Live Blog - Australia vs England 4th Test Sydney 5th day

James Anderson, with an over to see off against Steven Smith, and eight catchers around the bat, props resolutely onto the front dog, to carry England to a thrilling draw at Sydney. The final ball is dead-batted into the off side to prompt the handshakes. Stuart Broad, his fellow old-stager, is unbeaten at the other end. It's only England's second non-defeat in Australia since 2013, alongside a draw at Melbourne in 2017-18, and it ends the Aussies' hunt for their third whitewash since 2006-07.

Oh my, the drama is ramped off the scale now! With the light fading, Steve Smith's speculative leggies come into the attack in place of Pat Cummins, and after landing his offerings in the rough from the outset, the final ball of the 100th over snags the edge of Jack Leach's bat, and flicks through to David Warner at slip, via Alex Carey's arm! There are 12 balls remaining in the match, six for Lyon, six more for Smith. And 4-0 is back on the table now... it's Smith's first Test wicket since November 2016. A handy time to strike...

Pat Cummins delivers two huge blows with two extraordinary inswingers to put Australia on the brink. He got some late shape into Jos Buttler who over-balanced and hit his boot with his bat. The bat swivelled as a result at the precise moment the ball sneaked through and thundered into the back pad. Umpire Paul Reiffel gave it not out but Cummins reviewed and it was smashing middle and leg. Two balls later Cummins delivered a searing inswinging yorker that hit Mark Wood flush on the front foot. Reiffel gave it out immediately and Wood knew his fate as he hobbled to his feet after crumpling over when he was struck. He reviewed but it was fruitless. Cummins bags two in three balls. It is the first time in Cummins' career he has got two lbw's in an innings and he only had 10 lbw's in his career. It was also only Cummins' second Test wicket with a yorker, according to ESPNCricinfo's ball-by-ball data. The first came in his debut Test match in 2011 when he clean bowled Morne Morkel on his way to being Player of the Match.

Gaurav Sundararam has noted this is Pat Cummins' second-most expensive bowling spell in Test cricket. He has not been anywhere near as frugal and relentless as he was in Melbourne where he was almost unplayable. Zak Crawley climbed into him early on and even his second over with the second new ball cost eight runs.

Andrew McGlashan: Six overs until the second new ball. Thirteen overs until the last hour starts. Six wickets to take. Time is starting to tick away for Australia as another SCG draw looms. Ben Stokes is proving steadfast and Jonny Bairstow is hanging in, although has just had an almighty waft at Scott Boland whose Test bowling average still isn’t in double figures. However, England do have a lengthy tail (even though Mark Wood played very well in the first innings) and Australia will think they could rattle through them quite quickly if the pressure was on to save a game. But, so far, it’s been another final day at this ground that hasn’t gone to plan for the home side.

Andrew McGlashan: It's been a fantastic Test match for the Jane McGrath Foundation. More than 250,000 virtual pink seats have been sold, raising over $5m to help fund McGrath Breast Care Nurses across Australia. The McGrath Foundation set the goal of selling 240,000 virtual pink seats, the virtual equivalent of selling out the SCG over five days of the Pink Test. "This year support has come from the SCG, from those at home, those stuck in ‘iso’ and even from overseas," Glenn McGrath, who himself was unable to attend due to testing positive for Covid, said.

England have given themselves a good chance of saving this game with Ben Stokes remaining indefatigable at tea on 46 and Jonny Bairstow with him. Australia need six wickets in the final session. They do have a new ball available in 13 overs. Scott Boland was outstanding in that session to remove Joe Root but no one else really threatened for Australia and Pat Cummins did not bowl for the entire session. They are pinning a lot of their hopes on the new ball as Nathan Lyon hasn't been able to cause much trouble since knocking over Dawid Malan in the morning session.

Andrew McGlashan: Joe Root's nick-off to Scott Boland means has been caught behind the wicket eight times out eight in this series, and his desperate search for an Ashes hundred away from home remains futile. He will be frustrated to have been out in such similar ways across this series. "Some of the areas I score very freely in England, through the offside with a straight bat, I’m not sure that’s the best way to play those conditions," he told the Guardian in an interview back in October - but he's not quite managed to adapt his methods enough, and has poked at balls in the channel outside off stump throughout.

Scott Boland has been Australia's best bowler in this match and he has now claimed Joe Root three times in three innings. It looked hard work to break through but Boland just bashed away relentlessly at a good length and line. He has been magnificent. Ball tracking shows it just nibbled away enough to catch the outside edge.

Andrew McGlashan: Can Australia still force the win? The pitch appeared to have gone to sleep a little prior to the Root wicket although Ricky Ponting, on Channel Seven, believes he’s seen a hint of reverse swing. At various stages, it has felt like it could become very difficult to bat on this surface. Australia will have a new ball in just over 20 overs. Nathan Lyon has been lightly used so far but now has a big role to play with the older ball. Ben Stokes is playing nicely although there’s still a sense England could go quickly if he departs as well. Jonny Bairstow enters off the back of a century but with a very sore thumb.

Updated times for play: Second Session: 2:10pm - 3:40pm Tea: 3:40pm - 4:00pm Final Session: 4:00pm - 6:00pm Scheduled close of play: 6:00pm A minimum of 41 overs from the resumption of play must be bowled prior to the commencement of the final hour of play, in which a minimum of a further 15 overs must be bowled.

Andrew McGlashan tells us that the covers have been pegged down and we will have a delay after lunch. There is a band of rain just passing through Sydney at the moment but it should pass quickly and the rain is only light. We won't lose too much time but Australia would be a touch anxious given they still need seven wickets to keep the whitewash alive.

Andrew McGlashan adds: This rain shouldn’t be terminal in terms of the day’s play – although it will likely knock off a few overs – but while we wait let’s just throw ahead to Hobart as far as the Australians are concerned. We know Josh Hazlewood is out, but there could still be changes to the pace attack. Mitchell Starc is looking a little tired now – but we know his great record with the pink ball – while Justin Langer said that Jhye Richardson and Michael Neser would both be in contention. Scott Boland’s position may again be up for debate. Remember, he would have been left out here if Hazlewood had been fit. Richardson took a five-wicket haul with the pink ball in Adelaide. Then, of course, there’s big decision over Usman Khawaja. If, in fact, it’s a decision at all. He still believes the selectors have made up their mind and he won’t play. Would be extraordinary if so after the Test he’s had. Whether Australia will be going for 5-0 we’ll know in a few hours.

Usman Khawaja last night compared Cameron Green's start in Test cricket to Steve Waugh. "You don't get players like Cameron Green very often and I think the selectors see that," Khawaja said. "Need to give this guy opportunity and time, to go overseas, experience different wickets. If you do that and invest in these players at a young age, something we haven't done as well in the past, you'll reap the rewards down the track. We saw that with Steve Waugh, the same can be said about Cam Green."

After eight Tests Green's numbers are significantly better. Green currently averages 30.58 with the bat and 26.88 with the ball whereas Waugh's figures were 17.20 and 31.33. Waugh was one year younger than Green at the same career stage. Waugh's bowling never really kept pace with his batting across his career.

Green is younger than Jacques Kallis and Ben Stokes at the same career stage. After eight Tests Kallis averaged 24.58 with the bat and 29.57 with the ball. Stokes averaged 28.64 and 40.78.

Sir Garfield Sobers was younger than Green after eight Tests, aged 19, and is the only one of the four with better figures at the same age. He averaged 35.00 with the bat and 25.66 with the ball.

Green is in elite company. Khawaja's call for calm regarding the scrutiny of his performances is more than fair in that context.

Dawid Malan had an excellent start to the series with scores of 82 and 80 in Brisbane and Adelaide respectively. He did fall to Nathan Lyon in Brisbane but has survived him otherwise in this series. It has felt like Malan was playing Russian Roulette with Lyon by trying to stay legside and cut length balls square through the off side. Lyon had beaten the outside edge relentlessly without ever getting rewarded with Malan's wicket. The only time he got him was a bat-pad catch in Brisbane. Finally, Malan's luck has run out, clean bowled trying to cut a ball that slid on straight and crashed into off.

Andrew McGlashan has noted that Malan's long period on the road might be catching up with him: Zak Crawley talked a good game before this Test and so far he’s going very nicely. His strokeplay has been eye-catching; his strength off the back foot is one of the reasons he has been backed for success in Australia. As England pick the bones out of this tour he feels a player worth giving another run in the team. Meanwhile, Dawid Malan has faded in the latter two Tests after his good work in Brisbane and Adelaide. Malan is one of the England players who has been on the road since the T20 squad went to the World Cup. It’s been a long haul, in every sense.

Haseeb Hameed has created an unwanted record for England. His 80 runs at 10 in this series is the worst by an England opener in a series of four Tests or more. Incredibly, he has still averaged more than David Warner did for Australia in the 2019 Ashes. But he nicked off four times in this match and was caught twice for scores of 6 and 9. His average would be under 10 if Alex Carey had held the first chance in the first innings. Carey's second drop didn't cost anything. It's hard to see Hameed playing in Hobart. But there is a positive. Zak Crawley has played beautifully so far and has already posted the highest score by an England opener in this series.

Andrew McGlashan notes that Alex Carey has not cemented his position behind the stumps in his first four Tests. He dropped Haseeb Hameed this morning off Pat Cummins but then held the chance off Scott Boland. There has been a slightly concerning pattern about his dropped/missed chances:

Jos Buttler, Adelaide
Nicked, and straight past the keeper and slip! Carey's first real blemish! He left it for Warner, Warner left it for the keeper, and Buttler escapes his pair! It was such a slender nick, but the over-the-wicket angle from Starc exacerbated the shape towards the cordon. I doubt it'll be too costly!

Haseeb Hameed, Sydney
Dropped! Carey clangs one diving across first slip! Brutal ball from Starc, scrambled seam and then it left Hameed late to take the edge, just a defensive prod and would have been a straightforward take for Warner - but Carey tried to get there with one hand and blots his copybook

Haseeb Hameed, Sydney
Edged, but Carey puts it down! Superb over from Cummins. Diving catch, low to his right, but it should have been taken. Just a hint of seam movement to take the outside edge, but Carey couldn't cling on!

Andrew McGlashan is at the ground for us today and has given his thoughts on what lies ahead: The Ashes are securely in Australia’s possession, but this is quietly an important day for them. For starters, they want to keep the chances of a whitewash alive. And to do that they will need to make amends for last season at the SCG where they could not bowl out India on the final day. On that occasion they only claimed three wickets having started needing eight. The defiance of Hanuma Vihari and R Ashwin became the stuff of legend as they were battered and bruised. England are in a similar position with a list of walking wounded: Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler and Jonny Bairstow. Australia will not want to be defied on the final day again, even if the consequences are a little less crucial this time (although remember those World Test Championship points). There’s been just a little talk that perhaps Pat Cummins was a little conservative with his declaration given the brittle nature of England’s batting line-up. They now have 98 overs, weather permitting, for those 10 wickets. Can England bat all day?