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Ashes 2025-26: Australia vs England | 5th Test | Sydney | January 04-08 | Match Discussion

Which team will win the 5th Ashes Test?

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SCG was known for assisting spinners. Typically Subcontinent players would enjoy here. Although 2024 pitch was uber helpful for seamer this is more or less the old SCG pitch. They should have picked spinner.
 
ENG - 336/6 (78 overs).

Lunch break.

Root is on 138*. We are witnessing a classic innings from Root. Test batting at its best.
 
ENG - 363/6 (86 overs).

England are making Aussie bowlers toil. Proper Test batting. No Bazball nonsense.

This is what they should've done in the first 3 Tests.
 
sweep_shot said:
He is now less than 2000 runs away from Tendulkar's record. Getting closer.

He is also 11 centuries away from surpassing Tendulkar in terms of most Test centuries.
Click to expand...
Yeah he should get there if he plays like this for an year or two.
Can't wait for him to break that Indian guy's record.
Joe root is more deserving of holding that record than that Indian guy.
 
Fifth Ashes Test, Sydney Cricket Ground (day two of five)

England 384: Root 160, Brook 84; Neser 4-60

Australia 166-2: Head 91*, Labuschagne 48; Stokes 2-30

Australia are 218 runs behind

Australia opener Travis Head hit back at a majestic 160 from England's Joe Root on the second day of the fifth Ashes Test in Sydney.

Root's masterclass helped England to a competitive 384 at the Sydney Cricket Ground, but Head feasted on some woeful bowling to skip to an unbeaten 91 from 87 balls. Australia are 166-2 after 34.1 overs and have cut the deficit to 218.

The tourists had earlier lost 7-158, including a final collapse of 5-61 sparked by Jamie Smith's horrific dismissal.

Smith, who was caught off a no-ball and had other moments of fortune in his skittish 46, played a truly awful shot to be caught off part-time medium-pacer Marnus Labuschagne.

On a pitch that offered more for the bowlers on Monday, England's total felt around par, and Australia's batters made rapid inroads, helped by the tourists' attack and two dropped catches.

With new-ball bowlers Brydon Carse and Matthew Potts leaking runs, Jake Weatherald was put down twice as he and Head added 50 in 9.2 overs.

It took the belated introduction of captain Ben Stokes to trap Weatherald lbw, with Head then sharing another 105 with Labuschagne. Stokes and Labuschagne exchanged words before the England captain drew him into an edge to gully for 48.

Head remains, on course for his third century of the series. Of equal concern for England is the fitness of Root, who spent nearly two hours off the field with discomfort in his back.

Head's elevation to open in the second innings of the first Test in Perth was the defining moment of the series and the left-hander is tucking into England's bowling once more.

Somehow, England continue to feed his strength outside off stump. Arguably neither Carse nor Potts - the latter playing his first Test for more than a year - should have been opening the bowling, and they let Australia get off to a flyer.

In fairness, each bowler had Weatherald dropped. Root parried a tough high edge at first slip off Potts when Weatherald had nine, then Ben Duckett shelled a more straightforward chance at mid-wicket off Carse when he had 14.

Stokes, on in the 11th over, ensured neither miss was too costly. With his eighth delivery, the captain had Weatherald play all around a full one.

Following his intervention with the ball, Labuschagne eased into Head's slipstream. Head carved through the off side, Labuschagne played clips and drives. The clouds gathered, Potts' economy was more than eight an over.

As the umpires discussed the light, Stokes and Labuschagne went at each other. Play continued, Stokes got his man, and Head slowed up to leave an overnight wait for his hundred.

Hyped and anticipated, this has turned into a poor Ashes series, low on quality, individual brilliance and magic moments.

The second day of this finale was in keeping with what came before. Root and Head elevated themselves above the rest and Michael Neser took 4-60 in an improved Australia bowling performance, but England were slapdash with the ball and Smith's dismissal was atrocious.

Even the obvious Australian plan was bizarre. Labuschagne, who had not before taken a Test wicket with his seam, had seven fielders on the boundary for some gentle bouncers.

Still, Smith continued his poor tour with a forehand to Scott Boland at deepish cover. It was a dismissal that encapsulated the carelessness that so often costs this England team.

Only three times has a team made more than England's 384 batting first in a Test on this ground and lost, and the pitch is already showing signs of uneven bounce.

But Australia have the prolific Head, the opportunity to go beyond England's score on Tuesday and the potential of pressuring the fragile visitors in the third innings.

Root has been feast or famine in this series. Until this Test, his landmark century in Brisbane was one of only two occasions when he passed 20. In Sydney, the city where he was dropped for the only time in his Test career and once batted himself into hospital in extreme heat, the former captain was outstanding.

Without Root, England would have squandered their promising overnight position of 211-3. Harry Brook played a limp poke at Scott Boland to be caught at slip for 84 and Stokes edged a beauty from Mitchell Starc for an 11-ball duck, meaning the tourists lost 2-3 in four overs.

On one hand, Smith's role in a stand of 94 with Root was valuable, but the wicketkeeper was fortunate to last so long. He was caught off a Cameron Green no-ball on 22, then edged and miscued the same bowler. The dismissal to Labuschagne's bouncer plan as the second new ball approached was an appalling piece of cricket.

By this point, Root had moved to three figures from his overnight 72. After edging Neser over the slips on 94, he drove the same bowler down the ground to join Australia great Ricky Ponting on 41 Test tons - only India's Sachin Tendulkar and South Africa's Jacques Kallis have more. He celebrated with the same shrug of the shoulders he pulled in Brisbane.

On he went, adding 52 for the seventh wicket with Will Jacks. He passed 150 for the 17th time in Tests - only four other players have done so more.

Root eventually offered a leading edge to a diving Neser in the bowler's follow-through, part of England's final collapse of 4-9. After more than six and a half hours at the crease, he later left the field holding his lower back, and England face an anxious wait on his condition.

BBC
 
Conservative track unlike last year. They escaped from that mistake because Bumrah got injured half way through. Every time they make a lottery pitch it can go horribly wrong. India suffered. Pakistan also suffered. But atleast they were not winning anyway before. Australia also suffered.
 
BBC TMS : Only three times has a team made more than England's 384 batting first in a Test on this ground and lost, and the pitch is already showing signs of uneven bounce.
----
Caught some play in 3rd session & did spot 2 balls rearing-up , one to Head & second to Neser . ENG playing with 4 bolwers [I do not consider Jacks a credible bowling option ] out of which Carse & Potts were all over the place .If AUS end up taking a 70-80 run lead which does look possible with Starc at 10 , should be 4-1 .
Anyone fancies a Draw here ?
 
Watching the highlights - the amount of overpitched or cut me balls from England is staggering.
 

Joe Root shared following thoughts after the end of Day 2 of Ashes fifth Test 2026:​


  • "There was a method behind what we’re trying to do. We’re trying to move the game forward all the time."
  • "When it doesn’t come off, it can look a certain way, but you’re never playing to get out, you’re playing to score runs."
  • "As a batter, your job isn’t to survive, it’s to score runs. You can’t win games just surviving. You have to score more runs in the opposition."
  • "It’s very easy to over-analyse certain dismissals, but sometimes you just make a mistake, and you have to learn from it and make sure you don’t make the same mistake again."
  • "That’s the art of the game sometimes, it’s not being too hard on yourself, it’s not being too soft on yourself, it’s being real and understanding what you need to do to get the best out of yourself."
  • "Whenever someone loses a wicket, you’d be frustrated, but there’s no one more frustrated than the guy that’s lost his wicket."
  • "I understand that people will see the game differently, and there are times absolutely that you have to be able to absorb pressure and understand at different moments when to put it back on."
  • "But I think that was an opportunity, and I back him 100 per cent to take that next time around as well."
 
Aussies are on top.

If they score 500, I think it is game over for England.

Anyway, happy to see Root score big. Hopefully he will score another century in 2nd innings. :dav
 
The SCG pitch was green against India last year, which shows that it was an important series for them.

Here no one care as series is already done and dusted after first Three test.

:klopp :kp
 
What a thappad shots by head. Third consecutive four by head .

Potts 7.3 overs 70 runs 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

He is making mockery of England bowling on a patta pitch.

:klopp :kp
 
Haha. England wasted all the review including a DRS Review against Tailender. They are disparate for a wickets 🤣🤣🤣

Loving this meltdown by stokes.

:kp
 
aboveandbeyond said:
This is one of the poorest England test teams ive ever seen.

Flat track bullies with the bat

Innocuous bowling

Cant field
Click to expand...

In terms of performance, it was not the poorest as they won 1 Test and may get away with a draw here.

In terms of performance, 2007 was the poorest. They got completely blown away. However, that was an ATG Aussie team they faced.
 
aboveandbeyond said:
This is one of the poorest England test teams ive ever seen.

Flat track bullies with the bat

Innocuous bowling

Cant field
Click to expand...
sweep_shot said:
In terms of performance, it was not the poorest as they won 1 Test and may get away with a draw here.

In terms of performance, 2007 was the poorest. They got completely blown away. However, that was an ATG Aussie team they faced.
Click to expand...

I have followed all Ashes series since 1999. I have to say 2025 Ashes series has been the poorest in terms of quality. There have been two 2-day Test matches.

After 3rd Test, both sides fielded depleted sides (Australia particularly).
 
sweep_shot said:
In terms of performance, it was not the poorest as they won 1 Test and may get away with a draw here.

In terms of performance, 2007 was the poorest. They got completely blown away. However, that was an ATG Aussie team they faced.
Click to expand...

Not sure. Cummins Hazlewood Lyons play. England would get beat 5-0. They've treated this tour as a trip than anything else
 
You know when Root makes a 100 lol 5 mil grass. No bounce. Neser batted like a specialist bat. Can't believe England got rolled over for 386 here.
 
This Test should be a draw, unless there is a bad collapse. :inti

Pitch seems good for batting.

Hoping for another Root century. :root
 
England are easily the 5th best test side in the world behind Australia, South Africa, India and New Zealand.

Only Pakistan and Sri Lanka and the minnows can be behind them.
 
It often rains in Sydney, rain had saved Australia from losing a test match vs India in 2018-19, rain will save England in this test.
 
When temu Tendulkar scored a century means pitch was falt. Root Only can score runs on flat pitch there is reason why he is known as FTB statpaddler.

:klopp :kp
 
Nikhil_cric said:
Make 600 and declare . Even Starc should hit a few and Boland should stick around for 30 balls
Click to expand...
I don't think they Will declare but bundled out within morning session Tommorow.

Why should they declare unless they bat more than 2 session which is unlikely .

:kp
 
Devadwal said:
I don't think they Will declare but bundled out within morning session Tommorow.

Why should they declare unless they bat more than 2 session which is unlikely .

:kp
Click to expand...
You're right, they shouldn't declare. But I don't think they will get bundled out, yet. England look completely exhausted and the pitch will be rolled tomorrow morning.

They can still bat time on this pitch.

Josh Tongue is already bowling 80 mph.
 
Smith, Head masterclass puts England in the dust

Steve Smith's claim to be the 'best since the Don' grew stronger as Australia's most eccentric cricketer joined Travis Head in tonning up and quelling England's hopes of salvaging anything further from their Ashes tour.

A deplorable opening session from the visitors that saw Head dropped three times, Smith once, Head let off on a run-out chance and Ben Stokes burn his final two reviews on a nightwatch all proved telling in the Aussies reaching 7-518 by stumps and holding a 134-run first-innings lead.

Smith, granted a dream platform of walking to the crease against a 55-over old ball, surged to his 13th Ashes hundred and went past Jack Hobbs' mark of 12 tons while also eclipsing his tally of 3,636 Ashes runs.

Only Donald Bradman now has more hundreds (19) and runs (5,028) in the rivalry's 149-year history than Smith (13 centuries and 3,682 runs for his career against England).

Every Smith oddity came to the fore over the course of his six hours at the crease. The 36-year-old complained of SCG security guards' inability to stop patrons walking behind the sightscreen, loudly admonished himself for failing to put away a Jacob Bethell "throw-down", while flamboyantly signalling a wide off a Matthew Potts bouncer.

Smith had reached 129no by the close of play, with Beau Webster standing firm on 42no in the allrounder’s first Test in a year.

Their 81-run unbroken stand came after Head earlier added 72 to his overnight tally of 91no, extravagantly celebrating becoming the second Australia opener this century (after Matthew Hayden) to score three hundreds in an Ashes series.

England's inability to remove Head in his 324-minute salvo, despite him taking an increasingly cavalier approach as the second new ball neared, delayed the entry of more vulnerable middle-order players.

The most egregious missed chance was Will Jacks' fumble on the square-leg boundary, with the allrounder glancing at the pink Toblerone like a cook checking on boiling potatoes right as the gilt-edged opportunity from Head arrived on his chest.

It was a kick in the teeth for Brydon Carse, whose eliciting of a Head miscue underlined his wicket-taking knack in spite of his profligacy. The paceman accounted for obdurate nightwatch Michael Neser (for a 90-ball 24), Usman Khawaja (for 17 in what may be his final Test innings) and a furious Cameron Green (37).

But the struggles of Matthew Potts and England's lack of a frontline spinner were a drain on their efforts to curtail the home team who had the measure of a wearing SCG pitch showing some signs of variable bounce.

Potts' confidence looked shot early as Head took him apart and the Ashes debutant looked to be physically struggling to get through his action in the final session with his figures of 0-141 so far marking one of the worst wicketless spells in Ashes history.

With a crack through point off Josh Tongue, Head had swanned to his 12th Test hundred in the sixth over of the day. He wheeled his arms around before perching his helmet atop his bat handle, forming a mangled scarecrow that will live in England's nightmares.

Potts saw his first three balls of the day dispatched to the fence by Head as he attempted to follow a difficult plan to bowl well wide of the left-hander's off-stump with a 7-2 field.

England's blunders mounted further when Jacks fluffed his lines on the square-leg rope, shocking as much because of the allrounder's vast experience in T20 cricket (240 matches) which sees that type of catch frequently taken with ease.

An upright Zak Crawley then failed to get a hand on an ankle-high chance at leg-slip when Smith was on 12. Ben Duckett, after dropping a simple catch himself the previous evening, missed the stumps on a run-out attempt that would have had Head gone for 154.

That latter slotted into a catalogue of difficult chances offered up by Head. Both Carse, at deep third, and then Jacks again off his own bowling, shelled catches as the opener tired.

But the most bewildering of England's first-session blues was Stokes using two umpiring challenges on Neser, who shared in a maddening 76-run stand with Head.

England's captain wore the face of a man who'd just had his bicycle stolen when his last review, an lbw shout off Neser, was shown to be have hit him on the toe outside off-stump.

As the SCG crowd goaded England after every failed appeal henceforth, Bethell convincing Ahsan Raza that his surprise lbw shout on Head was in fact adjacent saw the South Australian finally walk after his five-and-a-half hour blitz.

The enormous ovation given to Head by the 46,161 patrons only grew louder for his replacement at the crease, Khawaja, who announced his intention to retire before the match. The 39-year-old’s hard graft in grinding 17 off 49 went unrewarded when Carse speared an in-swinging full-toss into his foot.

Alex Carey creamed three of his first five balls to the boundary before being caught at leg-slip for the third time in as many Tests, the keeper throwing back his head in annoyance at his dominant series being curtailed again in strange fashion.

His frustration paled in comparison to Green's after the tall allrounder yet again threw away a promising start when he tried to pull a Carse delivery that was too full, with Duckett hanging on to a nervy catch after initially being unsighted.

www.cricket.com.au

Smith, Head masterclass puts England in the dust | cricket.com.au

Australia dominated day three in Sydney as Travis Head and Steve Smith both made brilliant Ashes...
www.cricket.com.au www.cricket.com.au
 
What are the English players smoking :asif
England's Jacob Bethell on Test Match Special: "You cannot fault anyone. Our fast bowlers charged in all day.

"It is one of those days that is crucial for how you win a Test match. You have to hold on to get your reward. I felt we did that well.

"It was nice to get Travis Head. I try to think like a batsman and try to play it that way. I see myself as an all-rounder."
 
AUS will probably end up with a 180-190 run lead by lunch day 4 . With roughly 150 overs left in the game , can ENG bat out 110 overs or more & draw this game ?
 
England is missing minnow team tour at home to get back on winning streak. They can't wun against Australia and india at home or away. #Fact

:kp
 
Going from 10mm to 5 mm grass can do this. I was afraid of this. It's an over reaction due to two tests ending in one and half days.

Series has been very low quality cricket over all.
 
Buffet said:
Going from 10mm to 5 mm grass can do this. I was afraid of this. It's an over reaction due to two tests ending in one and half days.

Series has been very low quality cricket over all.
Click to expand...
TO me it would have been a box office if most players were available. Archer, Cummins, Hazlewood, Lyon some star players went missing after a test or two. This is not 1970s or 80s. People play in multiple T20 leagues. These two countries play 5 test series against two countries. England is playing their 10th test since late June . 10 tests in 6 months. Last year Bumrah broke down in 5th test. High time they consider playing 4 test series rather than 5 as it reduces the quality of the tests due to injuries.
 
All said and done this has to be one of the ugliest batting line up. They are not exactly pleasing to eyes. Any of them. Head, Labu, Smith. Atleast Crawley looks easy on the eye.
 
jnaveen1980 said:
All said and done this has to be one of the ugliest batting line up. They are not exactly pleasing to eyes. Any of them. Head, Labu, Smith. Atleast Crawley looks easy on the eye.
Click to expand...
Can England draw the test @Nikhil_cric ? How is the pitch behaving?

I need advice because I'm planning to bet on a draw because odds are very good at this point.

:kp
 
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