Jacob Bethell revealed that his maiden Test century has given him "a lot of confidence" as he now seeks to help England pull off an unlikely win in Sydney.

Bethell is unbeaten on 142 heading into day five of the fifth Test, with England leading by 119 runs on 302-8 as their poor batting in the series continued.

Both Zak Crawley and Will Jacks were dismissed after facing just two balls, while Ben Stokes and Joe Root registered scores of six and one, respectively. 

However, Bethell brought up his maiden Test ton and first-class century with a big shot down the ground off the bowling of Beau Webster.

Bethell admitted he was nervous when he reached 99, but said that he was glad to see Scott Boland not come into the attack.

"It was always coming," Bethell said. "It's nice to get over the milestone, and it gave me a lot of confidence to keep doing it.

"I was quite happy when they brought spin on rather than [Scott] Boland.

"I was a bit nervous around him: he just lands it there and is pretty hard to score off, especially when they bring the field up.

"When they brought the spinner [Webster] on, I was pretty comfortable to take him over the top. But there were a few nerves there."

The sixth England player to score their first first-class hundred in a Test match:

 Henry Wood
 Billy Griffith
 Jack Russell
 Stuart Broad
 Gus Atkinson
 𝗝𝗮𝗰𝗼𝗯 𝗕𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗹

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— England Cricket (@englandcricket) January 7, 2026

While England's chances of pulling off a victory and ending the series as 3-2 losers remain slim, Bethell has not given hope of helping his team to victory. 

However, they will have to bowl without captain Stokes, who limped off the pitch on day four.

"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," said Bethell.

"I don't know if he'll [Stokes] be bowling tomorrow. I can't imagine he will be, so we're going to have to do it with three seamers.

"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.”