Fifth Ashes Test, Sydney Cricket Ground (day four of five)
England 384: Root 160, Brook 84; Neser 4-60 & 302-8: Bethell 142*; Webster 3-51
Australia 567: Head 163, Smith 138; Tongue 3-97, Carse 3-130
England are 119 runs ahead
Jacob Bethell’s stunning maiden century gave England an Ashes silver lining but could not prevent the tourists from sliding towards defeat in the fifth Test against Australia.
The 22-year-old, playing in his sixth Test, announced himself as England’s long-term number three with a fabulous unbeaten 142 at a sun-kissed Sydney Cricket Ground.
However, wickets late on the fourth day left England 302-8 in their second innings, leading only by 119 at the close.
It will take a significant contribution from Bethell and the tail, followed by a perfect bowling performance on a wearing pitch, to prevent Australia from ending as 4-1 winners on Thursday’s final day of the series.
Without Bethell’s breakthrough knock, England would have been beaten on a fourth day that began with captain Ben Stokes leaving the field with a right groin injury.
England were still able to take the final three wickets of the Australia first innings for 23 runs, including Steve Smith for 138. The hosts’ total of 567 gave them a lead of 183.
Bethell wiped that out in stands of 81 with Ben Duckett and 134 with Harry Brook – both of whom made 42.
But after Brook was lbw on review to a sharp off-break from Beau Webster, Will Jacks joined the list of England batters to get out to a ridiculous shot on this tour.
Jamie Smith was run out in a mix-up with Bethell, a hobbling Stokes poked to slip and Brydon Carse edged the superb Scott Boland. Overall, England lost five wickets for 78 runs.
It left Matthew Potts in the company of Bethell, who rose above England’s mediocrity to remain at the close. He soaked in the acclaim of the boisterous Barmy Army as their new hero.
England will leave Australia with few positives, but Bethell’s graduation from promising talent to bona fide Test batter will live long in the memory.
On a Sydney pitch offering plenty of turn and frequent uneven bounce, the tourists could have folded to a final humiliating defeat, possibly by an innings.
Bethell’s knock was impressive both for its style and character – it had echoes of a 22-year-old Stokes making his own maiden ton on a cracked Waca pitch against a rampaging Mitchell Johnson just over 12 years ago.
It also raised further questions as to why England dawdled on his selection for so long. Bethell first impressed in New Zealand at the end of 2024, yet England persisted with Ollie Pope until this series was lost.
Head coach Brendon McCullum and director of Rob Key seem set to be given the opportunity to correct the mistakes of this tour and rebuild this beaten England team. They will do so with Bethell belatedly secure at number three.
That is for the future. For now, Bethell’s task is to somehow get England to a target they could possibly defend.
Bethell had already shown his temperament for the big occasion by making a valuable 40 in England’s successful chase in the fourth Test in Melbourne.
Curiously, all of his major contributions in his previous five Tests – including three half-centuries – have come in the second innings. He averages barely nine in the first innings.
This was a second-innings situation of extreme pressure, intensity and consequence. Bethell arrived in the first over after Zak Crawley was lbw playing no stroke to Mitchell Starc – England were 179 behind.
What followed was an outstanding display of batting elegance, belying Bethell’s years and experience. He peppered the off-side boundary with a high front elbow, sweet timing and a beautifully straight bat.
He had to show the mettle to come through a vicious blow to the head off Cameron Green when on 27. After Duckett ended his disappointing tour by chopping on off Neser, the quality of Bethell’s innings was put into context by the struggle of the great Joe Root, who made a tortured six from 37 balls.
Brook took over as captain when Stokes was off the field and carried responsibility into his supporting role of Bethell.
The left-hander spent 23 balls in the 90s, seven of them on 99, before skipping down the pitch to clip Webster to mid-wicket for four. He became only the fifth England batter to make his maiden first-class hundred in a Test.
As Bethell removed his helmet and celebrated towards the England dressing room, his father Graham and mother Giselle embraced in the stands, celebrating and wiping away tears of joy.
As Australia began the day on 518-7, Stokes took the ball and would manage only 10 deliveries before hobbling off holding his groin. Yet another injury to the all-rounder is a sad outcome to what will surely be his last Test in Australia, at the end of a tour when his hopes of becoming one of the few England captains to win the Ashes here were dashed.
England at least mopped up the tail in his absence. Josh Tongue had Steve Smith caught behind and bowled Starc, Jacks had Boland caught at slip. Webster was left unbeaten on 71.
It was Webster’s intervention in the evening session that halted England’s momentum, just as the tourists were moving towards a promising position.
The all-rounder bowls both medium-pace and off-spin. Australia have not picked a frontline spinner and, when the pitch began to turn, they employed Webster.
He found ripping turn to deceive Brook, who was lbw on review. Jack wasted his promotion up the order with a bone-headed slog to his second ball and was superbly caught by Green at deep mid-wicket. Jamie Smith was batting nicely for his 26, resisting the bouncers of Marnus Labuschagne that seduced his awful shot in the first innings.
Still, it was Labuschagne who broke the stumps when Smith was sent back by Bethell, bringing Stokes to the crease at number eight. Unable to move his feet, he could only offer a meek prod at Webster.
Carse swiped 16 to finally extinguish any suggestion of an early finish, dragging this series into one more day.
