England on back foot after losing Women’s Ashes Test to Australia
England’s hopes of regaining the Women’s Ashes took a hit today as Australia won the only Test of the series by 89 runs.
England came into day five needing 152 runs to win their first home Ashes Test since 2005 but had just five wickets in hand on the final day at Trent Bridge.
In the first five-day Ashes Test this century, Danni Wyatt and Kate Cross took to the crease in the first session of the final day with England 123-5.
Ashes already in balance
Cross lost her wicket for 13 – a record Test score for the 31-year-old – before her replacement Amy Jones was stumped for four.
Wyatt battled on and got her maiden Test half-century but fell for 54 after Sophie Ecclestone went for 10 and Lauren Filer for a duck.
The fall of Wyatt left England 89 runs short of the 267-run target having lost all 10 of their wickets.
Ashleigh Gardner was the thorn in England’s side, taking eight wickets in the second innings to add to her four in the first.
With 12 points remaining in the series after Australia took the opening four, England will now need to outscore Australia by at least five in the six short-form matches to retain the Ashes.
Those matches begin with three Twenty20 matches before the two sides contest three one-day matches.
England captain Heather Knight said: “Obviously we feel disappointment but a lot of pride about how we approached it by playing entertaining cricket.
“A couple of evening sessions on day three and four cost us. But I’m proud of the way the girls fought throughout. Should we have won it? I don’t know. We made it tough for ourselves on Sunday night.”
Australia’s star bowler Gardner said: “I wouldn’t have dreamed of it to be honest but it showed having five days in a Test to actually get a result is super important.
“There are still six matches to go and still a lot that can happen in this Ashes series.”
The series continues on Saturday in the first T20 match at Edgbaston.