Opinion
What a brilliant Test match! It was the best of an Ashes summer that has already boasted an Australian Ashes series win and an Australian Open win by an Australian named Ash.
Please give us more women’s Test cricket!
The Women’s Ashes Test in Canberra exhibited all that is good about the game: skilled bowling, enterprising batting and determined fielding. Not to mention the tantalising ebb and tremulous flow of any classic Test match.
At 1-1 and 2-4 in the first hour I feared the English women might steamroll the Aussies. But at the end of their innings, with 337 runs safely posted on the scoreboard, I didn’t think the Australians could lose, particularly in a four-day game.
When the English first innings faltered at 7-150 I lamented – in an ill-disciplined internal grizzle – that it was more of the same. Another dismal English batting performance in a summer of dismal English batting performances. All that was different was the gender of the players.
But I didn’t count on the Heather Knight. Her innings of 168 not out was quite simply magnificent. Scoring over 56 per cent of her team’s runs, she took the English team close enough to the Australian total that the visitors could perhaps see an unlikely victory on the horizon.
Indeed with the loss of two early Australian second-innings wickets and valuable time lost to rain, at the start of the final day I thought that the only team capable of winning in the time remaining were the Pommy girls.
Up until then my predictions for how this Test match might have played out had been wildly inaccurate, and that pattern would continue with each wistful twist and each wicked turn on the final day.
With only four wickets down and a lead of 170 runs, I thought – once again – that the Aussie girls were safe. Even after a tumble of wickets I didn’t think Australia could lose with the number of overs left to bowl.
I applauded when Meg Lanning declared with seven wickets down, setting England 257 to win in a minimum of 48 overs. Why don’t we see courage like that more often in the men’s game?
(Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)
The decision to declare and pursue victory over a draw was even more admirable when one considers that taking the safe option and sharing the points would have placed the Australians in a strong position in this multiformat series with only the ODIs to come. Instead Lanning and her team chose to take the glory shot. A win would secure the Ashes by sundown. But by going for the win they risked the chance of losing and an English dawn.
I tip my hat to Lanning for the choice she made. Bravo! The captain’s courageous.
And speaking of bravery, what an extraordinary run chase by the English. At several points – particularly with Nat Sciver progressing steadily and Sophia Dunkley running amok – I thought the Poms had our measure. The last half hour saw me pacing the room, holding my breath every time an Australian bowler released the ball and the English batter shaped to either defend or attack.
And then the wickets came. Beth Mooney with two outfield catches despite suffering a broken jaw earlier in the match. Alyssa Healy with two catches and a run out at the bowler’s end despite suffering the humiliation of a pair with the bat. The English lost five wickets for 20 runs in what seemed like a whirlwind.
Rarely do we see a Test match go into the final hour with all four results still possible. One team striving for wickets. The other team trying to squeeze out the required runs any which way they can. Both teams looking at a draw as their Plan B if victory should suddenly seem out of reach, the tie remaining very much in the frame.
That the English only gave up on the win with nine wickets down and two overs to play is extraordinary. That the Aussies were still pressing for victory as the last ball was bowled was heart-stopping.
I’ve long believed – at least since the days of Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert – that women’s tennis is as a product the equal of the men’s game, if not superior. If our women cricketers continue to produce Test matches of this quality they too will challenge the men’s game for our attention.
Please give us more women’s Test cricket!
Build your own fantasy cricket team and put it to the test with Draftstars daily fantasy competitions. Pick your match, pick your team and watch the points roll in to take out cash prizes on each match. What are you really gambling with? Set a deposit limit.
Test great Steve Smith is to play for Washington Freedom in the second season of Major League Cricket as the Australian influence in the…
Nathan Lyon has revealed his disappointment that Australia's cricket chiefs have prevented him from playing his first full season of county cricket in England…
Some of you may have watched the recent Fox Sports Series 'A Brief History of Australian Cricket: the Eighties'. If not, I’d definitely recommend…
Nathan Lyon's spell with English county Lancashire has been halved as Cricket Australia looks to protect the fitness of the star spinner. The Australian,…
Cricket Australia insists Optus Stadium can replace the Gabba as the men's Test team's new fortress after handing Perth the first match against India.…
It's no longer about how many runs score individually - it is about the team's ability to win Test in pressure moments.
