Knight Rues Day After England Fumble Chance To Take Control

For a while on the first morning of the women’s Ashes Test in Canberra, England had the match firmly in their hands.

- Geoff Lemon

Then those same hands let it slip, dropping catches in the cordon from Meg Lanning and Rachael Haynes before they went close to making centuries. By stumps, the score was a hefty 327 for seven .

The England captain, Heather Knight, was sure from years of Big Bash experience that the surface at Manuka Oval would be good for batting throughout the full four days. Confident that any assistance for the bowlers would come at the start of the match, she chose to field on winning the toss.

Initially, it worked. England’s long time attack leaders Katherine Brunt and Anya Shrubsole found significant swing and got movement offthe pitch, with Brunt drawing Alyssa Healy’s edge from a loose drive for a duck before Shrubsole found the edge of Beth Mooney’s defensive push for three. Mooney was playing despite a recently broken jaw, but her courage was not rewarded with Australia’s score at four for two.