Women’s Ashes: Advantage Australia after Ashleigh Gardner tears through England top-order
Ashleigh Gardner has put Australia in the ascendancy in the women’s Ashes Test after putting England’s top-order in a spin. But the tourists still have plenty of work to do on day five.
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Ashleigh Gardner left England in a spin to give Australia the advantage in the lone Women’s Ashes Test at Trent Bridge.
Gardner captured three top-order wickets as England reached the close of Sunday’s fourth day on 5-116.
That left England needing a further 152 to reach a victory target of 268 on Monday’s final day.
Australia require just five more wickets having removed England’s top order, several of whom – including first-innings double-century maker Tammy Beaumont – succumbed to Gardner as the off-spinner returned 3-33 in nine overs.
Gardner, 26, also dismissed star all-rounder Nat Sciver-Brunt and England captain Heather Knight before stumps.
Ash has been amazing. Her off-spin bowling has been great,” Australia opener Beth Mooney, who top-scored with 85 in the Ashes-holders second-innings 257, told the BBC.
“She’s an absolute game-changer for us.” Earlier, England left-arm spinner Sophie Ecclestone took her second five-wicket haul of the Test to finish with the remarkable match figures of 10-192 from 77.1 overs.
But she could only watch as England suffered a top-order collapse, with four wickets lost in 29 balls as her side slumped to 4-73.
England will look to Danni Wyatt (20 not out) and nightwatch Kate Cross (five not out).
“We have to believe we can win tomorrow,” Ecclestone told Sky Sports. “I think if I hit the winning runs that will top it off! We need Kate Cross and Danni Wyatt to keep batting.”
She added: “Hopefully we can put Australia under pressure and go at them.”
Unlike the ongoing five-Test men’s Ashes, the women’s series is a multi-format contest.
Victory in the Test is worth four points, and a win in each of the three subsequent three one-day internationals and three Twenty20s two points, with Australia the world champions in both white-ball formats.
Emma Lamb and Beaumont, whose 208 in the first innings was the highest individual Test score for England Women, made a solid start to the chase.
But the introduction of Gardner turned the tide in Australia’s favour. Gardner had Beaumont nicking to slip for 22 and Sciver-Brunt top-edging to short leg before removing the experienced Knight, lbw for just nine, with a sharply turning delivery.
Day 3: Aussies on top despite England great shattering 88-year record
Tammy Beaumont’s 208 set the highest ever Test score for England women but Australia ended Saturday on top of the one-off Ashes Test with a 92-run lead and all 10 second innings wickets in hand.
Resuming on 100 not out, Beaumont carved her name into the record books by surpassing Betty Snowball’s 189 against New Zealand in February 1935 as the previous best by an England player.
The 32-year-old successfully overturned an lbw decision given against her on 152 and also had a reprieve on Friday when Australia failed to review a catch that would have been out on 61.
What a day!” Beaumont told the BBC. I wasn’t aware of that milestone, that’s why I didn’t want to celebrate it and we still needed runs.
“It’s a great accolade to have but for me it was about getting as close to the Aussies score as possible.”
At one stage Beaumont’s brilliance looked set to give the hosts a first innings lead at Trent Bridge.
Natalie Sciver-Brunt made 78 and Danni Wyatt 44 as England reached 5-411. But the second half of the day belonged to the visitors as the final five wickets fell for 52 runs with Beaumont the last woman out.
Australia then pressed home their slender advantage as Beth Mooney and Phoebe Litchfield reached 0-82 in the final 19 overs of the day.
“I’d say we have the upper hand just a little bit,” said Australia’s Ash Gardner.
“I think in the second innings for the English girls it’s going to be pretty hard to bat on.
“We’ve seen the odd ball stay pretty low which is kind of what we expect in a Test match wicket. I think for us the key is to play nice and straight and look to get on the front foot.”
The five-day match is part of a multi-format Ashes series including three Twenty20 matches and three one-day internationals.
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