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

Events are handled superbly in Australia. 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 turned into a sea of pink to once again generate donations for the McGrath Foundation.

On the field of play, though, Australian generosity was in far more limited availability. Across three sessions their batters dominated the English bowling, dispelling any doubts about their drive since securing the Ashes and raising a few more concerning their defeated rivals.

Faces flush from the ordeal, Ben Stokes and his team trudged off at stumps seeing pink elephants. Steve Smith’s 37th hundred in Tests, 129 not out from 205 balls, had come after the second half of Travis Head’s sizzling 163 from 166, and with it Australia had attained 518 for seven from 124 overs. The lead sat at 134 runs overnight and looked an daunting one.

The famed Neil Harvey, 97, shared his thoughts in a delightful interview.

I've been disappointed in England. I think the way they approach the batting side of things, they get too impetuous, nobody seems to want to play a long 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 completely different proposition. I used to score runs relatively quickly, 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.

Shortly after the start of a somewhat cloudy 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 sprayed down the leg side and hammered 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 back of a length and smashed past midwicket by Travis Head. His fourth ball was negotiated with a show of concentrated care, to jeering shouts from a crowd that had begun to settle in for the day's play. A tough initiation, 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 confidence. 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 enduring for 20 years. Lots of players reach the top for a time, no other has remained there.

The combination of those phases, though, elevated him to a exceptional position on the third day. In the annals of the game there are landmarks, then there are mountaintops. For a long time in Smith's Ashes-focused 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 ascended on Tuesday.

The current Ashes battle, perhaps the most disappointing series in the 144 years since Fred Spofforth made history at The Oval, is heading for a fitting conclusion. Australia are on course to overwhelm England at Sydney and win the series 4-1, a result not even the most partisan Pom could argue with.

It's been a triumph of know-how, maturity, skill, talent and Travis Head. His daring 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 start again on 129 after making a century that looked certain 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 Anglocentric view. It's not Australia's fault that England failed to turn up – even if, on some level, they probably desired a greater challenge.

The last rites 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 final innings of 2013-14 and 2021-22. Their bodies are tired, their confidence shot, their spirit crushed. It's nearly time for everyone to go home.