Jacob Bethell walked off the SCG with cramp in his forearms and a grin he couldn’t quite hide. England’s newest Test centurion – at 22, the youngest since Alastair Cook – knows the job is not finished, yet his unbeaten 113 has dragged the tourists from trouble and left Australia’s dressing-room doing the maths. England are 119 ahead with just Matthew Potts and Josh Tongue left, five overs until a hard, shiny new ball, and Bethell thinking that 160-175 might be plenty.
“They’re obviously going to have the men out,” Bethell said after stumps. “There’s a new ball around the corner, which might actually present a bit more [opportunity]. It might do a little bit more, but actually come off the bat better.”
He paused, glanced towards the middle, and added: “I’m going to have to be smart around how we let Pottsy and then Tonguey at No. 11 come in and what they face, but I’m just going to have to hit the gaps. It’s a big outfield, so there are plenty of gaps and [I’ll] just try and hit them.”
England began the second innings 183 behind, their top order again flimsy before Bethell and Harry Brook stuck together for 102. At 36 ahead, momentum flickered England’s way until all-rounder Beau Webster slid one past Brook’s inside edge and then had Jonny Bairstow taken at slip three balls later. “At this point now, I’d bite your hand off for 200, but 160, 170?” Bethell told Fox Cricket. “I think it’s one of those chases. We had 175 at the MCG, obviously on a different wicket, but it’s just enough to keep you guessing.”
History doesn’t shout but it does whisper. Australia defended 176 against Pakistan here in 2010. South Africa snuck home with 117 in 1994. More recently, Pat Cummins’ side knocked off 162 against India inside three days on a seamer, and 130 against Pakistan last summer felt routine. Still, fourth-innings targets remain twitchy, especially if rough patches widen for the spinners overnight.
That angle matters because Ben Stokes, batting at No. 8 after bruising his adductor, was Webster’s third scalp and is unlikely to bowl. “I don’t know if he’ll be bowling tomorrow. I can’t imagine he will be, so we’re going to have to do it with three seamers,” Bethell told TNT. “That rough looks pretty nice for those lefties and then Jacksy obviously to the righties as well, it’s been spitting out of that, so that’ll bring us into the game.”
England’s trio of Chris Woakes, Potts and Tongue now carry an outsized burden, with Bethell’s own finger-spin and Will Jacks’ off-breaks expected to share maybe 25 overs between them. The forecast is clear, the pitch blotchy, and the SCG outfield quick; another 30-40 runs in the morning could leave Cummins staring at a target that keeps hikers honest but never feels entirely safe.
Across the corridor, Usman Khawaja prepares for the last Test morning of a 12-year international career. He made 17 in the first innings, an oddly tentative goodbye for a player whose calm has anchored Australia so often. A farewell knock chasing a banana-skin score would be apt theatre; equally, a small collapse and an SCG hush are easy to picture.
For now the contest hangs on whether Bethell can shepherd Potts and Tongue beyond the five-over checkpoint, nibble another hour, and post that figure scribbled months ago on England’s dressing-room whiteboard: 175. The number is simple; getting there may prove the hardest part.
