England's women secure Ashes victory
England Women romped to victory over old foe Australia in the Ashes Test in Bowral today to retain one of the greatest prizes in cricket. The team rattled through Australia’s lower order early on in the first session on the final day of the Ashes Test to reduce them to 231-9 declared, a lead of 141 runs. Emma Sampson, Australia’s final batter faced two balls before her captain, Karen Rolton declared to set up an exciting finish to this Ashes series.
With 59 overs to play, as well as an additional 17 in the final hour if required, England set about the task of notching up the required 142 runs to win the match and retain the Ashes. With the visitors losing an early wicket at 12-1, Claire Taylor and Beth Morgan added 49 for the second wicket to push England through to 61, before Morgan was caught close in by Kate Blackwell off Lisa Sthalekar for 13. Lydia Greenway, coming in at three, took the Australians to task and posted 26 off 31 balls before she was trapped lbw by Shelley Nitschke, leaving England 92-3.
Sarah Taylor, batting at five for England joined Claire in the middle as England needed 46 runs to secure victory. The two Taylors scored quickly, finding the gaps in Australia’s field and pushed the ball through to the boundary. Claire’s half-century came up from 104 balls.
With England on 121 and needing just 25, Sarah (12) launched a ball from Sampson to mid-wicket where Kate Blackwell took a catch. Captain Charlotte Edwards joined Claire in the middle and the two most experienced players in the squad saw England through to the emphatic victory. Taylor finished unbeaten on 64, while Edwards was 14 not out.
Captain Edwards admitted, “I’m delighted; almost lost for words. To beat Australia in Australia is a fantastic feeling. We had always said we would come out here and aim to win this match in order to retain the Ashes and that’s what we did today. I’m so proud of all my players. We have played some fantastic cricket over these past four days to continually have the upper hand over Australia and to secure victory today was a great effort.”
Earlier in the day, Australia had lost five wickets for 36 runs including the key wicket of Sthalekar early on in the first session to a catch by Isa Guha from Beth Morgan’s bowling. She fell just short of her second Test century, scoring 98 before being dismissed. Guha trapped Leonie Coleman to claim her fourth wicket of the second innings and her ninth for the match. She returned match figures of 9-100 and with it secured the Player of the Match.
Guha said, “It was brilliant to be playing at The Bradman Oval and it was an extra special win for us because we knew that people were saying we had only come out for the draw as that would have been enough to retain the Ashes. But we always knew that we were playing for a win and it’s great to be part of such a special occasion.
“I’m pleased that I was able to step up to the mark, but at the end of the day over the Test match the whole team has contributed to such an emphatic win. We’ll celebrate tonight but look on to the New Zealand series which starts in less than a week”, she added.