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5th over: England 17-1 (Duckett 14, Bethell 2) Starc swerves a jaffa past Duckett’s outside edge. Unless the player of the series award can be shared, I’d give it to Starc for his influence with ball and bat when the series was still live. He has never bowled better than he did in 2025 and, though he turns 36 in January, fast bowlers last much longer these days. It’ll be a big surprise if he isn’t leading the attack when England go to India and England next year.
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4th over: England 15-1 (Duckett 13, Bethell 1) Bethell is beaten by some extra bounce from Boland, then tries to style it out by swivelling in his follow-through as if he was leaving the ball all along. Boland is interrogating Bethell’s technique, from from around the wicket and then from back over. A superb over ends with Bethell edging a defensive push just short of slip.
Let’s briefly accentuate the positive for England: even if he is out to the next ball he faces, Jacob Bethell will have learned so much from playing in these two Tests.
“You mentioned earlier that you think a better version of England’s approach can still cause problems for any side,” says Martin O’Donovan-Wright. “I kind of agree, but that’s as long as we’re limiting the discussion to batting, which is usually what people think of in the interminable Bazball debate. But it’s the bowling as much as the batting that’s at issue, and England never seem to be able to field their best bowling lineup due to injuries. Until that happens, it almost makes the rest of the debate redundant. And unfortunately, I don’t think the prime bowling unit that they wanted to field will ever feature as a unit again.”
That’s a very good point. England have lost nearly 2000 Test wickets since the 2023 Ashes, something that was lost in the excitement of having five bowlers who could hit 90mph. It’s not just the bowlers; they need to find a coach as well. I’d ask Anderson and Broad if they fancy sharing the job.
We probably need to forget the idea of a first-choice bowling attack; it’s just not realistic any more. That said, I do think the pace attack will look a lot different if England can lock in a new-ball expert. In unrelated news, Oliver Edward Robinson (born 1 December 1993) is an English professional cricketer. In domestic cricket, he plays for Sussex as a right-arm medium-pace bowler, having previously played for Yorkshire and Hampshire. He made his Test debut for England in 2021, and played 20 matches.
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3rd over: England 15-1 (Duckett 13, Bethell 1) Duckett uppercuts Starc deliberately for a one-bounce four, then lasers another boundary through extra cover. He looks in the mood to have a bit of fun.
“Why is Ollie Robinson being picked unlikely?” wonders Peter Kelly. “What have I missed?”
It’s a complicated case: lotta ins, lotta outs, lotta what-have-yous. There was an excellent discussion about it on the Wisden podcast a few weeks ago.
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2nd over: England 5-1 (Duckett 4, Bethell 0) Scott Boland opens the bowling for the first time since Perth. He’s been the unsung hero of Australia’s triumph and helped shape the series with outstanding spells on day two at Perth and day three (I think) at Brisbane. He beats Bethell with a ball that keeps low and is, for England, mercifully wide of the stumps.
“I’m not a fan of Cam Green playing at 5. I feel the biggest problem he’s dealing with is the sky-high expectations foisted onto him,” writes Rowan Sweeney. “Yesterday, he looked comfortable at 7/8 (on a very placid deck, admittedly). If we just left him there and accepted him as a world class gully fielder who’s a better-than-average bowler and a better-than-average batter, we’d see the most-better-than-average of him.”
I think you’re right about him at No5, but you can’t have him as a bits-and-pieces player, surely? Maybe you just commit to picking one of Green or Webster and give somebody else a decent run at No5.
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1st over: England 4-1 (Duckett 3, Bethell 0) Jacob Bethell arrives for another day at Big School.
Crawley ends a frustrating series with 273 runs at 27.30. Starc, who is having the series of his life, isn’t done yet: he has 29 wickets at 18.96.
“Kia ora Rob, from Rotorua in Aotearoa/New Zealand,” writes Graeme Simpson. “Thanks to you and your OBO colleagues for staying up late. Always a great way to follow the cricket. With special interest as the Black Caps have a three-Test series with England coming up.
“If – and it’s a big if – most of our front line bowling line up are fit, then, they will be real trouble for England. Plus there’s depth in our batting, too. At least you’ll be able to follow that series in the day time. Best wishes for 2026, mate.”
And to you. That series could be loads of fun. I’d love to see a pace attack of Matt Henry, Will O’Rourke and Kyle/Jamieson/Jacob Duffy/Zak Foulkes/somebody else I’ve forgotten. O’Rourke looked sensational against England in 2024.
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WICKET! England 4-1 (Crawley LBW b Starc 1)
Mitchell Starc has bookended the series by dismissing Zak Crawley in the first over. Crawley offered no stroke to a ball that swung back to hit the flap of the pad and was given out LBW by Ahsan Raza.
Crawley reviewed in the hope it didn’t swing back enough – but it was umpire’s call and Crawley is on his way. Not a great shot, it’s true, but it was a wonderful piece of bowling.
Crawley heads off for the last time this series. Photograph: Mark Baker/APShare
Updated at 00.13 GMT
For the last time in this series, Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett walk out to face the music. Duckett is facing an unwanted bit of history – the last, and only, England opener to play five Tests in an Ashes series in Australia without making a half-century is Cyril Washbrook in 1950-51.
Duckett heads out onto the SCG field. Photograph: Robert Cianflone/Getty ImagesShare
Updated at 00.11 GMT
“Where does this series rank among 21st-century Ashes contests?” wonders Max Williams. “Definitely top in terms of English disappointment but as a sporting spectacle? I’d place it third bottom.
“The Covid series was the worst, and the 2017-18 tour utterly unmemorable. Then this shambles. 2001 and 2002-23 were even more one-sided but showcased a truly great Australian team and a couple of heroic English victories. Both whitewashes contained multiple iconic moments – Adaleide, Mitchell Johnson – and a dramatic weight that this series simply lacks.
“Best, you ask? I won’t insult your intelligence but I’d place 2023 second and 2019 third – boasting arguably the greatest Test match ever counts for a lot. Feels like 2009 should be up there – 1-1 going into the deciding Test – but the matches themselves weren’t great.
“And yes, the respective locations of all the close ones and all the thumpings tells you an awful lot about our respective cricketing nations.
Max, I love you but please don’t make me do a Rank and Rate. Not tonight, not after seven weeks of sleep deprivation. (I pretty much agree with everything you say anyway, except that I’d put this series bottom. Not just of 21st-century Ashes contests, but of every Test series, ever, including India 1-0 England with five draws in 1981-82.
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WICKET! Australia 567 all out (Boland c Brook b Jacks 0)
Scott Boland goes first ball, caught at slip off a lovely off-break from Will Jacks. Beau Webster finishes on 71 not out, one short of his Test best. On the plus side, the red ink lifts his average to 41.09.
Australia lead by 183 runs, and the smart money is on the series ending before lunch today.
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Drinks
133rd over: Australia 564-9 (Webster 68, Boland 0) Josh Tongue now has 15 wickets at 21.33 in the series. He’s got something about him and will surely be inked in as England’s first-chance seamer for the forseeable future.
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Updated at 23.50 GMT
WICKET! Australia 564-9 (Starc b Tongue 5)
England say that Ben Stokes is being assessed for a ‘right adductor complaint’. Harry Brook is captaining the team in his absence, hoping somebody can hoover up the last two wickets quicksmart.
Josh Tongue is usually the man for the job. He seams a full-length delivery through the gate to bowl Mitchell Starc, who looks quizzically at the pitch before walking off. Beautifully bowled.
Bowled him! Photograph: Darrian Traynor/Getty ImagesShare
Updated at 00.05 GMT
132nd over: Australia 560-8 (Webster 67, Starc 2) We’ve spoken about most of England’s selection decisions, from the spinners to the openers to Jamie Smith. It’s also really important they find a specialist new-ball bowler. Ideally it would be Ollie Robinson, who remains England’s best Test bowler for my coin, but that looks unlikely. I think Sam Cook deserves a proper chance
A weary delivery from Carse to Webster flies away for four leg-byes. Australia lead by 176 runs.
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131st over: Australia 553-8 (Webster 65, Starc 1) If Webster does get a regular place in the side, there’s a chance Cam Green will be moved up to replace Usman Khawaja at No5. The only other selection decision is around Jake Weatherald. You fear for him a bit, especially with a trip to South Africa coming up.
In other news, the question of the day comes from Alex Netherton.
With England washed-up, knackered, and almost totally hopeless – a last dead cat bounce now about to ker-splat into the dusty ground – why do you think the Guardian thought you were suited for this shift in particular?
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130th over: Australia 550-8 (Webster 64, Starc 0) Webster pulls Carse smoothly and serenely for four. Really good player, this guy, and he surely deserves a run in the team for the next year or so.
“We’re told a Bazball article of faith is ‘moving the game along’,” says Darryl Accone. “It’s clear from this Test alone, however, that applying such a credo indiscriminately has the effect of advancing the game to the opposition’s advantage, as shown by the sporadic headlessness of Brook, Jamie Smith and the England pace battery, among others.
“In contrast, Australia know both that time is longer than rope and that Test cricket is ‘per ardua ad astra’ (through adversity to the stars). Quaint ancient practices like taking time to play yourself in and batting time are what have helped bash Bazball in the end.”
I’m loath to judge the merit of England’s approach based on this series, for one main reason: England have been crap. They played orthodox Test cricket four years ago and were plugged 4-0, because they were crap then too.
Ach, I don’t know. I’m sleep-deprived and grumpy. I still think a better version of this approach can cause problems for any team, as we saw for much of the 2023 series.
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129th over: Australia 544-8 (Webster 59, Starc 0) Smith gets a standing ovation after making his 13th Ashes hundred. Like Joe Root’s century earlier in the game, it was a low-key masterclass from an all-time great.
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WICKET! Australia 544-8 (Smith c Smith b Tongue 138)
Josh Tongue gets Steve Smith for the sixth time out of six. I don’t suppose you can call Smith a bunny when he has just made 138, but it’s still a nice moment for Tongue. It was a terrific delivery that straightened off the seam, squared Smith up and shaved the outside edge. The other Smith, Jamie, did the rest.
Smith acknowledges the crowd on his way off. Photograph: Robert Cianflone/Getty ImagesShare
Updated at 23.30 GMT
128th over: Australia 542-7 (Smith 136, Webster 58) England hit Australia with a five-man pace attack on the first day at Perth. Brydon Carse is the last man standing and continues to charge in with intent, if not always accuracy. A poor ball is tickled for four by Webster to bring up the hundred partnership. England are face down in the dirt and there’s nothing they can do about it.
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Stokes leaves field with groin injury
127th over: Australia 535-7 (Smith 136, Webster 52) Webster works Stokes for a single to reach a breezy half-century from 64 balls. He looks a really good player, has from the moment he turned the India series Australia’s way on debut a year ago.
Oh, tremendous news for England. Ben Stokes has injured in the groin and won’t be able to complete his over. I don’t suppose it matters in the grand scheme – they don’t play another Test until the summer – but it’s a symbolic blow at the end of a miserable series for England. Jacob Bethell bowls the last two balls of the over.
A disappointed Stokes realises his time is up. Photograph: Robert Cianflone/Getty ImagesThe England captain leaves the field. Photograph: Gareth Copley/Getty ImagesShare
Updated at 23.22 GMT
126th over: Australia 531-7 (Smith 135, Webster 49) Apologies, we’re having some technical issues at the start of play. Smith and Webster have already hit a boundary apiece off Stokes and Carse respectievly.
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125th over: Australia 524-7 (Smith 135, Webster 42)
Beau Webster makes some early runs on day four. Photograph: Robert Cianflone/Getty ImagesShare
Updated at 23.13 GMT
It’s another early start today, with a two-and-a-half-hour morning session to make up some of the time lost on the first day. The players are getting ready to take the field.
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They do things well in Australia. On the first day of this fifth Test came a fitting tribute to the victims and first responders 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.
Out in the middle, however, Australian charity 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 throwing up a few more about their beaten opponents.
Faces flush from the ordeal, Ben Stokes and his team trudged off at stumps seeing pink elephants. 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 ominous one.
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The legendary Neil Harvey, 97, talks to Tanya Aldred in a charming interview.
I’ve been disappointed in England. I think the way they approach the batting side of things, they get too reckless, nobody seems to want to build an innings, like a Cowdrey or a Boycott.
It might work against ordinary teams but when you get a class side like Australia it’s a different ballgame. I used to score runs relatively quickly, and everyone gets a lot of enjoyment out of it, but when you try to play this Bazball thing it takes the odds away from winning an important Test. I’d like to see them pull their hooves in.
ShareBarney Ronay
Forty-five minutes into a quietly overcast morning at the Sydney Cricket Ground, Matt Potts came into the England attack from the Randwick End, and immediately began running through his variations.
His first ball was wide and smashed through cover by Travis Head. His second ball was both short and wide and hacked over gully by Travis Head. His third ball was short and straight and smashed past midwicket by Travis Head. His fourth ball was defended with a show of furrowed caution, to loud, mocking cheers from a crowd that had begun to tuck into the day. Welcome to the treadmill, Pottsy. And yes, it’s always like this around here.
ShareGeoff Lemon
There was a time, while Steve Smith was at the height of his batting prowess, when “best since Bradman” was used with confidence. The thing about that line is that even when the recipient has dominated 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. Smith was untouchable for six years before returning to the realm of the merely very good.
The combination of those phases, though, took him to a rare position on the third day of the fifth Test in Sydney. In the statistics of the game there are milestones, then there are mountaintops. 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 climb. Jack Hobbs’s 3,636 runs against Australia is the one he ascended on Tuesday.
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Preamble
Rob Smyth
The 2025-26 Ashes, possibly the most anticlimactic series in the 144 years since Fred Spofforth raised hell at The Oval, is limping towards a fitting conclusion. Australia are on course to crush England at Sydney and win the series 4-1, a scoreline not even the most one-eyed Pom could dispute.
It’s been a triumph of experience, maturity, discipline, skill and Travis Head. His audacious 123 at Perth opened English wounds that have yet to heal; 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 resume on 129 after making a century that looked inevitable even before he faced his first ball. England’s unbalanced, second-string attack gave everything they had on a punishing day. For a variety of reasons, it wasn’t enough.
Australia, despite a number of faultlines in their team, have won the series with an ease that is hard to comprehend. Maybe that’s an Anglocentric view. It’s not Australia’s fault that England failed to turn up – even if, on some level, they probably craved a greater challenge.
The last rites will be administered either this evening or tomorrow. There’s a chance of a complete blowout when England bat, just as there was in the final innings of 2013-14 (when England lasted 31.4 overs) and 2021-22 (38.5 overs). Their bodies are tired, their confidence shot, their spirit broken. It’s nearly time for everyone to go home.
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Updated at 22.45 GMT
