Jacob Bethell's maiden first-class century kept England's faint hopes alive on day four of the fifth Ashes Test against Australia.

The 22-year-old hit an unbeaten 142 as the tourists reached stumps with a 119-run lead in Sydney, but they have only two wickets in hand and skipper Ben Stokes has suffered an adductor injury.

Australia began the fourth day on 518-7, but could only add another 49 runs to their opening innings, with Steve Smith's charge ending at 138 as the hosts were bowled out for 567, still giving them a huge advantage of 183.

England also suffered a blow early in the day as Stokes limped off holding his groin.

Coming in at number three in the first over after the loss of Zak Crawley (1), Bethell took centre stage with the bat, aided by stands with Ben Duckett and Harry Brook (who both scored 42) as he reached triple figures.

Yet, having lost Joe Root (6) earlier on, England suffered the loss of five wickets for just 78 runs, falling from 219-3 to 302-8 at stumps with Will Jacks (0), Stokes (1) and Brydon Carse (16) unable to hang around with Bethell for long.

The tourists therefore finished the day with Bethell joined by Matthew Potts (0 not out) at the crease and Australia still to bat.

Australia will go into the final day as strong favourites for victory with England needing Bethell, whose ongoing innings has spanned 232 balls and included 15 fours, to produce more heroics on day five.

Jacob Bethell is part of an exclusive clubpic.twitter.com/YHiMDSZPwp

— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) January 7, 2026

Data Debrief: Brilliant Bethell achieves two rare feats

Bethell's first contribution of three figures came in only his sixth Test for England.

The 22-year-old is only the sixth England batter to make their maiden first-class century in a Test match, after Henry Wood, Billy Griffith, Jack Russell, Stuart Broad and Gus Atkinson.

Bethell, who had scored his first professional century in an ODI against South Africa in September, has now become just the fifth man to score his opening first-class and List A tons in Test and ODI cricket, following Kapil Dev, Marlon Samuels, Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Curtis Campher.