England vs Australia LIVE: Cricket scorecard and Women’s Ashes updates from day five at Trent Bridge
Australia bowled England out for 178 to win the Women’s Ashes Test by 89 runs
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Your support makes all the difference.England have been left with a mountain to climb to regain the Women’s Ashes after Australia seized the upper hand in the multi-format series by triumphing in the lone Test.
Resuming on 116 for five in pursuit of 268 on a final day where Trent Bridge threw open its gates free of charge, England subsided to 178 all out inside 90 minutes despite a defiant 54 from Danni Wyatt.
Wily off-spinner Ashleigh Gardner’s eight for 66 saw her walk away with a 12-wicket match haul as Australia claimed an 89-run victory to collect four all-important points ahead of the ODIs and T20s.
If England are to retrieve the urn for the first time since 2015 they will have to prevail in five of the six white-ball contests against the ODI and T20 world champions, with two points per win on offer.
Follow all the action from the Women’s Ashes, below:
England’s hopes lie with Danni Wyatt
Danni Wyatt made her test match debut this week after almost 13 years of playing cricket for England. She’s a regular in the ODI and T20 sides but was alway surplus to requirements when it came to the longest format.
Not any longer.
With England chasing another 152 runs to win on the final day, Wyatt is their last, and best, hope of getting close to the total. She’s 20 not out overnight and was brought into the team as an attacking prescence in the middle order.
Australia will be wary of how she could take the game away from them.
“We have to see Danni play her shots tomorrow, she can’t go into her shell,” said former England spinner Alex Hartley on Test Match Special.
“We’re in for a belter, no matter what happens.”
Indeed we are but if England are to come close it may come down to how well Wyatt takes her chance at test match level.
Tammy Beaumont credits T20 axe for Test improvement after record-breaking 208
Tammy Beaumont believes her historic 208 in the lone Women’s Ashes Test may have been inadvertently aided by being axed from England’s T20 set-up last year.
After breaking Betty Snowball’s 88-year record for the highest score by an England woman in going past 189, Beaumont became her nation’s first double centurion and just the eighth female overall in Tests.
Her epic knock – which helped England to 463 and a 10-run deficit before Australia got their noses in front by closing on 82 without loss to lead by 92 at Trent Bridge – raised the question as to whether Beaumont can slot back into the T20 side after being dropped ahead of the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
Tammy Beaumont credits T20 axe for Test improvement after record-breaking 208
Beaumont became her nation’s first double centurion and just the eighth female overall in Tests.
Batting collapse leaves England climbing a mountain in Women’s Ashes
England were left in a spin by Ashleigh Gardner as their hopes of victory in the lone Women’s Ashes Test drastically receded despite the indefatigable Sophie Ecclestone’s 10-wicket match haul.
The slow left-armer claimed back-to-back five-wicket hauls to finish with astonishing figures of 77.1-16-192-10 this week and restrict Australia to 257, which left England requiring 268 for victory.
Despite Emma Lamb and Tammy Beaumont putting on opening stand of 55, Gardner’s introduction to the attack was the catalyst for a top-order collapse as England ended day four on 116 for five.
Batting collapse leaves England climbing a mountain in Women’s Ashes
England need 152 runs to complete a remarkable chase in the Women’s Ashes
England vs Australia
Good morning one and all and welcome to The Independent’s coverage of the Women’s Ashes. We’re in the deep end of this one-off test match with the game, remarkably, still in the balance.
A recap of the first four days is as follows:
Australia won the toss on a sunny morning and chose to bat with England taking consistent wickets despite Ellyse Perry’s 99. Annabel Sutherland came in at eight and knocked a delightful 137* as the visitors were finally bowled out for 473 - a mammoth total in Women’s test matches.
In replay, England were led expertly by opener Tammy Beaumont who scored a record breaking 208 as the hosts finished just 10 runs short of Australia’s total. Heather Knight (57), Nat Sciver-Brunt (78) and Danni Wyatt (44) all provided able back-up.
The third innings was the Sophie Ecclestone show as the pitch begin to turn and batting became more difficult. The left-arm spinner claimed a second five-wicket haul - making it 10 for the match with figures of 77.1-16-192-10 - as Australia only managed 257. Beth Mooney (85) and captain Alyssa Healy (50) provided the impetus.
England then came out to bat again needing 268 runs to win. Emma Lamb and Tammy Beaumont took the team to 55-0 but the introduction of Ashleigh Gardner (9-1-33-3) saw the hosts slump to 73-4. Sophia Dunkley was dismissed late on the fourth day to leave England 116-5, still 152 runs away from victory.
How will this test match end? It seems certain that one of the sides will claim victory and Australia are the favourites but can the hosts shock the best team in the world and get over the line?
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