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Jonassen steers Stars out of trouble

Australia's star middle-order trio dismissed for single-figure scores but debutante Jonassen leads fight back

A gutsy batting display by debutante Jess Jonassen has kept the Commonwealth Bank Southern Stars’ first innings afloat on the first day of the one-off Women’s Ashes Test in Canterbury.

At stumps, the Southern Stars are 8-268 with Jonassen 95no and Kristen Beams 24no.

Jonassen’s unbeaten knock was the standout performance for Australia on a day where ball dominated bat due largely to England speedster Anya Shrubsole’s four top order wickets which included the prize pair of Meg Lanning and Ellyse Perry for only eight runs between them. 

Highlights: A brilliant half-century for Jess Jonassen (Australia only)

Two Shrubsole-inspired collapses either side of lunch gave England the ascendancy in muggy, overcast conditions before Jonassen and Alyssa Healy (39) combined for a 77-run sixth-wicket stand to put some starch into Australia’s innings.

England fought back through Laura Marsh’s marathon effort from the Nackington Road End. Marsh bowled unchanged for 19 overs and conceded less than two runs an over and picked up two wickets during this spell.

But Jonassen found another ally in fellow debutante Beams who was invaluable in an unbroken stand of 62 to leave the momentum with the visitors on a topsy-turvy day at Kent’s Spitfire Ground.

"I think it’s probably even-stevens at the end of the day," Shrubsole said after play. 

"We’re really happy to have taken eight wickets but that last partnership was frustrating. 

"Credit must go to Jess Jonassen in particular, I thought she batted really well."

Nicole Bolton, the third debutante named in the Stars starting XI, was the first of the untested trio to show her skills in the four-day game when Lanning won the toss and elected to bat before the coin ceased spinning on the dry, hard pitch.

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Lanning had a rare short stay at the crease // Getty Images

The Australian openers were immediately probed by the hosts’ new-ball inquisitors who were generating violent swing and matching it with vociferous appealing.

With the initial investigation successfully passed, Bolton and partner Elyse Villani started to open their shoulders once the Kookaburra’s sheen wore off, with Villani particularly ruthless on anything fractionally short.

Five boundaries rocketed off Villani’s horizontal bat – four through the leg-side – to propel the first-wicket stand past fifty. But after surviving the early examination, the right-hander was undone by a Shrubsole delivery that held its line, found the outside edge and was well held by Heather Knight at first slip.

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Shrubsole was putting plenty of pressure on the batters // Getty Images

Villani’s exit introduced Lanning to the crease, but the world’s No.1 ranked one-day and T20 batter lasted only four balls, out in identical fashion to Villani for three off four balls 20 minutes before the main interval.

Whatever was served for lunch in the home dressing sheds re-energised Shrubsole, who burst out of the blocks in the afternoon session. She first fremoved Bolton (36) with a booming inswinger that found the gap between bat and pad and cannoned into leg-stump.

Shrubsole then claimed the other big scalp of Perry, whose 30-ball stay ended when an inside edge ballooned off her front pad to a swooping Sarah Taylor behind the stumps.

Matters went from bad to worse for the Southern Stars when Alex Blackwell, the veteran batter playing her 200th match in the green and gold of Australia, was trapped in front by Katherine Brunt for seven to reduce the tourists’ powerful middle order to three single-figure scores.

In desperate need for a partnership of substance, Jonassen and Healy knuckled down and batted with calmness and clarity, leaving judiciously and dispatching the wayward delivery when presented.

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Healy smacks one through the covers // Getty Images

Jonassen in particular was ruthless on anything overpitched, stroking boundaries through the covers and straight down the ground to keep her score ticking over at a respectable rate.

Healy was a tad more adventurous, taking the aerial route on her way to 39 before falling in the second over after the tea interval, lbw to Marsh from around the wicket.

Another collapse threatened when Sarah Coyte feathered seamer Kate Cross behind for three, and when Megan Schutt fell for 11 seven overs later, 250 was looking like a speck on the distant horizon.

But Jonassen and Beams stood firm, defying England against old and new Kookaburra, sapping the energy and enthusiasm with the type of attritional cricket many have demanded from the Australian men’s team.

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Jonassen's innings on day one was crucial // Getty Images

Time was the only thing that cost Joanssen from scoring a century, whose determined innings is the first time the left-hander has passed 50 playing for her country.

"I was just looking to go out there and play my natural game and not to panic and that’s exactly what happened," Jonassen said. 

"I didn’t panic and I was able to hit the balls in the areas I wanted to. 

"To come out of it 95 not out at the end of the day I reckon I’d take that any day of the week."

Australia: Nicole Bolton, Elyse Villani, Meg Lanning (c), Ellyse Perry, Alex Blackwell, Jess Jonassen, Alyssa Healy, Sarah Coyte, Megan Schutt, Kristen Beams, Holly Ferling. Erin Osborne (12th)

England: Heather Knight, Sarah Taylor, Lauren Winfield, Charlotte Edwards, Lydia Greenway, Katherine Brunt, Nat Sciver, Georgia Elwiss, Laura Marsh, Anya Shrubsole, Kate Cross.