H&S Warning for Fragile England in Sydney

Centuries from Travis Head and Steve Smith put Australia in total control on day three of the fifth Ashes Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

Head made a sparkling 163 and Smith finished unbeaten on 129, with the hosts closing on 518 – 7 and with a 134 run lead.

The hosts ruthlessly made England pay for more wayward bowling and dropped catches, grinding the tourists down and making them toil all day in the Sydney heat.

Head had already completed his third century of the Ashes, before he was dropped for the first time by Will Jacks.

The Australian opener skied an attempted pull shot off Brydon Carse on 121, but Jacks lost his bearings on the boundary and took his eye off the ball to drop a simple catch in comical fashion.

Carse and Jacks again put down considerably harder, one handed diving catches off Head, either side of Zak Crawley putting Smith down on 12 with one another one handed chance at leg slip.

The dropped catches compounded a frustrating morning for the visitors, in which nightwatchman Michael Neser hung around for 24 from 90 deliveries and they burned their remaining two reviews on trying to dismiss Neser, before he edged Carse through to Jamie Smith.

An improved England picked up three wickets in the afternoon session, but Australia continued to close in on parity.

Jacob Bethell trapped Head LBW, before Carse dismissed Usman Khawaja (17) in the same manner in what could have been the retiring Khawaja’s last innings in Test cricket.

Alex Carey (16) followed both back to the pavilion, flicking Josh Tongue round the corner to Bethell at leg slip in a carbon copy of his dismissal from the first innings at Melbourne.

Smith ominously passed his half century though and shared a 71 run partnership with Cameron Green (37) to put Australia into the lead.

Green fell hooking Carse to Ben Duckett at deep mid wicket and Beau Webster (42*) looked solid in the latter stages of the day, but the evening session belonged to Smith, who brought up his 13th Ashes century and 37th overall with three off Bethell.

Australia reserved their harshest treatment for Matt Potts, who went for 141 runs across 25 wicketless overs in hirs first Ashes Test.

With three first innings wickets left and two players set at the crease, the warning signs are there for England that they could be starting their second innings more than 200 runs adrift and staring down the barrel of a 4 – 1 series defeat.

Guerilla Match Moments:

Big Moment: Steve Smith reached his first century of this Ashes series and his fifth at his home ground, moving to second in the all-time run scoring charts for Ashes cricket.

Star of the Day: Travis Head moved to a dominant century, before Smith’s century of his own later on in the day.

Whoops, can I try that again?: Will Jacks dropped an absolute sitter with Travis Head on 121, one of four dropped catches for England and 17 across the entire series.