As expected, batting on day five at the end, extremely exhausted (6)
I believe the answer is:
indeed
'as expected' is the definition.
Both the definition and answer are adverbs. Perhaps they are linked in a way I don't understand?
'batting on day five at the end extremely exhausted' is the wordplay.
'batting' becomes 'in' (as in batting or being 'in' in cricket).
'on' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'day' becomes 'd' (abbreviation for day).
'at the end' suggests the final letters.
'extremely' means to remove the middle letters.
'exhausted' with its middle taken out is 'ed'.
The last letter of 'five' is 'e'.
'in'+'d'+'e'+'ed'='INDEED'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for indeed that I've seen before include "To be sure" , "Really, actually" , "Really, without doubt" , "Really - truly" , "Really - what a surprise!" .)