Murphy hanging with Smith's 'old school' pitch wish unfulfilled

Steve Smith is yearning for a Sydney Cricket Ground wicket of yesteryear but is resigned to not getting his New Year's wish as Australia struggle to decode the final Ashes Test pitch's mysteries.

Todd Murphy was still not locked in for a maiden home Test on match eve with fill-in captain Steve Smith suggesting another all-seam attack or a line-up with allrounders Beau Webster and Cameron Green both in it are being considered.

While the most likely bowling combination appears to be Murphy replacing either Michael Neser or Jhye Richardson from the side that lost by four wickets in Melbourne, the prospect of another fast-paced Test on a wicket favouring pacemen would count against Lyon's potential long-term heir.

On an overcast Saturday morning, coach Andrew McDonald along with Travis Head and Smith took a long look at Adam Lewis' Test strip, on which the curator intends to leave around 6mm of grass. He has also reduced his wicket block's grass density after last year's three-day Test against India.

"All options are on the table currently. It obviously hasn't had a great deal of sunlight, so we need to check it out and see what it looks like," Smith told reporters before his pitch inspection on Saturday. "It still looked pretty green yesterday.

"(Playing a spinner) is definitely on the table … there's other decisions as well. Just how we want to match up against this opposition for this surface.

"We could play a couple of allrounders, could play a spinner, could play no spinner. We'll figure it out once we see the surface and see which way we want to go about it."

With the pitch under covers following morning drizzle, Jake Weatherald's pre-match visualisation routine had to be done just off the square while he imagined what lay beneath the big white sheets.

The dark skies came after Lewis expressed his hope a day prior that hot weather would help turn his green surface into a more traditional straw colour. But with thunderstorms forecast for day one, the deck will spend more time under covers ahead of the first ball.

The cloud cover also impacted Smith's final batting tune-up. He twice asked television reporters preparing for live crosses to turn off bright camera lights pointing towards his net.

While a return for Murphy might still materialise, Smith conceded the days of a dry, turning Sydney wicket are long gone. The venue remains statistically Lyon's least favourable among the major Test grounds in Australia and the worst overall for spinners who have collectively averaged almost 50 here since 2010.

"That's why (not playing a spinner) is still getting talked about, which is a shame," said Smith.

"I've always said when we come back here, I'd love the old school SCG – flat for two days, footmarks starting to come in, cracks opening, reverse swing, spin late in the game, tricky to bat, slow, low wicket, fielders in front of the wicket.

"That's the ideal when you think about the SCG in the past.

"But I don't think it's been that for as long as I've been playing, unfortunately. I think it's one of Nathan Lyon's worst grounds in Australia. So, yeah, that's why all these things are being talked about."

The prospect of Australia losing patience with Green also shapes as a possibility ahead of the summer's final Test. Smith, when pressed, did not rule out the allrounder being left out after returning 112 runs at 18.66 through six innings this series.

Smith expressed sympathy with the 26-year-old being shunted up and down the batting order in recent weeks. He had been flagged as a long-term No.3 after an impressive finish to Australia's tour of the Caribbean on dicey batting wickets last year, but was then moved back to the middle order after resuming bowling to begin the Ashes.

He has struggled to find a permanent home there as well though, going from six up to five and then down to seven as a victim of the flexible batting approach Australia have leant into this summer.

"It's not easy, but he's got himself in on a few occasions and probably not gone on with it," said Smith. "That's probably the disappointing part about it – starting your innings is actually your hardest thing.

"He's doing that pretty well and then just finding a way to get out. That happens with everyone. I've been through the same thing on numerous occasions, too.

"But what we know with Cam is he's a quality player. Not too long ago he contributed some really valuable runs in the series in the West Indies on some tricky surfaces. I think he was our leading run scorer there batting at three.

"He's batted in different spots, which also can't be easy as well when you're trying to nail down one sort of role, I suppose.

"But one thing about this team is we've always been versatile and guys are batted in different spots. Trav (Head) has gone from five to one, Uzzie (Khawaja) has gone from one to five, Marn (Labuschagne) has batted three, he was going to open at one point, I've opened, I've gone to four.

"We're versatile in how we do things.

"Greeny hasn't got the runs he's wanted so far, but I think he's actually looked quite good at times too. We know he's a bright player. Every time he goes back to (Sheffield) Shield cricket, he smashes it.

"Regardless of what happens right now, we think he's got a really bright future."

2025-26 NRMA Insurance Men's Ashes

First Test: Australia won by eight wickets

Second Test: Australia won by eight wickets

Third Test: Australia won by 82 runs

Fourth Test: England won by four wickets

Fifth Test: January 4-8: SCG, Sydney, 10:30am AEDT

Australia squad (fifth Test): Steve Smith (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Brendan Doggett, Cameron Green, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Todd Murphy, Michael Neser, Jhye Richardson, Mitchell Starc, Jake Weatherald, Beau Webster

England squad: Ben Stokes (c), Harry Brook (vc), Shoaib Bashir, Jacob Bethell, Brydon Carse, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Matthew Fisher, Will Jacks, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Joe Root, Jamie Smith (wk), Josh Tongue