The Ashes: England toil in Sydney as Steve Smith and Travis Head score centuries for Australia in final Test

Steve Smith scored his first hundred of this Ashes series and Travis Head his third as Australia punished England's dropped catches to open up a 134-run lead after day three of the fifth and final Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

Smith (129no) hit his 37th Test ton and 13th against England after being grassed on 12 by Zak Crawley at leg slip as he became the second-highest run-scorer in Ashes cricket, above England legend Jack Hobbs and behind only Australian great Donald Bradman.

Head (163 off 166) was spilled by Will Jacks on 121 and 156 - the first error, at deep midwicket, was a shocker - as the hosts eased past England's 384 all out in their push for a 4-1 series victory.

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Australia closed on 518-7 and the fact part-time England spinners Jacks and Jacob Bethell arguably looked the most likely source of a wicket towards the end of the day said a lot about the tourists' flagging attack, with Matthew Potts, playing his first Test of the series, seeing his pace dip and figures rise to 0-141 from 25 overs.

Head's record for this Ashes now reads 600 runs from 685 balls faced at an average of 66.66, with the left-hander cracking each of his tons at the top of the order after moving to that spot following the retiring Usman Khawaja's back injury in the first Test at Perth.

Smith, however, had endured a fairly quiet series up to this point, missing the Adelaide Test through vertigo and recording a highest score of 61 in the Brisbane day-nighter, but he was at his idiosyncratic best as he made England toil on his home ground.

The 36-year-old, also now the second-highest run-scorer across all SCG Tests, behind only Ricky Ponting, chuntered to himself after failing to collar what he called a "throwdown" from Bethell, became distracted by movement behind the bowler's arm and the glare off Brydon Carse's sunglasses, and performed a roly-poly as he evaded a Josh Tongue bouncer, before he reached three figures with a clip for three off Bethell during an innings in which he displayed his class.

Head continues to master England in Ashes

Head, who slammed three fours in a row off Potts after notching his ton, was inexplicably dropped by Jacks in the deep on the leg-side and then grassed by the same player when a sharp caught-and-bowled chance went down as he motored along after resuming on 91 and with his team placed at 166-2, 218 runs behind.

The left-hander, finally out lbw to Bethell (1-50), is the first Australia opener since Matthew Hayden in 2002-03 to score three hundreds in an Ashes series and now has five centuries against England in Tests, having also hit tons against them in Hobart and Brisbane during the 2021-22 contest that the home side won 4-0.

Head and nightwatchman Michael Neser (24 off 90) frustrated England in the first session as they extended their stand to 72 before Neser was nicked off by the leaky Carse (3-108), shortly after the tourists burned their final review looking for the Queenslander lbw. England earlier wasted another review on Neser, too.

Three wickets fell in the afternoon, with Head out on the sweep as Bethell snaffled his first Ashes wicket, Khawaja (17) - in what could turn out to be his final Test innings - lbw to Carse and wasting a review looking to save himself, and Alex Carey (16) then flicking Tongue (1-89) to Bethell at leg slip, the spot where Crawley shelled Smith off the same bowler diving to his left.

Australia began the evening six down and trailing by seven runs, but Smith and Cameron Green (37) stitched a stand of 71 to wear England down before the latter lost concentration and daftly hacked a Carse short ball to Ben Duckett at midwicket.

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Beau Webster (42no) then combined with Smith to add an unbroken 81 for the eighth wicket as England were ground further into the Sydney dirt and with the pitch showing mild signs of breaking up, batting third may not be easy for Ben Stokes' tiring side.

'I would have put my mortgage on Smith scoring a hundred'

Sky Sports Cricket's Michael Atherton:

"I would have put my mortgage on Steve Smith getting a hundred.

"He has had a quiet series and missed out on a good batting pitch in Adelaide through illness but he loves his home ground in Sydney and he is a brilliant Ashes player.

"He has hurt England so often, albeit maybe he is not quite at the level he was around 2019, and I love watching him bat. He is full of quirks and probably the best Test batter of his generation."

Bethell: England still up for the fight

England's Jacob Bethell:

"This is proper Test cricket now. In terms of the graft you have to put in, it was a tough day, but that's what it's about.

"Everyone's still very driven to leave Australia (at) 3-2. That's the main thing that's keeping everyone fighting hard.

"I think the guys that have played five Tests will be tired, mentally and physically, but that's what comes with a five-match series.

"Any Ashes Test, you want to put your best foot forward. They'll be tired but the guys have done it before and know how to deal with it."

I can't see him dwelling on it too much. We just said, 'hard luck mate, everybody drops them'. I don't think he'll take it to heart. I thought he bowled very well afterwards and I imagine he's going to bat very well in the second innings as well. He's a confident guy.

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