#ashes

#ashes

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.

Trevor Bayliss will be among those watching the fifth Ashes Test at the iconic Sydney Cricket Ground this Sunday. But even as the head coach responsible for delivering the World Cup in 2019, the majority of England fans who walk past him will probably do so without so much as a double take. This was very much the Australian's way when sporting the Three Lions on his training kit for five years low key and forever dodging the spotlight under that wide-brimmed hat.

Disappointment can be found in all corners of this Ashes series. England's victory came too late. Australia may have secured the urn again but Glenn McGrath's usual prediction didn't hold. It's been a serious letdown for the neutral, never mind that a 3-2 scoreline is still in the offing. This was meant to be the one where England had a shot, where the Sydney finale would actually have something on the line beyond World Test Championship points.

In the second Test, Green was promoted to No 5 and powered his way to 45 while belting England's short-ball barrage to all corners of the Gabba. Even though his regular backing away towards the leg-stump to counter Brydon Carse's bouncers was becoming a little reckless and predictable, it didn't matter because Green was striking the ball so cleanly. Then he started telegraphing his attacking philosophy so early that all Carse had to do was aim at the pegs,

I've always wanted to play in the Ashes, if it's home or away, and this obviously feels very special. Being here at the MCG with all my family in as well makes it even better. The match situation is already stacked in Australia's favour, 46 runs ahead on first innings and batting again on an alarmingly sporty pitch that may now settle on day two.

Bazball is dead, asserted the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, quoting former Australian opener Simon Katich. The West Australian newspaper fully committed to the theme, mocking up a pronouncement of Bazball's passing on ye olde parchment, deeply lamented by Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes, but basically no one else. However, the triumphal moment in the country's greatest sporting rivalry was diluted in Monday's newspapers, as a belated and ultimately hard-earned Ashes victory was pushed from the front pages

The England supporters on the hill in front of the heritage-listed scoreboard never gave up and, to their credit, neither did their team. But in the end, despite losing Nathan Lyon to a hamstring injury, it was Australia who prevailed by 82 runs to win this Ashes series with two Tests to spare. Needing just 11 days of play to claim an unassailable 3-0 lead, Pat Cummins and his men equalled Steve Waugh's sides in 2001 and 2002/03 for the fastest Ashes wins.

It has been a pattern for Australia in this Ashes series: monstered by England's bowlers in Perth, only to create an even greater collapse; sliding in Brisbane, rescued by the lower order. England, meanwhile, brought a gameplan built on the surety that they couldn't win in Australia with medium-fast seamers and a keeper up to the stumps, then lost to medium-fast seamers with a keeper up to the stumps.

The one in Brisbane, I've tried to hit for six so that's what I mean when I say that I need to rein it in a little bit. I can almost just take that and hit it for one and get down the other end. I'll be the first person to stand up and say that they were bad shots.

The England head coach has instead backed an unchanged top seven to deliver a fightback in the third Ashes Test and flip a narrative that has already featured talk of a whitewash bubble up. At 2-0 down with three to play, all wriggle room has disappeared for England. But talk of Ollie Pope potentially being dropped, or even Ben Stokes moving to No 3, was shot down by McCullum as his players resumed training on Sunday afternoon.

There is no doubt that McCullum meant what he said on Sunday, however, repeating it in various ways to multiple outlets as he and Ben Stokes surveyed the wreckage. On one level you almost have to admire his commitment to the bit. As much as McCullum claims to block out external noise, he will have been all too aware of an England side that has become increasingly characterised as freewheeling and underprepared; unwilling to do the hard yards,

with Travis Head able to put on a brief show in dispatching the pink ball over the fence before he headed back the same way. And still. Through the longest partnership of the series so far, 221 balls on the hottest day of the second Test, Ben Stokes and Will Jacks made Australia work in the field, something that was perhaps worth doing for the simple fact of proving that it can be done.

I'm letting things settle down in my own head and trying to make sure that I'm doing whatever I can to make sure the guys representing Australia do the right thing and get the right result for us, he said. I'm not the first player to miss a Test match and I won't be the last. But I'm obviously pretty gutted because I know the role that I can play, and especially at a venue like this.

As reported by the Guardian on Monday, head coach Brendon McCullum has booked extra time in the nets ahead of the day-night second Test that starts in Brisbane on 4 December rather than send any first team players to the two-day England Lions match in Canberra this weekend. The first session takes place at Allan Border Field on Saturday morning, before switching to the facilities at the Gabba from Sunday onwards.

Just on twilight the pink ball talks a little bit more and the game goes through massive ebbs and flows, Bartlett said. You see wickets falling in clumps. You've got to stay in it and make the most of that middle session. If the Test wicket is like the one we just played on it will be a really good cricket wicket. We got a result in three days but when you bat well you get rewarded and if you bowl well it's the same.

But instead of letting it come to a juddering halt, the 22 players somehow managed to conjure a fresh acceleration. It is implausible for something as anticipated as this not to produce disappointment, as anyone who follows England knows far too well. Those memories will have flooded miserably back when Zak Crawley nicked the sixth ball of the day to slip.

You know what they say. Never judge a pitch until both teams have batted really badly on it. You know what they say. Over here you bat long, bat hard, bat short, bat soft. You know what they say, the Ashes in Australia is all about a hybrid maverick production with a fan-first identity. Given the brilliance of the basic entertainment on day one in Perth,