Head, Smith tons put Australia firmly in command at SCG

Centuries by Travis Head (163) and Steven Smith (129*) ensured Australia took control of the Sydney Test on the moving Day 3. The hosts scored 352 runs across the day, eventually taking the lead to 134 at the close of play. Australia were 518 for 7 at Stumps, leaving England with a mountain to climb to save the Test match.

On the pink day at the Sydney Cricket Ground, England burnt their second review early on as a caught-behind appeal of nightwatch Michael Neser just showed bat hitting ground. Head, who walked out on 91, flicked one to the fence to move to 96 before driving Josh Tongue through the covers to bring up his third 100 of the series and 12th in Tests overall.

Matthew Potts, who looked woefully out of rhythm on Day 2, was greeted with disdain as Head smashed a hat-trick of boundaries in his first three balls of the day. The ploy to bowl short to Head however, almost worked immediately but Will Jacks dropped a sitter at deep mid-wicket off Brydon Carse to add to the visitors' woes. Neser, who played and missed a lot throughout the first session, also unfurled some beautiful drives through the offside before England used up their final review with impact on hawk-eye against Neser just outside off.

Neser finally fell to Carse by nicking behind to the 'keeper, bringing an end to the nightwatch's resistance. Head continued to pile the misery on England with boundaries scored consistently, which included an authoritative pull off Potts. Head crossed 150 with a hard flash over the slip cauldron as Smith slowly got into his innings. The right-hander got a reprieve when an outside-edge didn't stick in Zak Crawley's hands at gully.

Head fell to Jacob Bethell on 163 after being rapped on the pads and took a review along with him, breaking the 54-run stand. Out walked Usman Khawaja in his final Test to take guard at the middle. Meanwhile, Smith got the better of Ben Stokes with three boundaries in no time to take the hosts past 300 as the runs continued to flow. England took the second new ball immediately once it was due but Potts and Carse leaked boundaries as Smith moved to 50. Just when the two batters brought up the 50-run stand, Carse had Khawaja LBW. Alex Carey played a quick knock of 16 off 13 which consisted of three boundaries all through the extra-cover region before finding Bethell at leg-slip off Tongue.

With Potts continuing to serve up hit-me balls, Australia nudged closer to England's 384 and were seven short when Tea was called. Despite Cameron Green hitting Stokes for a four in the first over after Tea, the final session was the Smith show. He had it all - some gymnastics, umpiring, picking out chocolate ice-creams in the crowd and of course, some scintillating stroke-making. A boundary through extra cover by the stalwart took Australia into the lead.

Smith struck Bethell down the ground for a maximum while Green pulled Stokes for a 94-metre monster. Smith moved into the nineties with a four through backward-square leg. Against the run of play, however, Green mistimed a pull which went straight to the hands of Ben Duckett as Carse picked up his third. Smith then scored his 37th Test ton with a three towards fine-leg, going past Rahul Dravid, and also scored his 13th Ashes ton with only Don Bradman ahead of him on 19. Beau Webster and Smith added 81 runs together for the eighth wicket with both remaining unbeaten on 129* and 42* respectively.

Brief Scores: lead Australia 518/7 (Travis Head 163, Steven Smith 129*; Brydon Carse 3-108, Ben Stokes 2-87) lead England 384 (Joe Root 160, Harry Brook 84; Michael Neser 4-60, Scott Boland 2-85) by 134 runs.