In the end, Ben Stokes got his man. He had Marnus Labuschagne flashing at a wide full delivery and getting caught by Jacob Bethell in the gully. Labuschagne had till a couple of overs earlier looked to be in his best touch for the series. He had moved his feet the way he wanted to. He had driven the ball the way he'd wanted to. He'd also left deliveries the way he'd wanted to. This had been perhaps Labuschagne's best innings of the series since his 65 at the Gabba. And in the company of Travis Head, he'd looked good to really put Australia in a commanding position with bad light closing in on the second evening.

Only for the Queenslander to get involved in an innocuous exchange with the England captain, which Stokes didn't mind getting stuck into. While what exactly was said remains unclear, you could hear Stokes tell Labuschagne about how he'd held him up at least "three times" at the top of his mark before asking his opponent to "shut the f@#k up". That is before the exchange continued briefly as Stokes put his arm around Labuschagne, which is when umpire Ahsan Raza intervened.

The next over Labuschagne showed signs of having lost concentration as he flashed at a wide delivery from Josh Tongue, before perishing to a similar error off his nemesis a few balls later.

Stokes had had the final laugh in his 10-minute battle with Labuschagne. But he wasn't laughing. Stokes' frustration was only partly with Labuschagne after all. He if anything had a lot more to be annoyed with when it came to the rest of his bowlers. For, they had let him down enormously on a SCG pitch which has started to deteriorate. A surface with dents and divots that Mitchell Starc, Scott Boland and Michael Neser had exploited so devilishly in the second session, triggering a late collapse in the England innings.

It started poorly for England, not for the first time in the series as Brydon Carse and Matty Potts struggled to find any rhythm or consistency with the new ball. Carse generated appreciable movement every time he got his length right but didn't do it enough, allowing a nervy Jake Weatherald off to a start. Potts on the other hand looked completely out of sorts and simply overawed by the challenge ahead of him. The setting, the scene and a swashbuckling opponent on strike. He conceded four boundaries in his first three overs, with Head going after him, rather pre-emptively at times.

By the time, Stokes turned to his enforcer, and player of the match from last week, Josh Tongue, Australia had already got off to a flyer. Even if Weatherland was struggling to get going. There were enough loose deliveries on offer for Head to put away at the other end, which he did gleefully.

Yet again, England had looked at the momentum they'd built for themselves, said 'no thank you' and handed it back to Australia. A recurring theme in this Ashes summer and one of the reasons the visitors will look back at this campaign with a lot of disappointment. One where they had Australia for the taking on numerous occasions but simply weren't disciplined enough, courageous enough and let's face it, good enough to acknowledge and build on it.

Much the same with bat in hand. It was a special couple of days at the SCG as Joe Root brought up his second century of the tour. If at the Gabba, England's finest ever Test batter shed the albatross of never having made a Test ton on Australian soil, the SCG innings was a statement piece. It was trademark Root. He could have been batting somewhere at Edgbaston or Trent Bridge, the way he caressed deliveries behind square on the off-side. After having parked those shots away for earlier in the series on the bouncier surfaces, Root didn't take long to identify that this SCG pitch was going to feel a lot more familiar to him. At least on the first two days. That meant playing the ball as late as he wanted to, and also scoring at that Joe Root tempo, which is neither cruise control nor is it warp speed. But certainly, fluent in every way.

Like at the Gabba though, Root needed someone to guts it out at the other end. Sadly, there were to be none, at least in the long run. Yes, Harry Brook and Jamie Smith did share partnerships of note with their senior teammate. The Root-Brook one was the highest for either team in this series.

Again though, when it mattered most, the English middle-order let the team down. Brook was the first to do so after starting Day 2 in command of opposition and conditions. It was a lazy shot outside off-stump off Boland just when it looked like Australia were bereft of ideas to stop the two Yorkshiremen.

What Smith then did will be etched in the annals of biggest misadventures in Ashes history from an English perspective.

He had already survived a bizarre over from Cameron Green where the wicket-keeper should have been out twice but wasn't. And then with four overs left for the second new-ball to be made available, Smith decided to take on the short ball from Labuschagne and plotted it straight into Boland's hands at deep extra cover. A shot and a dismissal that led to more head-scratching and hands being thrown up in the air than any we have seen in a series filled with them.

It also left Root stranded at his end, taking away from his own rhythm and robbed England of what should have been a definite 400+ first innings score. Instead, they once again left the door ajar for the Aussies to bat their way back into the contest, which at the moment they've done rather well with Head a the helm and at the cusp of his third century of the summer.

The day ended under gloomy skies at the SCG as an annoyed Stokes threw his own hands up in the air when the umpires called play off as a light drizzle arrived. Around the time Michael Neser was getting his injured forearm treated. It was to Stokes' utter dismay and infuriation. Maybe like with the Labuschagne situation, his exasperation was less to do with Australia or the umpires, but with his own team and the opportunity they've blown away this time around.