Australia turned the heat on England in the fifth and final Ashes Test by declaring their first innings with a massive lead of 303 runs before reducing the tourists to 25 for 2 in their second essay, at Tea on Day 4 at the SCG.
Neither the Australian batsman, not the sweltering Sydney showed any mercy on England. If the Marsh brothers' twin century act wasn't enough to deflate a mentally and physically tired English side, bowlers helped the home team strengthen their grip on the game by taking out the openers cheaply.
England could not have suffered a worst possible start to their second innings as they lost Mark Stoneman in just the third over, to Mitchell Starc, and with that, a review too. Adjudged LBW, Stoneman tried his luck with the DRS only to be given the marching orders once again as England were reduced to 5 for 1.
Alastair Cook received a standing ovation on becoming just the sixth man in the history of the sport to complete 12,000 Test runs but the celebrations were minimal for the former captain who knew he had a task at hand. He was lucky to see an edge off his bat sneak through as Shaun Marsh shelled the chance at slip. The reprieve though didn't cost Australia a lot of runs as Nathan Lyon took all of five deliveries to make an impact. He bowled the in-form Cook for just 10 to further dent England's faint hopes of saving the Test match.
Root and Vince saw through the rest of the session, taking England to 25 without any further hiccups, but the remaining eight English batsman still have to make another 278 runs to make Australia bat again.
Earlier, Australia added 170 runs to their overnight score of 479 and declared their first innings shortly after Lunch on Day 4. Shaun and Mitchell, who joined hands shortly after Tea on Saturday, added 169 runs for the fifth wicket partnership with both raising their second century of the series en route. While Mitchell fell soon after the hundred, Shaun converted it into a 150 before an unfortunate run out put an end to his brilliant knock.
Shaun, unbeaten on 98 overnight, reached triple figures off the fifth ball of the morning, from Moeen Ali. Stuart Broad was on the receiving end when Mitchell continued his carefree boundary-hitting spree from yesterday and dispatched a couple to the fence to bring up the 150 of the partnership with his brother. When Mitchell quickly moved on from 91 to 99 with another pair of consecutive boundary hits, Broad was replaced by Tom Curran. Mitchell welcomed him into the attack with a brace that helped him bring up his hundred - his second of the series as well - but the bowler ultimately had the last laugh. Curran bagged his first wicket of the game, giving England a breakthrough at last to halt the flourishing partnership.
Tim Paine walked in to fill the void perfectly, and a well-set Shaun continued to pile on more misery on England. Marsh Sr. reached 150 soon after the Lunch break but had to sacrifice his wicket when Paine called for a non-existent single. Stoneman, at cover, nailed a direct hit at the keeper's end, catching Shaun well short of his crease. Nevertheless, he walked out to a rousing standing ovation from a near capacity SCG.
In the sweltering heat of Sydney, even the Australian tailenders toyed with England's hapless bowling. Pat Cummins inflicted some more damage after the departure of Starc. He collected four boundaries in his short stay in the middle, the last one of which took Australia's lead past 300. Smith declared at the end of the over, 303 ahead of England's first innings total, after having added 71 runs in just 10 overs since the Lunch break.
Brief scores: England 346 and 25/2 (Alastair Cook 10; Nathan Lyon 1-2) trail Australia 649/7 (Usman Khawaja 171, Shaun Marsh 156, Mitchell Marsh 101; Moeen Ali 2-170) by 278 runs.
