The Ashes – Only Test, first day
Before the day’s details, here’s my pre-hindsight gripe: Jon Lewis got his selection wrong. He picked an XI containing two promising young quicks (fine), but only one leading spinner (boo). If Heather Knight was looking for an alternative to Sophie Ecclestone, she had only Emma Lamb and Sophia Dunkley to turn to. Ecclestone had suffered a shoulder injury as a direct consequence of overuse last time round. There it was 64 overs. Now she has the rest of the series still to come.
It meant Lewis didn’t think any of Charlie Dean, Sarah Glenn, Linsey Smith or Kirstie Gordon were worth the risk. Who would I have dropped instead? Danni Wyatt, I’m afraid. When she scores a double hundred to secure the game for England, I’ll retreat to do good turns.
Knight’s bowling choices showed she agreed with Lewis. Late in the day, just before the second new ball, she turned to Sophia Dunkley for some wrist spin. She was hit for a straight six. Ecclestone’s toil was 31-6-71-3.
Gripe over.
The day
Alyssa Healy won the toss and let her team bat.
By the close of play the Aussies had passed 300, but England had managed to pick up seven wickets.
They must hope that the pitch stays true for long enough for them to post 400-500 and wait for the reaction.
In Lewis’ favour his choice of Lauren Filer proved spot on. Kate Cross took a fine catch in the gully to hold a fierce cut from Beth Mooney (33). Cross’ feet finished high in the air.
She had already taken the first wicket in strange circumstances: Phoebe Litchfield, another debutant (23), shouldered arms, the verdict was lbw. She walked off without a raised eyebrow, only for replays to show the ball missing its target. DRS is a curious beast.
Then drama!
Sophie Ecclestone produces her perfect ball to defeat Tahlia McGrath’s forward defensive. It turns past the bat to hit off. But by then McGrath (61) and Ellyse Perry have added 119, Perry looking as though she is picking up from her 213* of 2017. The game takes another lurch. In the same over Ecclestone beats skipper Healy all ends up. 226-5. Nobody left asleep in the heat on the terraces.
More drama!
Lauren Filer has the great Perry in trouble. She edges the ball above and beyond Nat Sciver-Brunt in the gully; 4 runs. She moves from 95 to 99. The next ball, ditto, except the ball finishes in NS- B’s hands, a spectacular catch! Perry joins a melancholy trio of previous Ashes combatants who have fallen one short of a century (thanks, hypocaust). England delirious. 226-3 has become 238-6.
We must be grateful to the super-statisticians (not just the indispensible hypocaust), for digging out astonishing facts. Young Filer’s two wickets were Mooney and Perry, the first time they had both fallen to the same bowler in one innings. Hard to imagine the reaction of one Jodie Filer, who happens to be her twin sister, let alone her proud parents.
The two young quicks were bound to offer some loose balls, and the Aussie batters reaped their harvest. That is where Cross’ contribution was so important, Unfortunately she suffered some ill- fortune, but loose deliveries meant she went for more than 4 per over like them.
Verdict: always favour the side with runs already on the board.
Teams:
England:
Tammy Beaumont, Emma Lamb, Heather Knight (captain), Nat Sciver-Brunt, Sophia Dunkley, Danni Wyatt, Amy Jones (wk), Sophie Ecclestone, Kate Cross, Lauren Filer, Lauren Bell
Australia:
Beth Mooney, Phoebe Litchfield, Ellyse Perry, Tahlia McGrath, Jess Jonassen, Alyssa Healy
(captain, wk), Ashleigh Gardner, Annabel Sutherland, Alana King, Kim Garth, Darcie Brown
Score: Australia 328-7 (Perry 99, McGrath 61, Ecclestone 3-71)
Officials: Sue Redfern and Anna Harris (she stood in yesterday’s game as well. Is she involved in
a 6-day game?)
Two Thoughts
1. The massive publicity given to the Nottingham test made a strange contrast with the previous
day’s game at Loughborough. The ECB seemed to ignore it entirely. As I arrived before the start, I
reckon I was the only non-staff person on the ground. There was no PA, no team-sheets, 20 deck-
chairs placed at the opposite end to the entrance facing a violent sun, no ice-cream van, no bar.
Who were the umpires? No way of knowing unless you happened to be related. How
discourteous to them (they were Anna Harris and Ben Peverall).
Given that the Haslegrave ground is the ECB’s HQ, home to women’s cricket, this was
inexcusable negligence.
2. During the rain-break at Trent Bridge it was regrettable that TMS spent almost all the time
discussing the men’s test, recently completed. Why? Was there so little to say about the women’s
game, in general and in particular? A reverse situation was inconceivable.
