Resilient Jonassen shows true grit

Resilience. It's the word that former Commonwealth Bank Southern Star Mel Jones used to sum up Jess Jonassen when she presented the allrounder with her Baggy Green prior to play on day of one the one-off Women's Ashes Test in Canterbury.

Stationed on the sideline to begin the day, Jonassen watched on as England seamer Anya Shrubsole eliminated Australia's top order including the key scalps of Meg Lanning and Ellyse Perry, the Stars' two in-form players for just eight runs between them, and then had an up-close view of Katherine Brunt trapping veteran Alex Blackwell to reduce the tourists to 5-99.

Quick Single: Women's Ashes Test day one report

So it's no surprise to those who know her that when the going got tough, Jonassen was resilient, digging in, staying positive and guiding Australia away from peril and into a position of power at stumps on day one.

It's an aspect of a player's game that rarely gets mentioned but is among the most important.

It's the characteristic the men's team is accused of lacking after their recent Ashes batting collapses in the last two Tests at Edgbaston and Trent Bridge.

But on debut, Jonassen played a near-flawless innings to finish the opening day five short of her first international century. Indeed, it was her maiden international half-century.

After a lean run with the bat in the preceding three-match one-day international series which yielded only 24 runs in three innings, the elegant left-hander denied she was in a rut, needing only the time Test cricket affords.

Highlights: Jonassen's gritty innings (restrictions apply)

"I don't think I was ever out of form," Jonassen said when asked if she was peaking at the right time after poor returns in the one-dayers.

"It was more of where I was coming in at the point of the game.

"To be thrown into opening in the first game was a bit of a shock for me – I wasn't really expecting it.

"It's nice in this format to be able to go out and bat time and not have to worry about having to score boundaries right from ball one."

One of the people who wasn't surprised by Jonassen's rear-guard display was Southern Stars coach Matthew Mott.

The multi-format Women's Ashes is the first campaign with Mott behind the wheel, but he says it's the work his charges put in prior to the series that's paying dividends now.

And for Jonassen, there's no better example of progressive improvement than the time spent hitting ball after ball back past the bowler under the Brisbane sun in the lead-up to the Ashes.

"She's just got a great temperament," Mott told cricket.com.au brimming with pride.

"Whether it's with the bat or the ball, not too much fazes her.

"She's worked extremely hard up at the NCC (Bupa National Cricket Centre in Brisbane) in the off-season.

"She's put in a lot of hours just trying to hit the ball straighter and I think you could see that today. A number of crunching drives down the ground which was a feature of her innings.

"It's something that's she's worked incredibly hard on. It was really rewarding to see her get the benefits from a lot of hard work during the off-season."

Jonassen echoed her coach's words when asked what she specifically worked on to ready herself for the gruelling two-month tour.

"I did a lot of work with our coach Motty, picking different areas straighter down the ground that I'd be able to exploit," Jonassen said.

"I was able to do that at various times today, which is pleasing that I had that time to be able to implement different things.

"There's definitely a lot of hard work that's been put in a lot of time in the nets. I'm really pleased it came off at various times today."

Jonassen has hit 10 boundaries in her unbeaten knock so far, six of which have come driving through extra cover to mid-on, negating England's search for swing with the full face of the bat and fluent, free-flowing swing.

Image Id: ~/media/6F3F75FADF394A54BF4C76FC3BB591FD

Jonassen pulls a delivery to the boundary // Getty Images

While she's eying the five runs she needs to post triple-figures, Jonassen's innings will be remembered for its grace under pressure, its fighting attitude, and above all, its resilience.

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