Women’s Ashes Test: Australia set England target of 268 to win on day four – live reaction | Women’s Ashes

Sophie Ecclestone speaks

Ash Gardner speaks to Sky Sports

We probably didn’t bat to our full potential, but I guess we’ve seen in this last innings how hard it is to bat. Some balls are spinning, some balls aren’t, some balls are rolling. It’s about keeping the stumps in play.

[On Alyssa Healy’s innings] That was huge. We spoke at tea about how important those runs were, and to see her play a captain’s knock was fantastic. It’s a bit of a monkey off the back for her as well.

[On Tammy Beaumont’s dismissal] That was a bit lucky, it could have gone anywhere. It was a loosener but I’ll take it.

We always speak about batting in partnerships but bowling in partnerships is just as important. T-Mac and I were able to string a few overs together and put the pressure back on them.

On a wicket like this you need to stay patient and keep the stumps in play. It won’t happen every ball, but it will happen. As a bowling unit we know we’re good enough to take the last five wickets.

England need another 152 runs to win

Australia are strong favourites after eight wickets fell in a dramatic final session at Trent Bridge. The Aussies collapsed from 149-1 to 198-7 either of side before Alyssa Healy – who moved herself down the order – made a crucial counter-attacking 50. Sophie Ecclestone finished with five wickets in the innings and ten in the match.

England got off to a flying start chasing 268, with Emma Lamb and Tammy Beaumont breezily adding 55 in 10 overs. Then Ash Gardner, who was always likely to be Australia’s trump card with Alana King off the field, dismissed Beaumont with her first ball.

The rest of the top five soon followed, Heather Knight to an unplayable grubber, and England were left fighting for survival. It will take something remarkable from Danni Wyatt and Amy Jones if England are to get close to their target in the morning.

27th over: England 116-5 (Wyatt 20, Cross 5) Garth almost gets another just before the close with an effort ball that bounces past Cross’s defensive stroke.

Cross punches the next ball past mid-off for four, a fine shot for a lower-order batter, and offers no stroke to the last ball of the day. It whistles just past off stump, and that’s the end of a pulsating day’s play.

26th over: England 112-5 (Wyatt 20, Cross 1) Cross takes a single off the third ball of the over, which exposes Wyatt to Gardner. No matter: Wyatt lives to tell the tale, and Gardner ends a matchwinning spell (probably) with figures of 9-1-33-3.

25th over: England 110-5 (target 268; Wyatt 19, Cross 0) Kate Cross, in as nightwatchwoman, survives the rest of the over. The wicket of Dunkley is a devastating blow for England so close to stumps. Garth had only just come on to replace Tahlia McGrath, who bowled a terrific eight-over spell. It was an immaculate delivery, perfect line and length with just enough movement to take the edge. And it was a really fine catch from Healy, who has had an excellent day with bat, gloves and captaincy brain.

Kim Garth has taken her first Test wicket! Dunkley thin-edged a fine delivery through to Healy, who took a superb catch standing up to the stumps. It was an even better take because she was hit painfully on the tip of the finger by the previous ball. The grimace that she had as Garth ran into bowl soon turned into a broad smile.

24th over: England 108-4 (target 268; Dunkley 16, Wyatt 19) Gardner moves around the wicket to Wyatt, who slices a drive through point for four. It was in the air for a while but nowhere near a fielder.

While they’ve needed a bit of luck, Dunkley and Wyatt have done well in tricky circumstances. Their partnership is now worth 34 in 10 overs.

23rd over: England 102-4 (target 268; Dunkley 15, Wyatt 13) Dunkley goes after a very wide outswinger from McGrath and is beaten. McGrath is still going strong, even after such a long spell: 8-2-15-1.

22nd over: England 101-4 (target 268; Dunkley 15, Wyatt 13) Wyatt skids back in his crease to force Gardner past point for four. That’s such a good shot.

An inside-edge from Wyatt lands safely on the leg side. She doesn’t look secure defensively against Gardner and edges three off the last ball to bring up the England hundred. Gardner is bowling such an aggressive line, well wide of off stump in the best Australian traditions.

22nd over: England 94-4 (target 268; Dunkley 15, Wyatt 6) The McGardner partnership continues. McGrath works Dunkley across the crease and then slips in the fuller inswinger. Dunkley is equal to it, and there’s no other excitement in the over. A maiden.

21st over: England 94-4 (target 268; Dunkley 15, Wyatt 6) A risky stroke from Dunkley, who tries to cut a wide rball from Gardner that gets big on her. It flies off a top edge and over slip for four. I suppose England have to find a way to put pressure on Gardner and they can’t do that without taking risks.

20th over: England 89-4 (Dunkley 10, Wyatt 6) A reminder that, if Australia win this game – spoiler alert! – England will need to win five of the six white-ball matches to regain the Ashes. With that, good luck.

McGrath beats Wyatt with a wicket-to-wicket awayswinger. She has bowled beautifully in this spell: 6-1-14-1.

19th over: England 88-4 (Dunkley 9, Wyatt 6) Gardner has gone two overs without taking a wicket, which is a boon of sorts for England. Dunkley and Wyatt both look busy and purposeful, but that target of 268 feels at least 180 runs away.

“Regarding DRS LBW calls…” begins David Howell. “In tennis, the same technology allows for a decisive in/out line call with the tiniest of margins because the ball’s location can be exactly tracked. For LBW, the cameras can’t say where the ball precisely went because, by definition, it didn’t. So the technology has to extrapolate on the future location of the ball based on its previous movement, and that process has a margin of error.

“I would argue that this process is already set up to provide some benefit-of-doubt to the batter – even the barest of ‘missing’ is not out, yet hitting the stump half-ball is umpire’s call, which implies that there’s half a ball of error margin and therefore a marginal ‘missing”’ could just as easily have been a stump-shaver like McGrath-to-Lamb was projected to be. Doesn’t make it any less brutal though, especially when Australia have been doing Australia things ever since.”

18th over: England 87-4 (Dunkley 8, Wyatt 6) Still 10 overs remaining after this, though we might not get them all in. Dunkley and Wyatt are possibly England’s most attacking players, so they’ll be having the age-old stick/twist dilemma right now.

Wyatt gets her first boundary by steering/edging a McGrath inswinger between slip and gully.

“When it comes to complaints about lbws,” begins Richard Adams, “I always remember the wise words of our old skipper – ‘Next time, try getting your bat in the way.’

“It wasn’t much comfort at the time but it was a serious point – if you miss the ball, anything that happens after that is mainly your fault.”

While I know what your old skipper means, there would have been a rare old row had somebody said to Alec Stewart at Galle in 2001.

17th over: England 81-4 (Dunkley 7, Wyatt 2) Wyatt gets off the mark with a jaunty late cut for two off Gardner. You can tell she wants to counter-attack, but it’s easier thought than done against Gardner. The last ball of the over explodes from a length to beat Wyatt outside off stump.

16th over: England 79-4 (Dunkley 6, Wyatt 0) While Gardner has grabbed the headlines, this has been a terrific spell from McGrath, both accurate and menacing. Wyatt is surprised by a lifting outswinger that she has to drop on the off side; then England get four bonus runs when the ball moves so far off the seam that it beats Healy down the leg side.

15th over: England 73-4 (Dunkley 5, Wyatt 0) That was an unplayable delivery from Gardner, so there’s no blame attached to Knight. Like Lamb she might feel a bit unfortunate because only around five per cent of the ball hit her pad in line with the stumps.

Either way, her dismissal leaves England in abundant poop. Since Gardner came on Australia have taken four huge wickets for 18 runs in five overs.

The TV commentators have confirmed that Alana King is off the field with an elbow injury after being struck by Lauren Filer (I think). It sounds like she might be okay to bowl tomorrow.

Maybe Australia won’t need her; At the moment, Gardner is winning this Test on her own! She pins Heather Knight in front with a hideous, big-spinning grubber. Knight reviews, hoping she managed to get outside the line. She didn’t – it’s umpire’s call and that means Knight has to go. Gardner has taken three for nine!

14th over: England 71-3 (Knight 8, Dunkley 4) Sophia Dunkley struggled in the first innings, making 9 from 51 balls. This time her first ball is a low full toss from McGrath that she clips for four. The ebb and flow on this fourth day, never mind the whole Test, has been fascinating. Cruise, lose a wicket, cruise, collapse, counter-attack, collapse, cruise, collapse.

“It’s understandable that Lamb is more than a bit miffed,” says John Starbuck. “It’s one of the DRS oddities that, depending on umpire’s call an original Not Out decision would have saved her, but that the initial judgment was Out means that only a smidgin had to be hitting the wicket.

“I know that the margins are very fine and you’ve got to draw the line somewhere, but the status quo rankles. Can’t we improve it by returning the benefit of the doubt to the batter?”

How would you do that? Change the margins on umpire’s call? Broadly I think the current system works really well, though I agree LBWs like that are slightly unsatisfactory.

13th over: England 66-3 (Knight 7, Sciver-Brunt 0) That is a huge blow to England, who had raced to 55-0 in 10 overs before Ash Gardner came into the attack.

Hello (again)! The England captain Heather Knight gets off the mark by slog-sweeping Gardner for six. That was some shot, clouted emphatically over midwicket. She has probably theorised that England won’t win this game unless they take calculated risks against the spinners.

But with calculated risk comes, well, risk. Nat Sciver-Brunt has gone for a third-ball duck after top-edging a sweep high in the air. Kim Garth ran round from short fine leg to take a good low catch.

12th over: England 59-2 (Knight 0, Sciver-Brunt 0) The new batter is Nat Sciver-Brunt. If Australia can break this key partnership in the 16 overs before the close, they’ll be favourites going into the final day.

Two wickets in two overs! Emma Lamb flicks across the line at a full ball from McGrath and is given out LBW by Anna Harris. It looks legsideish – probably umpire’s call – and Lamb understandably decides to review.

Here comes the replay… it’s out! It was just, and I mean just, hitting the outside of leg stump. Emma Lamb, who made a useful 28 from 40 balls, might be a bit aggrieved at that LBW. Which is an odd thing to say given it was the correct decision, but you know what I mean.

11th over: England 59-1 (target 268; Lamb 28, Knight 0) Hello! After defending the first ball, Knight tries an extravagant reverse sweep at her second and is beaten. She was so unbalanced that she almost fell over.

England get four bonus runs when Gardner sprays one down the leg side. They need 209 to win.

Hang on, Ash Gardner is on a hat-trick! She dismissed Tammy Beaumont with the last ball of England’s first innings, then again with her first ball of the second. Heather Knight ruins the potential statgasm with a solid defensive stroke.

This feels like a key moment in the game. The offspinner Ashleigh Gardner, who took four top-order wickets for 99 in the first innings, is coming into the attack.

My word, she’s struck first ball! Beaumont chased a flighted half-volley and sliced it straight to slip, where Beth Mooney took a really sharp catch. Beaumont goes for a perky 22, having made 240 runs in the match.

10th over: England 55-0 (target 268; Lamb 28, Beaumont 22) Tahlia McGrath, who cleaned up the tail in the first innings, is now tasked with doing the same to England’s top order. She replaces Kim Garth (4-0-17-0) and restores some order with a thrifty first over.

Alana King is off the field, which could be a problem for Australia. She’s sitting in the stands, flicking a ball in her hand, so maybe it’s not so serious.

9th over: England 54-0 (target 268; Lamb 28, Beaumont 21) Emma Lamb is warned for running on the pitch, although there’s no advantage in that for England as Sophie Ecclestone’s work with the ball is over.

Lamb back cuts Sutherland for two to bring up a breezy fifty partnership from 51 balls. Then she gets fourth boundary with an emphatic flick past midwicket. Australia are struggling here.

8th over: England 48-0 (target 268; Lamb 22, Beaumont 21) Too short from Garth, and Beaumont savages a pull for four. For whatever reason the evening session has been a really good time to bat in this game, and Beaumont gets four more with a flick to fine leg. That’s 20 runs from the last two overs. Alyssa Healy will surely have to turn to her spinners earlier than planned. Australia need a maiden over, never mind a wicket.

“Isn’t there something intrinsically unsatisfactory about a single Test?” writes Alec Hamilton. “Whatever the outcome of this terrific match, the result will feel definitive. But a single result is not going to be proof of the quality of these two teams. ‘Best of three’ feels like the minimum to stop this seeming like an exhibition match, even running the risk of seeming like a sort of novelty – women’s cricket has got beyond that.”

If the Ashes was decided by this Test I’d agree, but it feels different when it’s part of a multi-format series. In that context I think it works, although that doesn’t mean they can’t or shouldn’t play more Tests in future.

7th over: England 39-0 (target 268; Lamb 22, Beaumont 13) Darcie Brown is replaced by Annabel Sutherland, who dismissed Lamb in her first over in the first innings – and almost did so again here.

Sutherland’s first two balls were almost identical. Lamb felt tentatively for both and edged wide of second slip for four. The first probably wouldn’t have carried to third slip; the second certainly would have done.

This is a dream start for England, who need a further 229 to win.

6th over: England 28-0 (target 268; Lamb 11, Beaumont 13) Beaumont punches Garth between extra cover and mid-off for four, an immaculate bit of placement and timing. She looks in glorious touch, which is no surprise given she’s made 409 runs in her last two innings.

5th over: England 24-0 (target 268; Lamb 11, Beaumont 9) A stylish drive from Beaumont is superbly stopped at mid-off by Perry, saving three runs in the process.

Lamb is beaten by consecutive deliveries from Brown, the first a beauty that kicks from a length. But she undoes the good work with a wide half-volley that Lamb creams through cover point for four.

4th over: England 19-0 (target 268; Lamb 7, Beaumont 8) Emma Lamb receives some treatment between overs. I think she hurt her knee when straining for that quick single.

She’s fine to continue and gets a bonus run when a shy at the stumps evades McGrath backing up. Garth has started bowling wider of off stump, trying to tempt Lamb into something injudicious. That will also help control the scoring rate until the ball loses some hardness.

“This proves,” says Peter Gartner, “that women could easily play five five-day matches for an Ashes series.”

I’m no expert, particularly on the commercial side, but I feel like that would be too big a leap. (It has happened before, in 1984-85 I think, but a lot has changed since then.) The multiformat Ashes works well and seems very popular. That said, it would be great if they added another Test next time. Two Tests, three ODIs, three T20s: 20 points to play for.

3rd over: England 15-0 (target 268; Lamb 3, Beaumont 8) Lamb takes a very tight single to Perry at mid-off. The throw missed the stumps so we’ll never know whether she would have been home.

Beaumont gets off the mark with a smooth swivel-pull for four, then adds another boundary with a classy drive to the left of mid-on. There’s a bit of swing to encourage Brown and Garth, but this has been a fine start for England.

2nd over: England 6-0 (target 268; Lamb 2, Beaumont 0) Since you asked, England’s last Test win – against anyone, not just Australia – was at the Waca in 2013-14, a game that Kate Cross will remember fondly. She took six cheap top-order wickets during a terrific debut.

Beaumont is not out! It was missing leg stump, just, so Australia lose a review. I thought it looked closer than that.

Australia review for LBW against Beaumont! Kim Garth is on the money straight away, as she was in the first innings. Beaumont is beaten by a gorgeous outswinger and then survives a tight LBW appeal. Healy is very interested, Perry less so – but Healy goes for the review regardless. I think this is really close, probably umpire’s call.

1st over: England 5-0 (target 268; Lamb 1, Beaumont 0) Darcie Brown, who struggled at times in the first innings, spears the first ball of the innings down the leg side for four byes.

Emma Lamb takes a single to get off the mark, and not much else happens. It looks like Australia’s seamers, like England’s for most of the day, are going to attack the stumps.

Here come the players. There are 30 overs remaining tonight, weather permitting, then another 90-odd tomorrow – when tickets are free.

“Happily today is looking a lot better but I share the scars of 1989 with you (see 75th over),” writes David Hamblin. “We were quite optimistic as we walked in with Aus 276-6 overnight but then Steve Waugh scored 152 and almost doubled their total. Then it was the lbw Alderman show… think it was the year of multiple captains and merry-go-round of selections.”

They blend into one, understandably, but the summer of four captains was 1988. Then in 1989 they picked 29 players in six Ashes Tests. Tremendous.

“Afternoon Rob,” writes Tor Turner. “I emailed your colleague early doors about what impact the predicted storms might have on strategy. I’m delighted that I now look a complete ninny – the sun continues to beam down, and while there have been some ominous clouds, we seem to be doing okay.

“Whichever way this goes, it’s been the best argument for more five-day women’s Tests – look at what brilliant play it’s brought us!”

Yes, five-day Tests have felt like a no-brainer for a while. Hopefully there’s a classic finish tomorrow to ram the point home.

Australia were cruising at 149 for one when Lauren Filer dismissed Ellyse Perry for the second time in the match. That sparked a meandering collapse that would have been worse but for a counter-attacking 50 from Alyssa Healy. They still have plenty of runs to work with – no team has chased over 200 in a women’s Test before – but a dressing-room full of serial winners is never going to be happy with an innings like that.

Ecclestone is only fourth woman to take ten wickets in a Test for England. She leads the team off, raising the ball to an adoring crowd. Her second-innings figures are outstanding: 30.5-7-63-5. And her match figures are extraordinary: 77.1-16-192-10.

No woman has bowled as many overs in a Test since 1992. It was a triumph of skill, concentration, fitness and the skin on her spinning finger.

Sophie Ecclestone wraps up the innings with a classic arm ball to the No11 Darcie Brown! It’s Ecclestone’s fifth wicket of the innings and her tenth of a memorable match. She is a superstar. And because of her artistry, England need 268 for a famous victory.

Would you believe it. A full toss from Ecclestone is clipped straight to midwicket by Healy, who stomps off in fury. Ecclestone puts her hand over her head in mock-shame; out of nothing, England have taken two wickets in three balls.