Shes done it again. Sure enough, Ellyse Perry has made the defining contribution of the opening day of the Womens Ashes Test Match, unbeaten on 84 from 205 balls as Australia made their way to 3/265 by the close at Taunton.
Progressing gradually through the final session with veteran Rachael Haynes, who will resume tomorrow on 54, the pair have so far put on a flawless 105-run partnership.
With Meg Lannings side only requiring a draw to retain the trophy they won four years ago in this corresponding series, they are in an all-but-impregnable position with the four-day fixture likely to be affected by rain on Friday.
Batting first on a pitch that offered considerable turn to Englands pair of left-arm spinners – but not a lot of luck – the long-time state teammates built on half-centuries already added by Alyssa Healy (58) and Lanning (57).
Advertisement
For Healy, her elevation to the top of the list worked a treat, striking 12 boundaries in 81 balls at the crease to immediately put the home side under pressure.
Ellyse Perry made the defining contribution of the Women's Ashes opening day.Credit:PA
Backing the touch that has revolutionised her game at the top level over the last 18 months, Healy attacked anything remotely off target from the earliest exchanges of the standalone Test Match even after Nicole Bolton (6) was castled by Katherine Brunt.
It was against the flow of play when she fell, misjudging a straight-break from debutant southpaw Kirstie Gordon, who bowled her leg stump around her front pad. But she had done plenty of damage with her aggression, ensuring that Australias engine room would walk out from a sound base.
For Lannings part, she found rhythm harder to come by with the newcomer also slipping several deliveries past both edges of her bat before lunch. There was also a chance, Heather Knight, Englands captain, shelling her opposing number at cover on 26.
Then after the long break, Sophie Ecclestone – the more experienced of the southpaws – kept her at bay with a long and accurate spell, sneaking through the gate not long after the days halfway mark.
But, from the moment Haynes and Perry came together for the fourth wicket, any pressure the home side had built through the second and third hours of the day quickly dissipated. Reminiscent of the last time the unflappable Perry played a Test, when she tallied a series-defining 213 not out against Knights side in 2017, her defence was unconquerable.
Haynes, meanwhile – who captained in Lannings absence in the last Womens Ashes – played in such a controlled fashion it was scarcely believable that she spent 2013 to 2017 in the international wilderness.
The long-term teammates were at ease immediately after tea. By the time the second new ball arrived, they were satisfied advancing the visitors to stumps. Perry reached her 50 in 117 deliveries, Haynes joining her half an hour from the close from her 145th ball at the crease. Brunt (1/30) was excellent early on but lacked potency as the day wore on, her opener partner Anya Shrubsole (0/39) improved later in the day but was well down on her best form earlier on.
Ecclestone (1/64) who, at 20 years of age, is already one of the best spinners in the world, enhanced her reputation in her post-spell lunch having earlier left the field in tears after injuring her shoulder while diving unsuccessfully to stop a Healy clip.
Alyssa Healy elevation to the top of the list worked a treat.Credit:PA
She never let the favourable spinning conditions get the better of her, creating chances with her height and flight rather than overdoing it with sidespin. Not helped either by the lack of DRS Read More – Source
[contf] [contfnew] 
Australian Breaking News Headlines
[contfnewc] [contfnewc]
