Racing
League
Rugby
Cricket
Golf
Motorsport
Combat Sports
Football
Netball
Basketball
Other Sports
Sport Nation
📻 IMPORTANT AUCKLAND UPDATE 📻
England dig in as Australia hunt victory at SCG, injured Stokes exits
Scott Bailey, AAP • January 7th, 2026 2:54 pm
Mitchell Starc | Photo: AAP
Australia are eyeing off a 4-1 Ashes series victory over England, with the tourists 1-80 at lunch on day four and still trailing by 103 runs in Sydney.
After Australia were all out for 567 on Wednesday morning to take a 183-run first-innings lead, Mitchell Starc trapped a leaving Zak Crawley lbw in the first over.
The dismissal marked the third time this summer Starc has removed Crawley in the opening over of an innings, prompting fears England could collapse quickly.
But Ben Duckett (40) and Jacob Bethell (28) have since provided a counterpunch, while still needing a big afternoon session to fight England back into the match.
Wednesday has already been difficult for the tourists, with inspirational captain Ben Stokes suffering another groin injury while bowling.
With Steve Smith working his way to 138 and Beau Webster an unbeaten 71, Stokes limped from the SCG mid-over after feeling pain in his adductor.
With five sessions left in this match and signs of inconsistent bounce, a draw or unlikely England win are still possible.
England captain Ben Stokes had to leave the SCG because of an injury | Photo: AAP
But England look a team thinking about their impending flights home, having dropped six catches in Australia's innings and appearing bereft of idea.
On the past three tours of Australia, England have surrendered meekly in their final innings, averaging just 156 and failing to last more than 40 overs in two of them.
If anything close to that trend is followed again, this Test could be over as soon as Wednesday.
Whether the tourists will have Stokes available to bat is also unclear.
With other quicks struggling and the recalled Matthew Potts going for 0-141 off 25 overs, Stokes over-bowled himself before injuring his groin on Wednesday.
Any further English pain was at least put on hold when Smith edged Josh Tongue behind two overs later, falling to the seamer for the fourth time in three Tests against him.
Webster's runs, meanwhile, will add to the calls for him to replace Cameron Green as Australia's first-choice allrounder.
After Green threw away his wicket when caught hooking in the deep on 37 on Tuesday, Webster looked at complete ease through his whole innings.
He hit three boundaries on the pull shot and flicked nicely off his pads on the way to his fifth half-century in eight Tests.
After making his debut in Sydney last summer, Webster now has 449 Test runs at an average of 40.81, to go with his eight wickets at 23.25 with the ball.
Green, in contrast, has had a difficult Ashes series, with 149 runs at 21.28 and no scores above 50.
The West Australian also spilled a chance just before lunch on Wednesday, getting in the way of a ball heading straight to Smith in the slips and putting Duckett down on 38.
Tune into Sport Nation for live ball-by-ball commentary of The Ashes series, as the fifth Test continues from 12pm - thanks to SEN.
