Key events
62nd over: England 250-2 (Beaumont 117, Sciver-Brunt 56) Annabel Sutherland comes on for Brown. Took a wicket in her first over yesterday. Followed up with a series of full tosses, mind, so it wasn’t all her own way. Sciver-Brunt defends three before getting off strike, leaving Beaumont to play very nicely with an open blade, behind point, Gardner racing around. Beaumont glances a single to follow. Ripple of applause for the 250. They’re 223 behind.
61st over: England 246-2 (Beaumont 114, Sciver-Brunt 55) A couple of singles from Garth, in another controlled set.
Peter Gibbs has emailed in. “Last night, Heather K saying: ‘It was in the balance last night, the wicket is pretty dead for the bowlers. That Sophie was able to hold one end was outstanding, keep the bowlers banging it into off stump.’ I’m assuming that like the bazballers, we have a choice on how the wickets are prepared for the series. Do we? Is this what we wanted? Has it worked out? In other news, saw you on that there How to win the Ashes Doco. I never really appreciated your hair until I saw it ‘live’. Have a fine day everyone. I’ll be pootling up the Welsh Coast.”
Thanks Peter. The hair was mown for this summer, but it’ll be back. As for pitches, most women’s Tests have struggled to even be allocated a ground. There has been no choice of pitch, and even in the decade I’ve been covering the game we’ve consistently seen used pitches, slow flat mudheaps, given to the women’s game. So in that canon, this pitch is great. I don’t think “dead” is the right word, just that it’s good for batting and the bowlers have to work, but at least it has pace and carry, so runs are scored quickly and chances can be created. At Taunton 2019, or North Sydney 2017, or Canterbury 2015, you wouldn’t have had any edges carrying to the cordon. These players have missed too many, so the batting side has stayed on top.
Half century! Natalie Sciver-Brunt 53 from 69 balls
60th over: England 244-2 (Beaumont 113, Sciver-Brunt 54) Nice scoring rate for Sciver-Brunt as she brings up her minor milestone with a slash through point for four. Brown just keeps bowling wide outside off. There’s a bit of swing through the air but it’s no threat unless they’re trying to feed a catch to gully. Could be an expensive method against this player.
59th over: England 238-2 (Beaumont 112, Sciver-Brunt 49) First controlled runs of the day off Garth, as Sciver-Brunt places a couple through point and follows up with a single to move to 49 and keep the strike.
58th over: England 235-2 (Beaumont 112, Sciver-Brunt 46) Well Stuie, they will if Brown keeps bowling like this. Too full, and Beaumont drives it perfectly through mid off for four. Three balls later, one-day muscle memory means she can’t help reaching for the wider one, gliding it away despite two slips to the rope. The next ball is a short hit-me, and Beaumont clatters the pull shot for a dozen off the over.
57th over: England 223-2 (Beaumont 100, Sciver-Brunt 46) In the blockhole goes Garth to Sciver-Brunt, keeps drying things up, and when she offers width there’s another drop! Australia missed a few yesterday. Technically maybe no one got a touch on it, but the top-edged cut flies between first and second slip and neither is fast enough to respond. It’s hard work for a fielding team if you don’t take those.
56th over: England 219-2 (Beaumont 100, Sciver-Brunt 42) A little ratty from Beaumont early, hurls the bat at width from Brown but can’t lay bat on it. Brown keeps bowling wider of the off stump than is probably her intention, but at least it stops the scoring.
55th over: England 219-2 (Beaumont 100, Sciver-Brunt 42) Kim Garth was Australia’s tidiest operator with the ball yesterday, kept the runs down, and she starts similarly this morning on an off-stump line, treated watchfully by Sciver-Brunt.
54th over: England 219-2 (Beaumont 100, Sciver-Brunt 42) Drama first ball of the day! Darcie Brown booms an inswinger, nails Nat SB on the pad, and she’s given out. The batter reviews, of course she does, biggest wicket remaining and there’s plenty of movement on that ball. So much so that it’s sneaking past leg stump. Hard being a bowler: beat them all ends up with a great delivery, but it’s doing too much.
We’re almost ready to go…
Drop me a line
The email and the tweets are open, the links are up top or to the side, depending what your screen looks like.
If you want more detail on exactly what happened, I’ve got a daily wrap podcast for Day 2 with Bharat Sundaresan which is here.
… and on day two about the apprentice, Annabel Sutherland.
In what essentially became a two-parter, I wrote on day one about Ellyse Perry, the master…
Ali Martin wrote about the excitement of England’s new pace option Lauren Filer, who tested them out especially on Day 1.
If you’re catching up on yesterday, why not start with the match report from Raf Nicholson.
Preamble
Geoff Lemon
Hello friends. It’s another warm morning from the place where the bridge is named Trent, or so the signs would have me believe. And it’s the day when the tussle for leverage in this Test match might go one way or the other. We’ve had a fast-scoring couple of days on a nice batting surface, 700 runs between the two teams. Centuries yesterday to Annabel Sutherland for Australia and Tammy Beaumont for England. We haven’t lost any play, either, despite that rain delay on day one – we’ve caught up to 180 overs if you account for two overs for the innings change.
It’ll be interesting to see how England approach things today. Beaumont and Nat Sciver-Brunt to resume, both played an attacking style yesterday. Sophia Dunkley and Danni Wyatt to follow, who usually do the same. They’re 218 for 2, still 255 behind, but the rate they have been going, could knock those runs off in a couple of sessions. Australia will need to bowl better than they did yesterday to force enough breakthroughs. Fatigue for both teams will increasingly become an factor.
Should be a good day.
