Marsh double-act has Aussies flying

Barring a batting effort that England have proved unable to summon over the preceding six weeks and 24 playing days of the Magellan Ashes Series, Australia’s retention of the urn will be formalised and celebrated at the SCG tomorrow.

At precisely what time that party kicks off will depend on how long England’s remaining six wickets can hang on, the remaining target of 210 to force Australia in to bat a second time about as far away and likely as the chance of thunderstorms across Sydney come the afternoon.

Especially given England are focused solely on defiance, their stumps score of 4-93 eked from 46 overs.

Of greater likelihood is a capitulation of England’s lower order in keeping with second innings collapses in Brisbane (5-40), Adelaide (7-64) and Perth (5-46) with skipper Joe Root (42no) and keeper Jonny Bairstow (17no) the only batters of substance between Australia and a 4-0 win.

While the Ashes themselves were decided at the WACA Ground last month, the dominance that Steve Smith team’s has exerted for the past three days of the current Test will add more than a splash of satisfaction to the celebration when it’s uncorked tomorrow.

That disparity between the teams starkly illustrated today when brothers Shaun and Mitchell Marsh posted hundreds which meant Australia produced nine individual centuries across the series while England head into the final day boasting just three.

And even another tomorrow is unlikely to alter the inevitable outcome after perhaps England’s most gruelling day of a repeatedly trying tour.

An on-field reading from a heat stress tracker installed by Australia’s Bupa Support Team doctor John Orchard during the heat of the day showed 57.6C in the middle of the SCG, but that only partly accounted for the fracture of England’s already flagging resistance.

Any new-age believers in the universe’s capacity to deliver a message might have noted that the first hint of cloud cover to provide some respite from the baking heat arrived at the very moment Alastair Cook scratched his guard to mark the start of his and England’s innings.

After which full sun returned, but the visitors’ gloom deepened.

The toll of having spent more than 13 and a half hours in the field since Friday afternoon, during which time they captured seven wickets, became glaringly apparent within three overs of their second innings beginning, with the deficit 303.

A weary Mark Stoneman, moving in concert with his surname, was unable to jam his bat down on a fast, fullish delivery from Mitchell Starc showing few effects of the foot problem that seemed to dog him on day one and was pinned lbw.

Even the DRS review the England opener called for seemed to carry a resigned sense of going through the motions, with ball-tracking technology confirming what most (including umpire Kumar Dharmasena) had deduced in real time.

If Stoneman looked tired then Cook should have been verging on catatonic.

Having spent the entire five days of last week’s Melbourne Test on his feet and on the MCG, Cook’s lengthy previous tenure in the Test game was highlighted moments before his opening partner succumbed when he was hailed as the sixth batter in 140 years of Test matches to surpass 12,000 runs.

And is the only England player to feature on that abbreviated list that is headed by India’s living cricket deity, Sachin Tendulkar.

But even England’s greatest-ever was rendered a novice by Australia’s GOAT as Nathan Lyon’s first five deliveries fizzed past Cook’s outside edge, then forced him back on his stumps, then brought him stretching forward and finally left him bamboozled with his off stump tilted back.

At 2-15 after less than six overs of resistance (in name only), the prospect of the fifth Test becoming the first of the series to be wrapped up inside four days was genuine if fleeting.

The greatest surprise of James Vince’s 73-minute knock that ended on 18 when he inevitably edged a catch behind the wicket was that he had survived being adjudged out in a similar manner an over previously.

Only to have the verdict annulled when video evidence revealed he had remarkably not managed to hit the ball with the edge of his bat.

Root and Dawid Malan, England’s batting find of a lean tour, then endured for more than an hour during which they scored 25 runs and Root copped a stinging blow to his right index finger when attempting to pull a short ball from Starc.

The hurt etched upon the England captain’s face as he was checked over by a team medical officer and fed a couple of painkillers was replicated an over later as he winced in anguish at the non-striker’s end as Malan was struck on the back leg by Lyon and adjudged lbw.

The hopeful referral that saw the umpire’s decision upheld but England retain their sole remaining review doing nothing to quell six weeks of Test match trials for Root, captaining for the first time in an Ashes campaign.

If the day did not carry sufficient foreboding for England when they emerged from their hotel into the scalding heat of a scorching Sydney morning, it was laid bare in the opening over that brought the first of multiple celebrations for Australia.

The initial cheer arriving with the fifth delivery that Shaun Marsh sent scurrying to the extra cover boundary to reach a century placed on lay-by the previous evening.

With the tone set as surely as the temperature, England’s agony was compounded with each milestone that arrived with even greater regularity than the drinks breaks that were scheduled for every 40 minutes in deference to the extreme heat.

The tourists’ hopes of mitigating the unfolding disaster hinged on their ability to snare early wickets that would limit Australia’s lead and grant them the respite of the dressing room as they began their second innings.

But instead of breakthroughs, the third new ball (that became due in the first half-hour) brought only heightened angst despite an inspired spell from James Anderson who troubled each Marsh brother but received no reward for effort.

An edge from Shaun (on 118) flew between first and second slips at a height that Joe Root might have plucked, then a risky run three overs later would have seen the older sibling on his way for 122 had Jonny Bairstow’s heave at the bowler’s end stumps found its mark.

Soon after, the Marsh brothers’ 150 partnership was posted and then Australia’s lead passed 200, by which stage the third ball had proved as ineffectual as the previous and Mitchell Marsh had ensured his name will appear directly below that of his brother on the SCG century scorers' honour board.

The state of England’s campaign was revealed at the start of the 174th over that was supposed to be bowled by Broad, but after lengthy discussion between him and Root it was decided that Tom Curran would be employed instead.

Which meant the young seamer, in just his second Test, was compelled to complete a few rudimentary warm-up exercises as he trotted in from his fielding position at deep cover to hand over his canvas sun hat to umpire Joel Wilson.

The fact that his second delivery jagged violently back into Mitchell Marsh and uprooted the freshly minted century maker’s off-stump, prompting suggestions the old ‘surprise call-up to the bowling crease’ ploy might have been rolled out by the tourists weeks earlier.

By lunch, when cold showers figured more prominently on the menu than sushi and salads, Australia’s lead was 232 and not even the eventual run out of Shaun Marsh shortly after the break could raise England’s spirits or hopes.

A short flurry from Mitchell Starc (that included a soaring six over mid-wicket) and more measured contributions from Tim Paine (38 not out) and Pat Cummins (24 not out from 16 balls) convinced Smith at 2.02pm that a lead of 303 was enough.

And that England were sufficiently scarred from their four winless Tests to date and the 193 overs they were forced to endure in the field across the past three days that they were broken even before their second innings began.

By day’s end that prognosis was confirmed, with the last rites to be administered tomorrow.

2017-18 International Fixtures

Magellan Ashes Series

Australia Test squad: Steve Smith (c), David Warner (vc), Ashton Agar, Cameron Bancroft, Usman Khawaja, Peter Handscomb, Shaun Marsh, Mitchell Marsh, Tim Paine (wk), Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood, Jackson Bird.

England Test squad: Joe Root (c), James Anderson (vc), Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow, Jake Ball, Gary Ballance, Stuart Broad, Alastair Cook, Mason Crane, Tom Curran, Ben Foakes, Dawid Malan, Craig Overton, Ben Stokes, Mark Stoneman, James Vince, Chris Woakes.

First Test Australia won by 10 wickets. Scorecard

Second Test Australia won by 120 runs (Day-Night). Scorecard

Third Test Australia won by an innings and 41 runs. Scorecard

Fourth Test Match drawn. Scorecard

Fifth Test SCG, January 4-8 (Pink Test). Tickets

Gillette ODI Series v England

First ODI MCG, January 14. Tickets

Second ODI Gabba, January 19. Tickets

Third ODI SCG, January 21. Tickets

Fourth ODI Adelaide Oval, January 26. Tickets

Fifth ODI Perth Stadium, January 28. Tickets

Prime Minister's XI

PM's XI v England Manuka Oval, February 2. Tickets

Gillette T20 trans-Tasman Tri-Series

First T20I Australia v NZ, SCG, February 3. Tickets

Second T20I – Australia v England, Blundstone Arena, February 7. Tickets

Third T20I – Australia v England, MCG, February 10. Tickets

Fourth T20I – NZ v England, Wellington, February 14

Fifth T20I – NZ v Australia, Eden Park, February 16

Sixth T20I – NZ v England, Seddon Park, February 18

Final – TBC, Eden Park, February 21