England vs Australia LIVE: Cricket scorecard and Women’s Ashes updates from day five at Trent Bridge
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England are in a precarious position on the final day of the one-off Women’s Ashes test match after a wonderful performance from Australia cricket’s Ashleigh Gardner leaves them chasing a further 152 runs with just five wickets in hand.
Needing 268 to win in the fourth innings Tammy Beaumont and Emma Lamb got the hosts off to a solid start, putting on 55 for the first wicket. Gardner came into the attack and nicked off Beaumont before trapping captain Heather Knight lbw for 9 and dismissing the dangerous Nat Sciver-Brunt for a duck.
Sophia Dunkley (16) and Danni Wyatt (20*) managed a slight fightback but Dunkley feathered one behind off Kim Garth late in the day to leave England reeling at 116-5.
Earlier, the indefatigable Sophie Ecclestone claimed a 10-wicket match haul with astonishing figures of 77.1-16-192-10 this week helping to restrict Australia to 257. Either team can win this match on the final day but England need to win the morning session to have any chance of claiming a surprise victory.
Follow all the action from the Women’s Ashes, below:
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Tammy Beaumont focused on helping the team after ‘dream’ hundred
Despite admitting she has ticked an item from her bucket list in compiling an Ashes Test ton, Tammy Beaumont said she will rank its significance at the end of the match which marks the start of the multi-format series.
“There were probably moments where I thought I wasn’t going to face enough balls to get there but it put the team in a good position,” she said.
“If we go on to win this Test match then it would be right up there. It’s great to tick it off and as a kid, I dreamt of scoring an Ashes Test hundred. But as I’ve gone on, it’s contributing to the team.
“If you apply yourself as a batter there’s definitely runs out there to be had and so far our batters have pretty much looked at ease.
“I guess I got lucky with one but then again I’ve probably had a couple of unlucky decisions in the last month or so in regional cricket – luck came at the right time.”
Tickets are free for day five
Trent Bridge have made tickets for the final day of this Test Match available free of charge with all four results still possible.
To gain entry to the ground you must have a ticket which can be claimed online at trentbridge.co.uk.
Anyone who already has a ticket for day five will get a full refund in the coming day.
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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