A maiden Test hundred from Tammy Beaumont, who was unbeaten on 100 at stumps, helped England reach 218 for two on the second day of the Test at Trent Bridge, as they sought to claw back ground after Australia had earlier posted a record first-innings total of 473.
“As a kid I dreamt of scoring an Ashes Test hundred. Since 2005, that has been my goal,” Beaumont said. “If we go on to win this Test match, it will be right up there, but let’s wait and see.”
Beaumont had survived an early edge which fell just short of Phoebe Litchfield at first slip, and enjoyed a stroke of good fortune on 61 when Alyssa Healy failed to review what she believed to be a bump-ball. Replays showed Beaumont had in fact parried the ball from Alana King off her boot up to Litchfield at short leg.
From there – fresh from making 201 in England’s three-day warm-up last week – Beaumont brought her dress-rehearsal form on to the main stage, surpassing her previous highest Test score of 70 before finally, minutes before the close, bringing up that most treasured of possessions – an Ashes Test hundred. “There were moments when I felt like I wasn’t going to face enough balls to get there tonight, but it’s put the team in a good position,” Beaumont said. “Hopefully we can bat long tomorrow.”
Australia’s heroine, Annabel Sutherland, having hit an unbeaten 137, had made an early inroad for Australia: introduced in the 10th over of England’s innings, she beat Emma Lamb all-ends-up with the first ball of her spell, and had her caught at second slip six balls later.
But a 115-run partnership between Beaumont and Heather Knight then ensued – Knight bringing up her own half-century with a streaky cut for four before edging Ash Gardner behind the stumps. Nat Sciver-Brunt then took up the mantle, moving to a most un-Test-like 41 from 44 balls, on a pitch that looks to have plenty of runs left in it.
Earlier, Australia had piled on 111 runs of their own in the morning session (an unlucky Nelson for England), with just one wicket falling: King bowled by a beauty of an inswinger from Lauren Bell. Sutherland, so often left with little opportunity to shine in her late-middle-order spot in limited overs cricket, relished the chance to showcase her abilities in an unhurried Test innings.
At last, with 20 minutes left of the session, she casually flicked Lauren Filer to deep midwicket for four runs to bring up a maiden international hundred – a milestone greeted with a standing ovation by the crowd. Asked by Sky during the lunch break if she might have done enough to secure a promotion in her next international outing, Sutherland laughed: “I’ve been telling the coach that for a little while!”
“Shell [Nitschke, the coach] did tell me I was batting at 8 and I gave her a little eye-roll,” she added after close of play. “I’m pretty happy just to slot in and play my role. Any chance I get to have a hit I’m going to take it.”
Support came to Sutherland in the form of the debutant Kim Garth, who ground out a sometimes-agonising 22 runs. It took her 12 balls to get off the mark, and 40 to reach double figures; England burned through a review when she was hit on the front pad by Bell, with replays revealing it was missing leg. Her defiance somehow epitomised the approach of this Australia team: everyone does their bit.
England threw everything they had at Garth in an attempt to dislodge her. Admittedly, that wasn’t very much: Filer, as ever, had to be used sparingly, sending down one four-over and one three-over spell in the morning session; Sciver-Brunt did not bowl at all, apparently nursing a sore knee. Knight – yet again – failed to bring either Lamb’s or her own off-spin into the mix. Knight had said at the toss that she would have chosen to bowl first: anyone watching the action on Friday might well have wondered why.
Finally, as the new ball turned into an old one, it was Sophie Ecclestone, yet again, who had to finish the job. In an unchanged 16-over spell, either side of lunch, she continued to nag away – finally trapping Garth lbw with an arm ball. By that time, her ninth-wicket partnership with Sutherland was worth 95 – a record for Australia in Tests.
There was just time for Sutherland to loft Ecclestone for six over midwicket, before – 10 overs after lunch – Darcie Brown drove the ball straight back into the hands of the left-arm spinner. At last, Ecclestone was able to celebrate a maiden Test five-for – and have, one hopes, a long sit-down.
Ecclestone’s figures across the first innings were 46.2 overs bowled, nine maidens, five for 129, at an economy of 2.78, in an innings in which the overall run rate was 3.8. Phenomenal, but at what cost? To put it in the context of her usual workloads, it’s the equivalent of bowling her entire allocation in the Hundred, in the space of two days.
Whether or not they go on to overcome their current first-innings deficit, England’s concern must surely be that they have potentially burned out their key wicket-taking threat, with three days of this Test left to run.
