Australia and England engineered a grandstand finish to the Ashes Test in Canberra, as England nearly ran down the biggest fourth-innings chase in women’s Test history before a collapse left them scrambling to survive at nine wickets down. The gap between the teams in the end was 11 runs, with the last-gasp draw leaving Australia leading the multi-format series on points 6-4.
Those dramatic final hours came after losing most of the third day to rain, encouraging Australian captain Meg Lanning on the fourth and final day to declare at 216 for seven late in the second session. Lanning set England 257 to win from 48 overs, an equation that should have been relatively straightforward for Australia to protect against tired players on a wearing pitch with no fielding restrictions.
But England launched into that chase like it was a one-day international, Tammy Beaumont making the early running with 36 from 42 balls, before Lauren Winfield-Hill started stepping down the pitch to take on the bowling and make 33. England made 52 for the opening stand and 42 for the second wicket, before captain Heather Knight combined with vice-captain Natalie Sciver for the major partnership of the day.
Knight’s epic 168 not out in the first innings had her team in the match, and she added another 48 in even time in the second innings, driving crisply through the covers despite suffering leg cramps. Sciver climbed into a series of pull shots to keep the score racing along. At one stage they had reduced the required total to 91 from 90 deliveries, and looked the goods to get them.
Lanning, meanwhile, was vacillating, sometimes with six fielders on the boundary, sometimes with three. Australia looked to have no idea where help might come from. It was teenage quick Darcie Brown who delivered it, crashing into Knight’s front pad for an lbw decision that was upheld on review. Sophia Dunkley was given out the same way the very next ball, but her review showed the ball clearing the bails by a hair’s breadth.
Dunkley made the most of her reprieve, battering 45 from 32 balls, including a couple of sixes off the bowling of Annabel Sutherland, while Sciver ploughed on. The required target dropped to 53 off 66. But Sutherland slowed the rush by bowling around the wicket, warned for negative bowling down the leg side, before resorting to high bouncers that Dunkley couldn’t hit. Then the leg-spinner Alana King bowled an over conceding one run to Sciver.
Needing 44 from 54 balls, Sciver took on Sutherland with the pull shot again and was well caught by Lanning at midwicket for 58. Wicketkeeper Amy Jones only had to find singles for Dunkley, but instead slogged across the line at Sutherland for Beth Mooney to take an even better catch diving forward at deep midwicket, broken jaw and all. England’s lower order kept swinging, needing 24 runs from 28 balls, but Katherine Brunt was caught behind, Anya Shrubsole was run out, and Charlie Dean top-edged a sweep shot. King on debut and Sutherland in her second Test were nerveless. When the ninth wicket fell with 13 balls to go, last pair Kate Cross and Sophie Ecclestone blocked out the rest.
Australia will have things to look at in the postmortem. Across a declaration-setting innings, their batting went at 3.38 per over. Tahlia McGrath, who lit up the first T20 with her 91 from 49 balls, walked out on the fourth morning with the game set up for a finisher and made 34 from 67. Only Ashleigh Gardner’s run-a-ball 38 and Jess Jonassen’s 14 from six balls adhered to the brief of fast runs to push the chance of a result. Regardless of how England attacked the target, there was a lack of boldness in Australia choosing only 48 overs to bowl.
All of which must be seen within the constraints of a four-day Test, where any time lost to rain severely affects the integrity of a contest. The finish that will be replayed and feted relied on both captains and both teams being willing to take a punt. Ideally Tests in the future won’t need such interventions, if they are played over five days as the men’s matches are. This episode underlines again how good the format can be.
