Slack Snicko Mars Australia’s Sydney Procession

The Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) is synonymous with farewells, with a whole host of Australian greats walking into the sunset after a Test at the iconic venue.

Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne called it a day at Sydney in 2007, David Warner departed after the SCG Test against Pakistan in 2024, and Usman Khawaja will bow out in a couple of hours time.

There have also been some less triumphant English departures in Sydney over the years, including Kevin Pietersen, Jos Buttler and Andy Caddick in recent years.

The aftermath of this most recent Ashes series in Australia has the potential to bring about another ending, albeit not in terms of personnel.

Snicko was embroiled in controversy once again and surely there will now be questions about the technology’s effectiveness going forward.

Jake Weatherald was the fortunate Australian batter this time around, with third umpire Kumar Dharmasena deciding that there was not enough conclusive evidence to overturn Ahsan Raza’s on-field not out decision.

As Brydon Carse’s delivery passed the outside edge of Weatherald’s bat, Snicko again showed a flutter a couple of frames after the ball passed the bat.

Despite Ben Stokes falling in the first innings on review in almost identical fashion, Weatherald bafflingly survived and a fuming Carse had to be led away from umpire Raza.

Stokes was even shown voicing the burning frustration of everyone in the ground or watching back home, lamenting the consistency in decision making across the series.

Aside from the technological shenanigans, Australia moved into a dominant position on day five of the final Ashes Test.

Chasing 160, Travis Head (29) and Jake Weatherald (34) put on 62 for the first wicket to blunt England’s bowling and move the hosts into pole position to complete a 4 – 1 series victory on 71 – 2.

Despite Head skying a pull off Josh Tongue to Carse and Weatherald getting an ungainly top edge off the same bowler down to Matt Potts at long leg, Marnus Labuschagne (7*) and most likely Steve Smith will resume with Australia requiring 89 more runs for victory with eight wickets remaining.

Australia had earlier polished off England’s second innings for 342, despite Jacob Bethell’s fine 154.

Bethell reached 150 with a clip for two off Mitchell Starc, but departed to the same bowler for the addition of just four runs, edging through to Alex Carey.

Matt Potts (18*) and Josh Tongue (6) were only able to add 14 more runs, before Starc was able to claim a final wicket of the series, as Tongue chipped to Labuschagne.

Weatherald’s departure from the final ball of the session gave England a glimmer of hope, but Australia are heavy favourites to sign off the summer in style in the afternoon.

You can follow what will likely be the final session of this series via our Guerilla Cricket YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/live/tuZDkobKwNg?si=aZ5JKNb-FYOaapTu