Women’s Ashes first ODI: Australia v England – live!

Oh no! Not good for England, Brown gets on to just stick in the pitch and Sciver is helpless as she sees the ball ploop up off the leading edge into the clutches of a full stretch Brown in her follow through. Cripes.

26th over: England 103-5 (Sciver 45 Wyatt 8) Ooof! Cut in half! McGrath gets her magician act on and splices Danii Wyatt in two with a ripping in-ducker. It beats everyone and rolls away for four byes. Wyatt isn’t too fussed though, she cracks a cut shot away for four more off the very next ball.

25th over: England 94-5 (Sciver 44 Wyatt 4)

Halfway stage. Australia need 5 wickets. England need 112 runs. Where’s your money?

24th over: England 91-5 (Sciver 43 Wyatt 3) McGrath keeps it tight, just a couple from the over.

23rd over: England 89-5 (Sciver 42 Wyatt 2) Darcie Brown is back into the attack. England need a partnership to get them closer to this target.

22nd over: England 85-5 (Sciver 40 Wyatt 1) Danni Wyatt is at the crease. England have it all to do. I’ll crunch the numbers and put up the latest equation in two tics.

Rapped on the pads and given. Dunkley thinks about a review but decides against and walks off disconsolate. England have lost two quick ones and are teetering once again. The Aussies have a pinky round the Ashes trophy.

20th over: England 83-4 (Sciver 39 Dunkley 5 ) Sophia Dunkley is the new batter, she immediately cuts Alana King away for four, helped by a miss-field at deep point. Nine off King’s first over.

A tight call but given and Jones trudges off. She looks crestfallen, perhaps knowing that whatever the height she should have clobbered it for six.

Jones plinks a full toss from McGrath to deep square leg…but was it above waist height? It looked marginal and we’re going upstairs to have a butchers.

19th over: England 73-3 (Sciver 36 Jones 16) Jones again lofts Jonassen down the ground for four. There’s seven off the over, a good one for England.

_{Whisper it but this pair are batting well.}

18th over: England 66-3 (Sciver 34 Jones 11) McGrath into the attack (still gives me the willies to type that…) she gets one to lift like a cobra off a length with her second, nothing Healy can do about that and they scamper a bye. Three off it all told.

The bins are out. But I fear the lorry/truck has been and gone. The bin man only calls once round here.

17th over: England 63-3 (Sciver 32 Jones 11) Back after drinks with Jonassen and she very nearly skids one through Amy Jones with the very first ball…yikes. She then tosses one up and Jones scampers down the track and plops her for four back over her head. Nice batting from England’s keeper.

16th over: England 59-3 (Sciver 32 Jones 7) England pick up four off Perry’s over and drinks are called. Back in a sec, Go Go GO!

15th over: England 55-3 ( Sciver 29 Jones 6) This pair just ticking over. the run rate is still very manageable for England, it’s those early wickets that have given them the collywobbles. Jess Jonassen is in into the attack and is looking quite probing. We’ll have one more and and then it’ll be drinks/bin dash.

14th over: England 52-3 ( Sciver 26 Jones 6) Sciver picks up three more as England continue the re-build job. I’m still half thinking about the bins.

13th over: England 49-3 ( Sciver 23 Jones 6) Three singles taken as we hear news that Beth Mooney is off the field with a tight quad. She won’t be back on in this match. Fingers crossed she can recover in time for the rest of the series, you wouldn’t bet against her. Nails she is.

12th over: England 46-3 ( Sciver 21 Jones 5) Ellyse Perry into the attack and it’s a tidy start for the pre-eminent all-rounder. Just a single off it. She made only her second ever ODI first baller earlier, reckon she’ll be wanting to make amends with the ball in hand.

11th over: England 45-3 ( Sciver 20 Jones 5) Amy Jones is the new batter and she’s off the mark with a streaky edge through the slip cordon for four. England will take ‘em any which way.

Oh that is unlucky, of sorts. Winfield-Hill smokes a pull shot but it is straight down the throat of Ash Gardner on the square leg boundary. Strife for England.

10th over: England 39-2 ( Winfield-Hill 14 Sciver 19) Another whipcrack pull for Sciver who looks in fine fettle.

9th over: England 33-2 ( Winfield-Hill 13 Sciver 14) A wide and a single off Schutt, the ball is still darting about. A quiet over, but not quite quiet enough for me to don the slippers and run outside with the binbags. It’s a weeks worth too. Gah. Concentrate. It’s ok. It’ll be OK.

8th over: England 31-2 ( Winfield-Hill 13 Sciver 13) A glorious pull shot from Sciver skims across the turf to the boundary. That’s a nerve settler.

I can hear the bin men outside and I don’t think I did them last night… I can smell trouble. And bins.

7th over: England 24-2 ( Winfield-Hill 13 Sciver 6) Counterpunch from The gals in pale blue, Sciver drives Schutt for four and Winfield-Hill gets in on the act with a back-foot drive of her own to the boundary.

How good was Kate Cross with the ball? Don’t take my word for it (but do take these guys’)

6th over: England 13-2 ( Winfield-Hill 7 Sciver 1) Sciver is watchful, it feels like her wicket is crucial in this run chase, she was so impressive with the bat on the final day of the Test match.

4th over: England 10-2 ( Winfield-Hill 5 Sciver 0) Sciver survives the hat-trick ball! Just. She had a nibble at the out-swinger and very nearly gave a nick. England have to dig in here. Knight’s wicket is the big scalp.

Knight goes for a golden duck! Pinned in front from an in-ducker from Darcie Brown who is on a hat-trick! That was stone dead, Knight just walked off. A rueful shake of the head. The Aussies are ticking. England in all sorts. Sciver strides out to face the hat-trick ball…

Big snick and pouched in the slips – Australia have their first and Beaumont has to go.

3rd over: England 8-0 (Beaumont 1 Winfield-Hill 5) Tidy over from Schutt and she pins Winfield-Hill on the pads with the final ball, BIG APPEAL! But the umpire is unmoved. They don’t call for a review and were right not to, the DRS showing it was sliding past leg. There is movement there with the new ball for Schutt. England looking watchful so far.

2nd over: England 6-0 (Beaumont 0 Winfield-Hill 5) A tight start from Brown with five dots before going a tad too full off the last and Winfield-Hill caresses it through the covers for England’s first boundary.

OBO stalwart Guy Hornsby is on the little blue bird:

I feel ya Guy, this could have a few twists and turns yet.

1st Over: England 2-0 (Beaumont 0 Winfield-Hill 1) A single and a wide as Schutt just loses her radar in her first. It’ll be Darcie Brown at the other end.

Here we go – Megan Schutt has the ball and Tammy Beaumont and Lauren Winfield-Hill are at the crease. Play!

Thank you Geoff and hellOBO.

Jim here picking up the reins from a sleepy south London. It’s game on in Canberra, can England haul down this target and keep the Ashes ticking?

Get me on the email and the twitters with your thoughts and theories.

Whilst we wait for the players to emerge here’s some lunchtime reading from none other than Pat Cummins:

The climate crisis is wreaking havoc but sport can be a part of the solution

Important stuff. And could he be more of a dreamboat?

50th over: Australia 205-9 (Schutt 1) There was nothing left to lose. The first ball is a bit short, but mid-on is up, so Mooney launches herself at the ball to flat-bat it over the infield. Back foot in the air. Then gets a shorter ball and rides it over backward point for four more. Tries to triple up with a cut shot through the off side, but it’s stopped for a single. That brings about the King wicket, a single behind square for Megan Schutt, and the Mooney wicket last ball.

On the last ball of the match Mooney falls. Shuffles down, carves over mid-off, but Winfield-Hill moves well to her right and takes a fine overhead catch. Saves four runs in so doing.