lasted longer than 55 balls.
Whereas Bethell’s 40 in the MCG run-chase was a white-knuckle ride, this was a properly constructed innings. It is worth comparing him to Joe Root during their time at the crease today. Root, fresh from that 41st Test hundred in the first innings, could barely lay bat on ball on a seaming pitch against Australian bowlers who knew the exact length to exploit.
Root made six painful runs from 37 balls of probing accuracy. He just could not get off strike, facing 23 deliveries from Scott Boland before finally falling leg-before. Root was perhaps unlucky with the umpire’s call but had few complaints overall.
At the other end, Bethell was making it look easy, resembling a left-handed Root with his ability to find the gaps, keep the scoreboard moving before picking off the bad balls. He cut and pulled with the verve of a Bajan brought up on tapeball and beach cricket and drove down the ground with superb timing.
He was brave too, wearing a bouncer from Cameron Green on the helmet which almost knocked him off his feet and ricocheted through the slip cordon for four leg byes. He calmly swayed inside the next ball from Green: an 86mph bumper.
A four from Starc driven through point brought up his fifty, and Bethell showed his all-round scoring ability when he punched Green down the ground and pulled the next ball for another four. He moved into the 90s with a fortuitous deflection off the stumps for four when Marnus Labuschagne attempted a run-out.
He crept up to 99 resisting the tempters as Smith brought on Beau Webster to bowl his off breaks with the field up. Bethell waited for his opportunity, pouncing on Webster when he dropped short to lift him over wide mid-on for his hundred.
His father Graham told this newspaper last week that his son had great powers of concentration honed at the hard school of the Franklyn Stephenson Academy in Barbados and a love of red-ball cricket passed through the generations; his grandfather Arthur played first-class cricket alongside Sir Garfield Sobers. Bethell’s name is now written on the SCG honours board, below that of Sobers who scored two hundreds in three Sydney Tests, and Brian Lara, another early supporter of his talent. He has lived up to their predictions.
Bethell’s innings exposed the folly of sticking with Ollie Pope for so long when it was clear which No 3 had the better temperament and technique for Test cricket and a higher ceiling. He surpassed in this innings the number of runs Pope made across the series and oozed a natural confidence that his predecessor at could never quite pull off.
It made England’s punt on Bethell a year ago worthwhile but added to the frustration that he was put in cold storage for so long, barely playing when he needed exposure to the rhythms of red-ball cricket, or any cricket for that matter, while Pope continued his inconsistency.
It sums up this series that Bethell’s hard work was undone by a period when Webster, a seamer bowling spin, was whirling away with Labuschagne, a part-time spinner bowling seam, at the other end. Webster dismissed Harry Brook and Will Jacks in the space of three balls as England lost three for 45, including the self-inflicted run out of Jamie Smith.
Stokes limped off in his second over of the morning with a right adductor strain, the volume of work finally catching up with him. Stokes could barely move and had to lean on his bat for support as he ducked two of Labuschagne’s slow motion bouncers. He hobbled a single before edging a cut off Webster to Smith at slip. He ended the series with nought and one at the SCG and an average of 18, retreating into his bunker in Brisbane and never emerging.
The greatest batting disappointment was Ben Duckett. He chipped away to make his highest score of the series, 42, before chopping on. Duckett averaged 20, worked out by the Australians who plugged away outside off stump knowing he would have a go.
Zak Crawley had already long gone, out leg-before not playing a shot to his fifth ball from Mitchell Starc. On pitches where he was supposed to be a force, Crawley averaged 27 and has run his race. Time for change.
Brook and Bethell combined to put on 102, the highest stand of the innings and took England to tea, adding 57 quickly after Root’s departure as Australia looked flat. Starc squeezed Brook in the final session, and inevitably he tried to punch his way out of trouble, chopping one through the slip cordon. Webster seemed to confuse Brook, who misread the length and was leg before on the back foot.
Jacks wasted his chance to nail a place, carting Webster to deep square leg second ball, a shot as unforgivable as Smith’s in the first innings. It was as if he had not been watching Bethell’s lesson in how to play a situation and make a statement, a charge that can be levelled at many others.
07:39am
‘I know he plays T20 and 50-overs but Jacob’s love is red ball, long cricket’
07:32am
Jacob Bethell talks to TNT Sports
07:21am
‘Better than Lara’: The childhood coaches who knew Jacob Bethell was special
Nestled in the corner of a cricket pitch at Harrison College, one of Barbados’s most illustrious schools, lies a black scoreboard. This remains one of Jacob Bethell’s legacies at his alma mater.
One day while Jacob was at the school, his father Graham asked the coach whether he wanted to get a scoreboard. The next day, Graham put up the scoreboard himself.
Harrison is widely recognised as the most academic of the island’s 21 state secondary schools, and has educated five out of Barbados’s eight prime ministers since independence. Bethell started at Harrison College in 2015, aged 11, after getting almost full marks in his common entrance examination.
As old photos at Harrison show, Bethell was very small for his age-group, a deficit that was compounded by playing against older boys. Even aged 14, Bethell would train with the school under-19s. From Tuesdays to Thursdays, training would be held for several hours after school, until the sun went down.
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07:16am
England greats pay tribute to Bethell
07:13am
Watch: Bethell makes sublime maiden century
07:04am
OVER 75: ENG 302/8 (Bethell 142 Potts 0)
Stumps: England lead by 119 runs Bethell is beaten by the last two balls of the day from the outstanding Boland, who finishes with fabulous figures of 19-4-34-2. Bethell gets a standing ovation from those still left at the ground; he played with a maturity and composure that beggars belief for a 22-year-old who hadn’t previously reached three figures in first-class cricket.
He will resume on 142 not out from 232 balls, having outscored the rest of the England batsmen all on his own: Bethell 142-134 The Rest.
On TNT Sports, Sir Alastair Cook has just called it “one of the best maiden hundreds I have ever seen”.
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Travis Head congratulates Jacob Bethell on his glorious 142 not out. - Mark Baker/AP
Proud parents
An incredibly special day for the Bethell familypic.twitter.com/zcjpcj4Z6k
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) January 7, 2026
06:57am
OVER 74: ENG 302/8 (Bethell 142 Potts 0)
This time Bethell takes a single off the first ball of Webster’s over. Potts has a straight drive blocked by Webster and deflect a big off-break just short of the man at short leg.
06:54am
OVER 73: ENG 301/8 (Bethell 141 Potts 0)
Bethell again manipulates the strike so that Potts only has one delivery from Boland to survive.
There should be time for two more overs before the close.
06:50am
OVER 72: ENG 298/8 (Bethell 138 Potts 0)
Bethell keeps strike by hitting Webster’s penultimate delivery for a single.
06:47am
OVER 71: ENG 297/8 (Bethell 137 Potts 0)
Matthew Potts works Boland to deep midwicket but England turn down the run.
06:44am
Wicket!
Carse c Smith b Boland 16 Steve Smith stops worrying about the over-rate and recalls Scott Boland. The dividend is instant: a stiff defensive push from Carse and a smart catch by Smith at slip. Boland deserves that wicket, and a couple more, for an outrageously good performance with the ball today. FOW: 297/8
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Brydon Carse is dismissed by Scott Boland. - Asanka Brendon Ratnayake/Reuters
06:41am
OVER 70: ENG 296/7 (Bethell 136 Carse 16)
Carse drills Webster down the ground for four more.
06:38am
OVER 69: ENG 290/7 (Bethell 135 Carse 11)
Travis Head replaces Labuschagne in an attempt to improve Australia’s over-rate. Carse and Bethell take him for a boundary apiece, Bethell with a beautifully placed pull through midwicket. England have had a bad day and a horrible series, but this is some silver lining.
06:37am
OVER 68: ENG 281/7 (Bethell 131 Carse 6)
Bethell moves into the 130s with a firm sweep for four off Webster. His tempo hasn’t changed all day. Almost every No3 in the history of Test cricket would have been been proud to play this innings.
06:31am
OVER 67: ENG 275/7 (Bethell 126 Carse 5)
Brydon Carse has had enough of Labuschagne’s nonsense and fetches him through midwicket for four. England lead by 92 runs, which probably precludes a result tonight. I say ‘probably’ because you never quite know with Travis Head.
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The final indignity of a pretty undignified Ashes series is England collapsing against Marnus Labuschagne, a part-time spinner bowling seam, and Beau Webster, a seamer bowling spin.
06:27am
OVER 66: ENG 267/7 (Bethell 124 Carse 0)
There was an odd incident just before Stokes’ dismissal when TNT Sports showed a reply of the Smith run out, only for the commentator to think it was a live picture and announce that Stokes had also been run out. It didn’t make much difference in the end.
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Australia celebrate the run out of Jamie Smith. - Cameron Spencer/Getty Images
06:26amWickets
Wicket!
Stokes c Smith b Webster 1 Stokes, unable to move his feet, throws his hands at a wide short ball from Webster and is smartly caught at slip by Steve Smith. He walks off head down, a beaten man, his mind and body broken by the experience of captaining England in Australia. FOW: 267/7
06:24am
Bethell emulates hero Lara
In the story of Jacob Bethell’s century one parallel is, perhaps, particularly irresistible. In scoring his maiden Test century at the Sydney Cricket Ground, Bethell emulated a man who has already been part of his story: Brian Lara.
When Bethell was 11, he worked with Lara – another left-hander with a pronounced backlift – at the Academy. Lara declared that Bethell was better than he was at the same age. I explored the full story when I visited Barbados.
06:23am
OVER 65: ENG 267/6 (Bethell 124 Stokes 1)
Stokes walks out to the middle, clearly in pain, and grimaces as he ducks under the inevitable bouncer from Labuschagne. He manages to walk a single to get off the mark.
06:21amWickets
Wicket!
Smith run out 26 Just as TNT Sports were showing the wickets from earlier in the day, England gave them some fresh content with a desperate run out straight after the drinks break. Bethell pulled Labuschagne round the corner, shaped to set off and ended up doing a mid-pitch dance with Smith. Eventually Smith tried to get back to the non-striker’s end but was miles short when Labuschagne collected Weatherald’s excellent throw and broke the stumps. FOW: 264/6
06:15am
OVER 64: ENG 264/5 (Bethell 123 Smith 26)
After a couple of harmless overs from Travis Head, Beau Webster returns to the attack. Smith blazes a long hop through extra cover for four, an emphatic and safe shot. By his standards it’s been a subdued, almost solemn innings, yet he’s still scoring at a strike rate of 63.
06:12am
OVER 63: ENG 257/5 (Bethell 120 Smith 22)
Marnus ‘The Demon’ Labuschagne runs in like a puppy who has been let off the leash for the first time, then proceeds to slam the ball halfway down. Smith must be desperate to clout him into another postcode, but he does the sensible thing and takes a couple of easy singles.
England lead by 74.
06:09am
OVER 62: ENG 253/5 (Bethell 118 Smith 20)
After a quiet over from Travis Head, Steve Smith decides to troll his namesake Jamie by throwing the ball to, yep, Marnus Labuschagne.
06:04am
OVER 61: ENG 250/5 (Bethell 117 Smith 19)
Bethell pre-empts a charge at Neser, who sees him coming and spears a yorker towards leg stump. For a second it looks like Bethell might be bowled round his legs but he reacts well and works a single to fine leg.
Smith then steers a deliberate boundary to third man. He’s batting like a man who has somebody looking over his shoulder.
If there’s no prospect of a result, play will end at 7am GMT, just under an hour away.
06:00am
OVER 60: ENG 245/5 (Bethell 116 Smith 15)
Travis Head, who bowls much flatter off-spin, replaces Beau Webster and is gently milked for five more runs. England’s lead creeps up to 62.
05:57am
OVER 59: ENG 240/5 (Bethell 112 Smith 14)
Bethell, on the walk, punches Neser through one of the cover fielders for a single. It would have been so easy for him to get light-headed after reaching three figures, but he’s done nothing of the sort. The class, maturity and quiet defiance of this innings are so similar to Ben Stokes’ maiden Test hundred at Perth in the 2013-14 Ashes.
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Jacob Bethell celebrates a glorious century. - DAVID GRAY/AFP
05:54am
Stokes prepares to play through the pain
Ben Stokes is out of his training strip and into his whites, gingerly practising a few batting movements on the England balcony. A couple of grimaces at what is clearly a painful groin injury. However this ends, I am not sure we are going to see him attempt too many extravagant sweep shots.
05:53am
OVER 58: ENG 239/5 (Bethell 111 Smith 14)
Six low-risk runs from Webster’s over. England lead by 56, and if they can quadruple that...
05:49am
OVER 57: ENG 233/5 (Bethell 110 Smith 9)
Ben Stokes is getting ready to come in next. He will struggle to push forward with an adductor injury, and running between the wickets won’t be a barrel of laughs either.
Stokes is almost required when Smith inside-edges Neser back onto the pad. Australia’s LBW appeal was caught in the throat.
05:46am
OVER 56: ENG 232/5 (Bethell 110 Smith 8)
Smith tries to repeat that off-side slap against Webster and almost drags the ball onto the stumps. At the other end, Bethell is happy to tick along in singles.
It sums up the confusing absurdity of this series that England’s batsmen are being shown how to build a red-ball innings by a player who had never scored a first-class century going into this game. It has been a masterpiece.
05:43am
OVER 55: ENG 228/5 (Bethell 108 Smith 6)
05:38am
OVER 54: ENG 225/5 (Bethell 106 Smith 6)
Jamie Smith, who must feel so self-conscious after his infamous dismissal in the first innings, skids back to batter Webster to the cover boundary.
05:37am
OVER 53: ENG 221/5 (Bethell 106 Smith 2)
A quiet over from Starc. There’s just under an hour and a half remaining tonight, with the potential for an extra half hour if victory if in sight for
05:33am
A frustrating series for Brook
Harry Brook finishes his first series in Australia with 358 runs at 39.77. He’ll be frustrated that he got a start in nine of his 10 innings but only once scored more than 52. His run of scores was 52, 0, 31, 15, 45, 30, 41, 18*, 84 and 42.
05:31am
OVER 52: ENG 220/5 (Bethell 106 Smith 1)
Still no sign of Ben Stokes, with Jamie Smith coming in as usual at No7. That was a pretty horrible stroke from Will Jacks I’m afraid. And with England only 37 runs ahead, this game could well be done today.
05:28amWickets
Wicket!
Jacks c b Webster 0 Oh dear. Beau Webster, part-time off-spinner, has taken two wickets in three balls. Will Jacks, promoted to No6 because of the injury to Ben Stokes, slapped a slog-sweep high in the air towards deep midwicket and was brilliantly caught by Cam Green. FOW: 219/5
05:26am
Beach cricket, Brian Lara and Barbados shaped Jacob Bethell
“His appetite for practice was insatiable,” Edghill recalls. “He would wake up at five o’clock and get his mother to bowl at him before school, in the dark.”
Then, Jacob’s dad would take over, often putting a ball up on a string in the backyard. “He would hit two to three hundred balls on a morning before school at primary school, starting from six years old. That went on for years. I knew that he had the application to match the ability and the passion.
“He just gravitated towards cricket and practised a lot in our backyard and in the neighbourhood. Then a lot of it was beach cricket, just going down to the beach house or any beach in Barbados and messing around.
“Jacob was a very easy-going kid. Stuff doesn’t bother him. I’ve never seen him get agitated on the cricket field.”
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05:22am
A genuinely great moment in a gruesome series
A certain nonchalance in the celebrations from Jacob Bethell, as if he intends this first Ashes century (and first Test, and first in first-class cricket, come to that) to trigger a great career. This was a genuinely great moment in an otherwise gruesome series for England, with the 22-year-old seizing the stage with an innings of extraordinary elegance and fluency. In the space of 11 days he has chalked off two achievements - an England win in Australia, and a hundred Down Under - that have eluded illustrious predecessors for their entire careers.
05:22amWickets
Wicket!
Brook LBW b Webster 42 Australia have gone for an LBW review against Brook - it looks too high but it was a huge off-break from Beau Webster that beat Brook on the inside. Wow, it’s out! Brook was a long way back and the ball-tracking suggested it would have hit the bails full-on. That’s a big blow for England and another nothing score to end a series full of them for Brook. FOW: 219/4
05:21am
OVER 51: ENG 219/3 (Bethell 106 Brook 42)
A bit of luck for both England batters against Starc. Bethell inside-edges just wide of the stumps, then Brook edges a loose stroke through the slip cordon at catchable height.
05:18am
My six-hour lunch with the dads of the England batsmen
Cricket is a small community and there is no better example of that on this Ashes tour than the three men sitting around a restaurant table overlooking the Yarra River in Melbourne.
Graham Bethell, Graham Duckett and Matt Root are all old team-mates enjoying a second life in cricket as England dads on tour watching their sons play in the Ashes.
Bethell is the link. He played with Duckett for Dulwich for two summers from 1984 and for Sheffield Collegiate in 1986 and 1987 before returning for seven summers from 1990, captaining a team who also included Root Snr and Michael Vaughan. “When I was playing with Matt, the two little Root boys would always be there, dressed in whites running around the outfield playing cricket,” Bethell says.
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05:18am
The six England players who scored their maiden first-class century in a Test match
- Henry Wood, 1892
- Billy Griffith, 1948
- Jack Russell, 1989
- Stuart Broad, 2010
- Gus Atkinson, 2024
- Jacob Bethell, 2026
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Jacob Bethell whacks Beau Webster for four to bring up a sublime maiden century. - DAVID GRAY/AFP
05:14am
OVER 50: ENG 213/3 (Bethell 105 Brook 37)
Jacob Bethell’s first Test hundred! He’s done it! At the age of 22, Jacob Bethell has made his maiden first-class century while batting at No3, the toughest position of all, in an Ashes Test.
Steve Smith dangled another carrot by bringing on Beau Webster to bowl his occasional off-spin. Bethell had a couple of sighters, then skipped down the track to chip imperiously over midwicket for four. You beauty!
Smith leads the Australian applause on the field. Bethell looks cool as a cucumber as he raises his bat to the crowd. Among them is his father Graham, who is about to dissolve in tears.
It’s been the most wonderful innings, a serene masterpiece of skill, discipline and risk management. In fact, it’s been like watching a left-handed Joe Root. With one difference: Root never wanted to bat No3, Bethell has taken it on right at the start of his career.
05:10am
OVER 49: ENG 206/3 (Bethell 99 Brook 36)
Starc keeps everyone waiting with a maiden to Brook, including a couple of short balls that Brook tries to uppercut and misses.
05:06am
OVER 48: ENG 206/3 (Bethell 99 Brook 36)
Australia are determined to keep Bethell waiting. He faces three balls in that Boland over, all right on the money. The first two are defended, the third flicked along the floor to midwicket.
Bethell has only been on 99 for five balls but it feels like an age.
05:01am
OVER 47: ENG 205/3 (Bethell 99 Brook 35)
Steve Smith gives Jacob Bethell a new challenge by whistling up Mitchell Starc for another spell. Bethell calmly pushes another single on the off side, then works another to fine leg.
Brook gets Bethell back on strike, 99 not out, with two balls left in the over. He ignores a quick bouncer from Starc and ducks under another slightly gentler bumper. For all we know his internal monologue may consist entirely of four-letter words, but on the surface Bethell looks remarkably calm.
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Jacob Bethell has batted like a veteran. - DEAN LEWINS/Shutterstock
04:55am
OVER 46: ENG 201/3 (Bethell 97 Brook 33)
Boland tries to play on Bethell’s nerves by offering a few tempters outside off stump. Bethell resists and smiles knowingly back at the bowler.
Bethell is beaten later in the over, feeling tentatively for an 85mph off-break. He takes a single off the last ball to keep strike. Three more runs.
04:51am
OVER 45: ENG 199/3 (Bethell 96 Brook 32)
Bethell slugs Neser through midwicket for four to move to 96, equalling his highest score in Test and first-class cricket. He was a bit late on the shot, which went in the air, but it was safely wide of the fielder.
Neser appeals wearily for LBW when Bethell flicks around a straight delivery. Too high - but replays show that it was closer than it looked to the naked eye.
04:47am
Will Jacks set to bat No6
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I think Will Jacks might be coming in next, based on my balcony viewing. Stokes obviously carded to bat six, but he’s crocked.
04:47am
OVER 44: ENG 195/3 (Bethell 92 Brook 32)
Bethell moves into the nineties thanks to four overthrows. He drove Boland to cover, where Labuschagne collected the ball and threw at the non-striker’s end in the hope of catching Brook out of his ground. Brook made it home comfortably and the ricocheted off the stumps for four.
Just in case you’ve been asleep for the last 15 months, Bethell has never scored a first-class century. His highest score is 96 against New Zealand just over a year ago.
After a single takes Bethell to 92, Boland has an LBW appeal caught in the throat when Brook gets a thick inside-edge onto the pads. Lovely delivery though.
Brook’s response is to skip down the track and chip Boland jauntily over wide mid-on for four. He has raced to 32 from 31 balls.
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Harry Brook chips Scott Boland for four. - Darrian Traynor/Getty Images
04:41am
OVER 43: ENG 186/3 (Bethell 87 Brook 28)
Bethell skims Neser square on the off side for four, another stroke of unobtrusive class. Later in the over he squirts a single to move England into the lead. Good over for England, nine from it.
04:37am
OVER 42: ENG 177/3 (Bethell 81 Brook 25)
Boland is straight back into his work, beating Brook with a textbook delivery outside off stump. A couple of simple singles move Bethell to 81.
04:34am
The evening session
Scott Boland, who has been magnificent today, will open up after the break.
04:21am
Tea verdict
Jacob Bethell has given England something to take from this Ashes tour with a composed half century batting at no 3 that underlined his promise.
Bethell is 79 not out at tea and has played superbly on a pitch with variable bounce and his team a long way behind in the game. He came in at four for one in the first over, survived being hit on the head by a nasty bouncer and losing senior colleagues Ben Duckett and Joe Root.
Bethell has dominated the scoring, cutting and pulling well, and looked the part. On a tour of few highlights he has ensured England can at least end with something positive even if they go on to lose 4-1 - Bethell has tied down the no 3 spot for the start of the summer.
Root was unfortunate with an umpire’s call leg before but struggled in making six off 37 balls after his first innings hundred. Duckett made his highest score of the series - 42 - but ended with an average of 20 when he played on, tucked up for room misjudging the bounce.
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Jacob Bethell has batted beautifully for England. - Gareth Copley/Getty Images
04:14am
OVER 41: ENG 174/3 (Bethell 79 Brook 24)
Bethell flicks a single off his pads, Brook inside-edges a big, incautious drive into his pad but gets away with it and then sway out of one that rears up off a good length.
Offered width by Webster in the final ball of the session, Brook hammers it through point for four.
England go to tea 9 runs behind.
04:11am
OVER 40: ENG 168/3 (Bethell 78 Brook 20)
Brook uses his feet to cream Head through the covers for four then transfers his weight on to his back foot to chop for two behind point. There is some turn and Brook’s bottom edge sends the ball into his pad when cutting again but he boots it away withb his left before it can bounce and carrom back into the stumps.
Brook drives to cover for a single and Bethell is made a gift of another by Webster’s misfield, also at cover.
One over before tea to come. England trail by 15.
04:07am
OVER 39: ENG 160/3 (Bethell 77 Brook 13)
Webster is 6ft 7in and bowls at 75 mph. He has a slip and a gully. Bethell steps back to punch a single through mid-on and Brook pushes another to point, taking on the fielder and beating the throw that doesn’t hit the stumps.
Head is coming on for Neser.
04:02am
OVER 38: ENG 158/3 (Bethell 75 Brook 12)
Five dot balls from Neser to Bethell are followed by a whisk through midwicket to farm the strike. Ten minutes to tea.
Webster comes on to replace Green. Will it be his dobbers or spin?
Looking at his run-up marker, it’ll be seam up.
03:58am
OVER 37: ENG 157/3 (Bethell 75 Brook 12)
Bethell drives Green for two behind square then control-pulls the far from jolly giant Green for a single. Green bounces Brook who rides the lift to pull it for a single then England are given a bonus when Carey cops a painful blow on his left index finger and diverts the ball into the helmets behind him, costing a five-run penalty.
Bethell works a single through midwicket and Brook ends the over cutting and edges it wide of Carey for four. Green has 6-0-40-0. I wonder when Smith might turn to Head for a spell of spin, or Webster.
03:54am
OVER 36: ENG 143/3 (Bethell 71 Brook 7)
Neser is bowling Potts pace, around 78mph with the keeper up. Brook collars a shorter one with a cut through point for two then whisks one from off-stump through midwicket for two, happy when it’s back of a a length to use his height and wrists. Both batsmen also glean singles through point. Neser may well be carrying an injury but he’s not going to shirk the challenge.
03:50am
OVER 35: ENG 137/3 (Bethell 70 Brook 2)
Bethell hangs deep as Green drops short to slice a single to third man. He’s going to bounce Brook too and the right-hander cops a nasty blow on the elbow when he shaped to pull but then thought wiser of it. The ball hit the left elbow painfully and bounced close but mercifully not close enough to the stumps.
Brook retreats to leg to carve a single through point then Bethell takes on the bouncer, pulling it hard and flat in front of square for four. Green finally goes fuller and Bethell responds with a handsome back-foot cover drive, lacing it past extra-cover for four.
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England have seen off Scott Boland for now – Michael Neser is coming back to replace him - AFP/SAEED KHAN
03:43am
OVER 34: ENG 127/3 (Bethell 61 Brook 1)
Brook gets off the mark unconvincingly by opening the face and running the ball down through gully for a single. Bethell is subjected to one that spits up pff a good length but he manages to fend it safely off his glove to add one more to the total. England trail by 56.
03:40am
OVER 33: ENG 125/3 (Bethell 60 Brook 0)
Green replaces Starc. Bethell eases into a back foot drive on the up for four, punching it hard and cleanly, a knockout blow to the fence to the point boundary. Green responds with a rocket-boosted bouncer. Bethell goes for the hook, aborts as it starts to climb over him, over Carey’s dive and away for four byes.
03:35am
OVER 32: ENG 117/3 (Bethell 56 Brook 0)
Wicket maiden for Boland who has bowled beautifully. No gimmes, no let-up, like Chinese water torture.
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03:33amWickets
Wicket!
Root lbw b Boland 6 Out on umpire’s call. Deceived by the nip-backer. He’s the second England batsmen out on umpire’s call in this innings. The ball was only scratching the top of the leg bail. FOW 117/3
03:31am
ENG review
Root lbw b Boland Looks plumb.
03:27am
OVER 31: ENG 117/2 (Bethell 56 Root 6)
Starc comes round the wicket to Bethell and has a fine third man on the rope and three out on the pull. With that field he is going to bang it in. Bethell ducks one, leaves one, has an overhead swipe at one and grins at Starc, who seems a good egg. He also goes after one that didn’t get up but chops it into his pad. Maiden. If Bethell can bear to be patient, Starc can’t maintain a barrage for all that long. Two more overs, max.
03:23am
OVER 30: ENG 117/2 (Bethell 56 Root 6)
Boland produces another ripper, angling in from round the wicket then making it straighten off an indentation and spit past Bethell’s edge. He is bowling beautifully. England hit him out of the side in 2023 after seeing how dangerous he was in 2021-22 and got after him in the first innings in Perth but since Carey came up to the stumps, he has been so hard to play. He moves it both ways and Carey stops batsmen coming out of the crease to negate the movement early. After Bethell skelps a single down to fine leg, Boland’s nip-backet takes Root’s inside edge and cannons into his goolies. Ouch!
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Bethell makes his first Ashes half-century - AP/Mark Baker
03:14am
OVER 29: ENG 116/2 (Bethell 55 Root 6)
And he gets there with a crashing square cut when Starc offers him some width. The next ball is fuller and straighter, giving him the angle clip it off his toes for a single. Starc comes round the wicket to Root. Two slips and a catching cover. He tries to bypass that man at cover with a full-blooded drive but can’t get it through but gets off strike by opening the face and gliding a single through point. Bethell plays the short ball off his chest for a single and England make it to drinks with eight wickets intact and the deficit down to 67.
03:09am
OVER 28: ENG 109/2 (Bethell 49 Root 5)
Bethell defends and leaves when Boland quizzes him on that nagging length but when he bangs one in, Bethell swivels quickly to pull it through square leg for two. He did roll the wrists but it didn’t keep it down until it had left the square because it came off the toe. Fortunately square leg was back on the rope.
The left-hander flicks a single off his hip to take the strike and move to the threshold of a maiden Ashes half-centiry.
03:06am
OVER 27: ENG 106/2 (Bethell 46 Root 5)
Bethell brings up England’s hundred with a scything square cut for four and two balls later for two runs off Starc. In between those two rare loose balls, Bethell was forced to limbo under a steep bouncer that climbed late and then let one through on length that whistled past the inside edge and over middle and leg.
Some suggestion that Neser may have a muscle strain but he’s still on the field, indeed he has just made a diving stop at backward point.
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Addicted to tamping, Starc asks a groundsman to bring on his favourite tool - AFP/DAVID GRAY
03:00am
OVER 26: ENG 99/2 (Bethell 39 Root 5)
Oddly the third umpire didn’t check for lbw. It seemed to hit him outside the line but even so. Protocols are protocols. Bethell had greeted Boland’s change of ends with a tuck off the hip for a single but Root is given the most exacting interrogation, beating him on both edges, nipping back two, one crashing into the knee roll, outside the line, another almost sawing him in two as it zipped through the gate.
Boland, I should point out, has Root’s wicket four times in 10 Tests.
02:56am
NOT OUT
He didn’t hit it.
02:55am
AUS review
Nip-backer but did he hit it as it ballooned off pad to slip?
02:54am
OVER 25: ENG 98/2 (Bethell 38 Root 5)
Bethell keeps accumulating, taking a single when Starc serves a full delivery up on middle, allowing him to clip it off his toes. The great left-armer comes round the wicket to Root who defends a couple that were coming down the corridor then has a whoosh at the third, edging it between second slip and gully for four. Australia keep posting conservative fields no matter the match situation. It has served them well but that was a missed opportunity. Third slip would have swallowed that.
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Stokes is not padded up and will come in down the order after suffering a groin injury while bowling his 28th over - Getty Images/Gareth Copley
02:48am
OVER 24: ENG 93/2 (Bethell 37 Root 1)
Neser continues to hit his perfect line but varies his length and, when he does try a shorter one, Bethell opens the face and guides a single through cover point. Root tries to late cut and times it nicely but a smart stop by the point fielder keeps him stuck on one.
Mitchell Starc is coming back on for Boland. Starc has taken Root’s wicket 11 times in Tests.
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02:42am
OVER 23: ENG 92/2 (Bethell 36 Root 1)
Bethell leans back to work Boland through square leg for a single and Root defends four of the next five balls solidly, nose over the ball, straight bat, not risking the dab through gully just yet. The last ball is flicked through mid-on more aggressively but he can’t beat the fielder.
02:38am
OVER 22: ENG 91/2 (Bethell 35 Root 1)
Bethell takes a big stride and larrups a Neser delivery on middle and off, good length, through mid-on for four. After defending four deliveries, Bethell drives a wider one and thick edges it towards gully where Green makes a fine, one-handed stop that saves three runs.
02:35am
OVER 21: ENG 86/2 (Bethell 30 Root 1)
Maiden for Boland to a busy Root who tests the field but cannot penetrate the ring. The pitch has ball indentations in it, created when there was some moisture on day one and now hardened, leaving little ridges at the edges after the effect of the roller has worn off that are making the ball trampoline through.
02:32am
OVER 20: ENG 86/2 (Bethell 30 Root 1)
Root is greeted by a snorter with Carey up to the stumps, angling in then spitting up off a good length, past the edge and crashes into Carey’s ribs. Neser tells him to go back but Carey says he’s all right. Root gets off the mark with a nudge through cover for a single then Bethell almost follows Duckett back to the hutch in the same over with a careless waft outside off.
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02:23amWickets
Wicket!
Duckett b Neser 42 Played on. Again he tries to cut with an angled bat and drags on. He made his highest score of the series but not good enough to match expectations. FOW 85/2
02:22am
OVER 19: ENG 85/1 (Duckett 42 Bethell 30)
Scott ‘Barrel’ Boland also comes round the wicket and invites Bethell to drive and he does, uppishly at a wide one, safely down to the point sweeper for a single. Duckett loses his bottom hand grip as he taps a cover drive for another single.
Bethell leaves a couple diligently as Boland strains with effort, grunting as Ebony Rainford-Brent points out. That effort makes one fly off another ball divot in the pitch, luring Bethell into fencing outside off as the ball climbed past the splice.
02:18am
OVER 18: ENG 83/1 (Duckett 41 Bethell 29)
Neser starts with a no-ball that Duckett defends to cover. Two slips and a gully. Duckett opens the face as Neser comes round the wicket to slap a single to the point boundary-rider. Bethell is beaten outside off, trying to cover his off-stump, then tucks a single off his ribs. Neser ends the over ploughing his furrow outside off, good length, nibbling away. Duckett plays down the line but doesn’t follow the movement.
Boland replaces Starc.
02:13am
The batsmen return to the crease
The aim, as Alastair Cook points out, is to survive the first half-hour as Australia will throw everything at them. This is a two-hour session and will be followed by another 2½-hour one until the close.
Neser will continue.
02:05am
In the crowd
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01:48am
Listen
01:35am
LUNCH – OVER 17: ENG 80/1 (Duckett 40 Bethell 28)
And Green will try to make amends with the ball but the two left-handers calmly take him for two singles and a leg-bye.
England trail by 103 with nine second-innings wickets in hand. The pitch has caused plenty of problems and one horrible blow on the head but these two have shown great grit to get through. Well done.
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01:33am
OVER 16: ENG 77/1 (Duckett 39 Bethell 27)
Green drops Duckett off Bethell. Nothing Duckett could do as the ball spat up with a puff of dust off a good length to hit his glove. The ball ballooned towards first slip but Green dived across him, got both hands to it and watched it slip out. Smith, at first slip, was right in line and understandably peeved.
It’s not just England who have not lived up to the hype this series. Green has struggled despite all the opportunities. For all the criticism of England indulging players with great talent who consistently underperform, Australia have done the same with Green.
The pitch, now, seems to have some serpents in it.
One over before lunch to come.
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01:28am
OVER 15: ENG 76/1 (Duckett 38 Bethell 27)
Green surprises Duckett with a quick, shorter ball that angles into his body late off the pitch. He was trying to flick it through the legside but it takes the leading edge and lands safe. They run a single. Bethell gets up en pointe to defend a short one off his ribs round the corner for a single.
Duckett creams an extra-cover drive for four, then dabs a single through third man.
Green and the pitch combine to almost execute Bethell with a vicious lifter that flies off a length that you would predict would come through at chest height but scons him above the ear and knocks him off his feet and almost on to his stumps, but he makes sure he rolls out of the way. The ball took off from he impact over the slips for four leg-byes. Their height has been a key feature of Starc and Green’s menace.
After a length delay for a concussion test and a new lid, Green bounces Bethell again but he jerks out of the way, as if following the Bangles’ injunction to walk like an Egyptian.
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Bethell is hit on the head by Green - Getty Images/Robert Cianflone
01:18am
OVER 14: ENG 65/1 (Duckett 32 Bethell 26)
Starc sprays one on to middle and leg but does Bethell for line with some late movement as he closed the face. The ball takes a leading edge and squirts behind point for four. Starc gives Weatherald, said point, a Paddington Bear glare. Now Starc’s unhappy with the footholds from this end. He should tell the selectors to stop picking so many lefties which necessitate England bowling so many overs from round the wicket and digging out a crater in his landing zone.
Bethell leaves a couple, plays a stylish cover drive that is cut off by cover then ends the over with a square drive for four off a sixth-stump half volley. Thick edge rather than middle but look at the thickness of Head’s spoke between keeper and backward point. If it’s good enough for him...
01:12am
OVER 13: ENG 57/1 (Duckett 32 Bethell 18)
Green replaces Duckett and draws two injudicious shots when going full and wide. From his great height, Green’s full deliveries leave Duckett in no man’s land with his bat, halfway between vertical and horizontal as he has two whooshes he could easily have left. But he nails pulls off two flaccid bouncers, rolling the wrists and clobbering them for fours, the second of which brings up the fifty partnership.
01:10am
OVER 12: ENG 49/1 (Duckett 24 Bethell 18)
Duckett wears Starc’s shorter ball that was angled across him on the thighpad as he missed at a flick but still garners two leg-byes. Starc responds by hooping in the yorker but lands it a couple of inches too short and Duckett whips it through midwicket for four with a silky twist of the wrist. After a Harrow drive brings Duckett a single off the inside edge, Bethell is beaten outside off by Starc who shaped the ball away from the left-hander as he pushed down the channel.
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Bethell’s elegance is plain to see - Getty Images/Robert Cianflone
01:04am
OVER 11: ENG 42/1 (Duckett 19 Bethell 18)
Neser attacks Bethell from round the wicket with Carey now standing up. The left-hander uses the angle in to him to clip two off his toes with a stylish flick then devours a half-volley with a text-book off drive for four. If you were watching him for the first time it would not take you long to discern why the great and the good have been predicting a magnificent career for him since he was about 14.
01:00am
OVER 10: ENG 36/1 (Duckett 19 Bethell 12)
Now Starc replaces Boland at the Randwick End having had a few problems with the dip in the crease from the Paddo End. And he almost inflicts dental disintegration on Duckett with a ball direct from the inferno. Only just back of a length it angles in, climbs and trims Duckett’s nasal hair in its vapour trail as he jerked out of the way. “Unplayable,” says Sir Alastair Cook.
The last ball of a hitherto unrelentingly probing over is wider and Duckett cuts it but not off the middle. It sounded toey and went only for two through point.
12:50am
OVER 9: ENG 34/1 (Duckett 17 Bethell 12)
Neser bustles in, racking up five dot balls after Duckett steers the first for a single down to the point sweeper.
Second batch of drinks in this elongated session are brought on by the twelfthers. Lunch is 40 minutes away.
12:47am
OVER 8: ENG 33/1 (Duckett 16 Bethell 12)
Duckett has a swish at a short, wide one, looking to cut but misses the ball, then jabs a short one aimed into his body to square leg for a single. Bethell opens the face on a firm push which takes a thick outside edge and squirrels past point for two.
Boland bangs in the bouncer, Bethell shimmies inside the line, withdrawing his chest and the ball, from round the wicket, continues its path towards the legside, beating Carey and sailing down for four byes. That cuts the deficit to 150.
12:42am
OVER 7: ENG 26/1 (Duckett 15 Bethell 10)
Neser sprays a full one on to middle stump and Bethell RSVPs the invitation with a sweetly timed clip for four through square leg.
Bethell uses his feet to drive and the ball squirts off the inside edge for a single, Duckett works a single off his pads and, when Nesesr comes over the wicket, Bethell tucks it off his thighpad for two.
Boland to continue. Starc hasn’t changed ends. At least not yet.
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Ben Duckett is grafting away, trying to find some rhythm and nick after a gruelling tour - Reuters/Asanka Brendon Ratnayake
12:37am
OVER 6: ENG 18/1 (Duckett 14 Bethell 3)
Boland happily alternates between over and round the wicket to Bethell. When coming round he has a leg slip, looking for a vulnerability, like Carey’s, to the nonchalant flick to fine leg. Two crisp forward defensives are followed with a shorter one into his body which he wears painfully on the hip but doesn’t rub it. He gets up on his toes to defend positively into the offside and hares a single as the ball drops at his feet.
Neser is coming on for Starc who may be changing ends because of his problems with the footholds.
12:31am
OVER 5: ENG 17/1 (Duckett 14 Bethell 2)
Duckett is squared up and beaten by a Starc beauty as he tried to defend on an off-stump line. No disgrace there. Head and Smith were beaten more than a dozen times but hung on in there. It may look precarious and prove lethal but if he can hang around for 20 overs, it will get easier. Now he is given one on his toes and clips it for a single and Bethell is treated to one on his hip, which he flicks for another.
12:28am
OVER 4: ENG 15/1 (Duckett 13 Bethell 1)
Bethell is beaten by Boland outside off as the ball jags away after pitching on off stump. He can’t reach it mercifully. The left-hander has a couple of swishes at legside deliveries, missing the ball, plays and misses outside off again and then nicks one with soft hands which keeps his innings alive as it landed a foot short of Smith at second slip.
Maiden. With Boland it’s like a boxer’s jabs to the midriff, whacking the opponent so regularly in the same spot. It’s a proper softening up before the uppercut.
12:24am
OVER 3: ENG 15/1 (Duckett 13 Bethell 1)
Duckett continues to look in shaky nick. He uppercuts Starc boldly for four but when he presses forward and tries to flick off off and middle through midwicket, he closes the face too soon and the ball squirts off a leading edge through cover for a single.
Bethell keeps out the outswinging yorker by jamming his bat down on to it before it hit the ground and hares a single. Starc appeals, asking if it was foot first but it was all bat. Duckett ends the over with a handsome cover drive for four.
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Crawley’s series ends, pinned leg-before padding up - Getty Images/Gareth Copley
12:18am
OVER 2: ENG 5/1 (Duckett 4 Bethell 0)
Australia’s bowlers have had two sleeps, come back refreshed and never bother with looseners. They’re straight out of the gate at full pelt.
Duckett takes a single off Boland off an inside edge, Bethell inside-edges into his pad, sets off for a hare-brained single before sending Duckett back after a legside fence then edges one he didn’t have to play at outside off but the ball dies a good 5ft in front of first slip.
12:12am
OVER 1: ENG 4/1 (Duckett 3 Bethell 0)
England are off the mark from the first ball. Starc goes back of a length to Crawley who rides the bounce to cuff it towards midwicket for a single. Starc immediately calls on a groundsman to tamp down his landing point. Duckett sways out of the way off an offside delivery that leapt up from back of a length, then does the same when Starc picks the same line and length. Two leaves!
Starc is not happy with the final foothold and kicks the ground around the popping crease and then serves up a fuller one on off-stump and Duckett check-drives it nicely through mid-off for three.
England’s opening partnerships this series:
0
0
5
48
37
4
7
51
35
4
12:09amWickets
Wicket!
Crawley lbw b Starc 1 Thought it was shaping away but it swung back in. Looked high but he was out on umpire’s call. That’s his series over with a whimper. FOW 4/1
12:09am
ENG review
Crawley lbw b Starc Padded up and the ball came in.
12:03am
Crawley and Duckett come out
England will have about 85 minutes before lunch.
12:00am
The end is nigh?
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11:55pm
AUS 567 all out
They lead by 183, Webster departs undefeated on 71 and England have done a decent job this morning, a decent enough job that they should not be dejected and resigned to their fate with the bat, even given the daunting deficit. Tongue was excellent this morning, finishing with 30-0-97-3.
11:54pmWickets
Wicket!
Boland c Brook b Jacks 0 Out for a golden duck, nicking to slip. FOW 567 all out.
11:49pm
OVER 133: AUS 564/9 (Webster 68 Boland 0)
Tongue beats Starc with another ripper, angling in from round the wicket, it pitches on off and middle and keeps going in, beating him through the gate and then the ball vaulted the stumps.
Official word from England is that Stokes is being assessed for a right adductor strain.
Starc clips a single off his pads, Webster pulls another and Starc, with a classically high elbow, drives straight for two, making Brook from mid-off sprint to the boundary to save two runs.
Tongue then bags his man. I would say inspired bowling change by Brook but he had no choice with Stokes’ injury. The mystery os why he wasn’t bowling with Stokes rather than relieving him
Drinks.
11:47pmWickets
Wicket!
Starc b Tongue 6 Arrows it in and knocks back leg stump. He had almost cut him in half with a similar delivery earlier in the over but this one was fuller and instead of going over the stumps, crashed into the top of leg. Well bowled. FOW 564/9
11:43pm
OVER 132: AUS 560/8 (Webster 67 Starc 3)
Carse sprays another one down leg, clipping Webster’s pad and rattling down for four leg byes. Bethell would be worth a go now, from his end, rather than Potts. He has bowled his heart out but has lacked control and is looking ragged this morning.
11:40pm
OVER 131: AUS 553/8 (Webster 65 Starc 2)
Tongue forces Starc on to the back foot to take singles either side of the wicket and Webster flicks another off his pads.
11:37pm
OVER 130: AUS 550/8 (Webster 64 Starc 0)
Smith and Labuschagne are fine players, one a great, the other very good. But their response to getting out borders on the petulant and irritates the hell out of me. They react as if it’s a personal affront or that somehow they’ve been diddled rather than it being an occupational hazard and the result of good bowling. Smith always shakes his head, Labuschagne takes up squatter’s rights in the crease. I know their supporters will say that it shows they care but just get off like mostly everyone else has done for 149 years,
Webster pulls a long hop off Carse for four to bring up the 550.
11:28pmWickets
OVER 129: AUS 544/8 (Webster 59 Starc 0)
Brook turns to Tongue as his first major decision as captain and it pays off in his first over, bagging his bunny Smith with a jaffa. Australia are miles ahead but that’s a welcome blow in the battle, a morale raiser. He has now taken his wicket in all six first-class games he has played against him.
The field goes out for Starc, setting him up for a barrage but the left-hander ducks the first bouncer.
11:24pm
Wicket!
S Smith c J Smith b Tongue 138 Tongue ensures that he has now taken Smith’s wicket in every first-class meeting between them, this the sixth, as he angled it into the captain and nipped it away, pinning Smith in his crease and pushing at the ball. FOW 544/8
11:24pm
Brook in charge
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11:21pm
OVER 128: AUS 542/7 (Smith 137 Webster 58)
Webster works Carse off his pads for four and brings up the hundred partnership for the eighth wicket. Harry Brook, incidentally, is England’s acting captain. Carse serves another full one up on middle and leg and Webster skelps him for two.
Not that England had more than half a per cent chance of winning but without Stokes to lead the attack that is now zero and the odds of it being over today shorten significantly.
11:17pm
OVER 127: AUS 535/7 (Smith 136 Webster 52)
Webster brings up his half-century, whisking a straight one from Stokes round the corner for a single. In the years of Ashes marmalisations Down Under, this is already Australia’s fourth highest score. Don’t want to scare you but they made 649/7 at the SCG in 2017-18.
And now Stokes is injured. He has hurt his groin and has to limp off. He has carried this attack on his back and it has broken him just before the death.
Bethell delivers the final two balls of the over and Webster drills him for two through cover.
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Ben Stokes toils in the heat - Getty Images/Cameron Spencer
11:10pm
OVER 126: AUS 531/7 (Smith 135 Webster 49)
Not Tongue but Carse. Webster exploits the width to open the face and glide two down through third man. Carse strays even wider and Webster cracks the long hop off the cue end for four. Chalk, please. Alastair Cook warned that this could get very messy very quickly if England carried on where they left off and said it would undoubtedly infect their batting if it did.
I like Brydon Carse but he is not being used properly. He’s a wicket-taking bowler but is very loose.
11:05pm
OVER 125: AUS 524/7 (Smith 135 Webster 42)
Ben Stokes takes the responsibility of bowling first and, after Smith wastes some time swatting a fly, hangs a couple of balls down the corridor and the Australia captain leaves and then defends. Stokes goes straighter as Jerusalem comes to a close and Smith strokes an on-drive between bowler and mid-on for two. Smith leaves one that angles in and whistles past off-stump. Well judged rather than a mistake, I fear. And he throws the bat at a cover drive in his French cricket stance, smacking it crisply for four.
11:01pm
Beefy and Baz
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Sir Ian Botham chats to Brendon McCullum - Getty Images/Gareth Copley
11:00pm
The players are out and England are in an uncharacteristic huddle
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10:42pm
McCullum to be given ultimatum about England team culture
By Will Macpherson and Nick Hoult in Sydney
10:19pm
No respite from the heat
There is a zero per cent chance of rain according to the Australia Bureau of Meteorology and on a sunny day the temperature will hit a high of 32C. Same tomorrow should we get there.
10:06pm
Preview: Smart money on series ending tonight
Good evening and welcome to live coverage of day four of the fifth Ashes Test which begins with England adrift and seemingly without hope of recovery with Australia 518 for seven, a lead of 134, 3-1 up in the series and preparing a party for Wednesday or Thursday night depending on England’s resilience. Yesterday was arguably England’s worst of the series. They have had dreadful sessions before but, having dropped four catches, one a dolly, two difficult and the fourth a one in 50 chance of sticking, they were taken to the cleaners by Steve Smith, that winning hybrid of Sir Donald Bradman and Sir Norman Wisdom, Travis Head and, in a different but no less frustrating way, Michael Neser. Little victories in dismissing Jake Weatherald, Usman Khawaja, Alex Carey and Cameron Green fairly cheaply were overwhelmed by Head, Smith and the procession of 50+ partnerships (seven of the eight stands to date. By contrast England made three. In home Ashes Tests since the start of the 2013 series Australia have made 82 half-century partnerships. In the same Tests England have made 47, 35 fewer. No wonder which is the sturdier building.)
In terms of days this has not been a long tour but England looked gassed yesterday, Ben Stokes lost his innovative spark and nous as captain, temporarily, through essentially carrying the team on his and Joe Root’s back. He needs help, more fire from his team-mates, most of whom are diffident and possibly too embarrassed by their performances to chirp, and better onfield counsel when he’s bowling.
Whether the end comes today or tomorrow, with defeat or a draw (the prospect of victory, of taking 13 wickets with the attack in the shape it’s in after 124 overs of toil, is negligible) there will be plenty of time to regroup for the red-ball players but the multiformat men will be whisked off to Sri Lanka in a couple of days. Change of scenery may do them the world of good but what they look most in need of is clearing their heads.
The smart money will be on it ending today, making it a 17-day series. In 2006-07, when 4-0 down, England were blown away for 147 in the fifth Test; in 2013-14 at 4-0 down, they were routed for 166; in 2017-18 at 3-0 down they managed 180 in an innings defeat and at Hobart, the venue for the fifth Test in the Covid series, at 3-0 down they were sktttled for 147. Should Australia compound their pain by more grinding this morning, it’s hard to see England overcoming a sense of resignation to compile a good enough score to trouble their hosts. But then again, the world is awful enough at the moment without succumbing to despair just yet. Perhaps there’s one last miracle in Stokes’ locker
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