Bolton, Jonassen impress as Australia continue Ashes prep

Australia opener Nicole Bolton has found form ahead of the Commonwealth Bank Women’s Ashes tour, striking 72 in a warm-up against Australia A in Brisbane.

In the second of two hit-outs against the Australia A squad – which is also heading to the UK this weekend for their own tour running concurrently with the Ashes – Bolton’s half-century and three wickets from Jess Jonassen were instrumental in securing a comprehensive win.

Bowling first in the 40-over-a-side match, Australia A openers Georgia Redmayne and Tahlia McGrath made a positive start, before the off-spin of Ashleigh Gardner procured the first wicket with Redmayne stumped on 23.

Jonassen then removed McGrath (34) and Rachel Trenaman (0) in the same over to have Australia A in a spot of bother at 3-69, before handy contributions from Josie Dooley – whose 36 from 37 included three fours and one six – alongside Heather Graham (24) and Erin Burns (25), helped push the Australia A total to 8-192 from 40 overs.

In reply, Bolton – who was dismissed for a first-ball duck in the opening warm-up, in what was her first innings back among her Australian teammates after missing February’s ODIs against New Zealand – made a much more positive start, finding the boundary eight times and clearing it once in a brilliant 64-ball 72.

Ellyse Perry also impressed scoring a 60-ball 52.

With Australia electing to bat out their full 40 overs to give their line-up precious time in the middle, there were some fireworks from middle-order batter Elyse Villani, who struck three maximums in her 45 off 26, while Beth Mooney hit 34 off 31 as Australia reached 5-280 from 40 overs.

"I felt a lot better than the other day,” Bolton said after play. "I got a first baller so I was pretty keen to take the first ball of our innings and get through the first one today.

"It was really nice to get out there and spend a bit of time in the middle, I thought the girls batted extremely well.

"There’s some really exciting signs, Heals hasn’t missed a beat, she came out in game one and absolutely smoked them, Meg’s looking in ominous form and Pez continued on today making some runs.

"And we saw at the end Elyse Villani, Ash Gardner and Beth Mooney going nuts so everyone is in a really good space."

The Australian squad will fly out for the United Kingdom on Saturday. On arrival, they head directly for Loughborough, where they’ll spend a week preparing for the opening match of the multi-format Ashes on July 2.

Australia A

Tahlia McGrath lbw Jonassen 34 (55b, 5x4)

Georgia Redmayne st Healy b Gardner 23 (29b, 4x4)

Heather Graham c Villani b Kimmince 24 (49b, 1x4)

Rachael Trenaman c Healy b Jonassen 0 (3b)

Erin Burns b Jonassen 25 (30b, 3x4)

Josie Dooley c Gardner b Wareham 36 (37b, 3x4, 1x6)

Maddy Darke c Kimmince b Perry 4 (9b)

Amanda-Jade Wellington c Gardner b Perry 15 (12b, 3x4)

Sammy-Jo Johnson not out 13 (9b, 1x4)

Molly Strano not out 6 (5b)

Extras 12 (4wd, 2lb, 6b)

Total 8-192 (Overs: 40)

FOW: 1-52 (Redmayne 11.3); 2-69 (McGrath 18.2); 3-69 (Trenaman 18.5); 4-97 (Graham 25.1); 5-153 (Dooley 33.4); 6-154 (Burns 34.4); 7-168 (Darke 37.2); 8-173 (Wellington 37.5)

Bowling

M Schutt: 6-0-21-0 (1wd)

E Perry: 6-1-33-2 (2wd)

T Vlaeminck: 4-0-14-0

A Gardner: 3-0-20-1 (1wd)

G Wareham: 7-1-32-1

J Jonassen: 6-1-16-3

N Carey: 4-0-28-0

D Kimmince: 4-0-20-1

Australia A

Alyssa Healy c Graham b McGrath 12 (13b, 3x4)

Nicole Bolton c&b Strano 72 (64b, 8x4, 1x6)

Meg Lanning c Wellington b McGrath 18 (28b, 2x4)

Ellyse Perry st Dooley b Burns 52 (60b, 7x4)

Beth Mooney not out 34 (31b, 3x4, 1x6)

Elyse Villani not out 45 (26b, 4x4, 3x6)

Ashleigh Gardner c Dooley b McGrath 13 (7b, 1x4, 1x6)

Nicola Carey not out 21 (14b, 3x4)

Extras 13 (8wd, 3nb, 2b)

Total 5-280 (Overs: 40)

Bowling

M Brown: 6-1-30-0 (1wd)

M Strano: 6-0-43-1

T McGrath: 6-0-54-3 (4wd, 2nb)

S Molineux: 6-0-37-0 (1wd)

B Vakarewa: 6-0-41-0 (1wd)

E Burns: 6-0-22-1

R Trenaman: 4-0-51-0 (1wd, 1nb)

CommBank Ashes Tour of England

Australia squad: Meg Lanning (c), Rachael Haynes (vc), Nicole Bolton, Nicola Carey, Ashleigh Gardner, Alyssa Healy, Jess Jonassen, Delissa Kimmince, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Elyse Villani, Tayla Vlaeminck, Georgia Wareham

June 26: England Academy v Australia, Loughborough

June 28:  England Academy v Australia, Loughborough

July 2: First ODI, Grace Road, Leicester

July 4: Second ODI, Grace Road, Leicester

July 7:  Third ODI, St Lawrence Ground, Canterbury

July 11-13: England Academy v Australia, Marlborough College, Swindon

July 18-21: Only Test, The County Ground, Taunton

July 26: First T20, County Ground, Chelmsford

July 28: Second T20, The County Ground, Hove

July 31: Third T20, Bristol County Ground, Bristol

A Test victory is worth four points (two each for a draw), two points are awarded for ODI and T20 wins