The Ashes: Joe Root hits masterful century before England sloppiness allows Australia to fight back in Sydney

Joe Root hit a masterful century for England before a batting slump - including an abysmal dismissal for Jamie Smith dubbed one of the worst ever seen - and some sloppy bowling and fielding allowed Australia to fight back on day two of the final Ashes Test.

Root turned his overnight 72 into a knock of 160 from 242 balls in Sydney - his second ton of this Ashes after hitting 138 not out in Brisbane - as the tourists made 384 all out, below the 400-plus total they would have hoped for after resuming on 211-3.

Travis Head (91no off 87) then posted his third fifty-plus score of the series following hundreds in Perth and Adelaide, adding 105 with Marnus Labuschagne (48) for the second wicket before the latter was caught at gully off Ben Stokes (2-30), as Australia closed on 166-2 and 218 runs in arrears.

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England seamer Matthew Potts recorded eye-watering figures of 0-58 from seven overs at an economy rate of 8.28 on his return to the side, while Smith's exit for 46 earlier in the day was absolutely dreadful.

The batter was scratchy while putting on 94 with Root for England's sixth wicket from 229-5, after Harry Brook (84), who added just six runs to his overnight score, edged Scott Boland (2-85) to slip to miss out on a maiden Ashes century and Stokes was nicked off for an 11-ball duck, out to Mitchell Starc (2-93) for the 14th time in Tests.

Smith survived on 22 after clothing to cover with Cameron Green having bowled a no-ball but his luck ran out shortly before lunch when he backed away to leg and cracked a bouncer from part-time seam bowler Labuschagne straight to extra-cover.

Various commentators, including Jonathan Agnew, Sir Alastair Cook, Justin Langer and Steven Finn, were left stunned by Smith's loose stroke with the new ball approaching, and it will surely go down as England's worst dismissal in a series of truly awful ones.

Root stars but England stutter with ball and drop catches

Root added 52 with Will Jacks (37) after Smith fell but England then lost their last four wickets for nine runs - Root caught and bowled by the four-wicket Michael Neser - before wayward new-ball bowling from Potts and Brydon Carse (0-43), and drops from Root and Ben Duckett, allowed Australia to get off to a flier.

Stokes pinned Jake Weatherald (21) lbw after the opener - grassed on nine by Root at slip and then, inexplicably, by Duckett at forward square on 14 - had put on 57 for the first wicket inside 10 overs with the free-scoring Head, who proved England's nemesis yet again.

Root left the field with back cramps during the evening session, a twinge presumably stemming from carrying England's batting as he moved on to 41 Test hundreds, level with Australia great Ricky Ponting and behind only India's Sachin Tendulkar (51) and South Africa's Jacques Kallis (45).

The Yorkshireman's only real blemish on the day was grassing Weatherald above his head in the cordon after the home batter looked to cut Potts but Duckett's drop of the same batter in the following over, bowled by Carse, was far, far worse.

Carse and Potts strayed short and wide at the start of the innings, with Potts - playing his first Test of the series in place of the injured Gus Atkinson (hamstring) - leaking 14 runs in the fourth over as his lack of cricket probably told.

England should perhaps have started with Josh Tongue (0-31), who had picked up 12 wickets across the previous two Tests, including a first-innings five-for during the tourists' two-day win at the MCG.

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Earlier on, Neser had been the most prolific of the Australia bowlers, ending with figures of 4-60 after following his day-one lbw dismissal of Zak Crawley by forcing Jacks to steer to gully, darting to his right to pouch Root off his own bowling and castling last man Tongue for a duck with a peach.

Neser (1no) was then hit on the right elbow by Stokes after being deployed as nightwatchman in the late-evening gloom once the England captain had Labuschagne - a player he had shared a tetchy exchange with at the crease - caught by Jacob Bethell.

England are not in a terrible position as they push for back-to-back Test wins and a slender 3-2 series defeat but Australia will now be eyeing 4-1 after a day of errors from their opponents.

Ashes series in Australia 2025-26

Australia lead five-match series 3-1

• First Test (Perth): Australia won by eight wickets
• Second Test (Brisbane): Australia won by eight wickets
• Third Test (Adelaide): Australia won by 82 runs
• Fourth Test (Melbourne): England won by four wickets
• Fifth Test (Sydney): Sunday January 4 - Thursday January 8