Perry holds key for Australia

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The Southern Stars’ hopes of winning the Commonwealth Bank Women’s Ashes Test rest on a knife edge after another dramatic final hour of play left the Australians 5-57, chasing 185 for victory.

While the first two days of this Test have ebbed and flowed with dramatic swings in the balance of power, for the most part the third instalment resembled a steely tug-of-war. Yet the five o’clock chimes signalled the tumbling of wickets for the third consecutive day.

Again Australia's hopes rest on Ellyse Perry. The saviour of the hosts' first innings must again mount a rescue mission with the bat if the Commonwealth Bank Southern Stars are to have any chance of securing victory in the solitary Test.

Perry survived the final moments of the witching hour before stumps to remain not out on one, alongside Sarah Elliott who dug in for a resolute five from 53 balls.

No doubt Perry would have expected to put her feet up until tomorrow after her first Test five-wicket haul inspired Australia to bowl England out for 190, but with an alarming sense of déjà vu the top order collapsed in dramatic fashion.

Ellyse Villani pulled Katherine Brunt’s first two balls to the boundary, and top-edged the third, only for it bobble out of the gloves of a diving Sarah Taylor.

Three overs later Villani let loose once more, spanking three consecutive Anya Shrubsole deliveries to the rope.

It proved to be a lively, if brief, cameo. After racing to 21 from as many balls, the opener mistimed another pull shot and on this occasion the top edge landed safely in the hands of Natalie Sciver at first slip.

As toddler Sam Elliott played with a tennis ball on the grassy slope beneath the WACA scoreboard, his mother Sarah walked to the middle and joined Lanning at the crease, only to watch on as her batting partners trudged back to the pavilion, the first three all falling victim to debutant Kate Cross.

Lanning (15) feathered the ball to wicketkeeper Sarah Taylor, while Jess Cameron lasted just one ball, chasing a wide delivery that flew to Heather Knight at first slip.

Alex Blackwell survived the Cross hat-trick ball but not the over, Taylor snaffling another edge, and Blackwell departed for a pair.

In a mirror of the first innings, Jodie Fields came to the crease with her side in desperate trouble at 5-40, but this time the skipper couldn’t spark the rearguard action.

Keeping up to the stumps for medium-pacer Jenny Gunn, Taylor whipped the bails off after the ball slid down leg side. Fields had lifted her back foot for the briefest of moments, but it was enough for the lightning-quick Taylor and Australia's captain was on her way for 13.

Perry has proved to be the talisman throughout this match and she will need to notch another big score after bending her back to send down 20 overs in temperatures topping 40 degrees.

The allrounder has taken eight wickets in the match and scored 71 in Australia’s first innings.

She already had one wicket in the bag when England resumed their second innings in the morning at 3-18 with an overall lead of 12 but Arran Brindle and Sciver provided stubborn resistance, forming a solid 54-run partnership.

The Southern Stars struggled to find the early breakthrough, as Fields rotated the bowlers for shorter spells while the temperature hovered around the 40 degree mark.

But in the second over of her third spell Perry was rewarded for her nagging line and length with a delivery that zipped through and clipped off stump, sending Sciver back to the sheds after a hard earned 23.

Brindle (35) lasted two more overs, becoming Perry’s next victim courtesy of another crackling delivery that trapped the batter plumb.

Perry was 4-33 at tea, adding to her three wickets taken in the first innings and a sterling knock of 71 on day two.