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Aussies set strong platform after tough start

Reduced to 3-43 after being sent in by Heather Knight, Australia quickly reversed proceedings as four batters passed 50 to set a strong platform in Canberra

Meg Lanning and Rachael Haynes fell shy of breakthrough centuries after rescuing Australia from a perilous position, before a flourish from Ashleigh Gardner and Tahlia McGrath put the hosts in charge at 7-327 at stumps on day one of the Ashes Test.

After Alyssa Healy, Beth Mooney and, shockingly, Ellyse Perry all fell in the first 70 minutes to leave the hosts 3-43, Lanning and Haynes' 169-run stand – Australia's biggest Test partnership in a decade – wrested back the momentum, despite both being denied maiden Test tons as they were dismissed for 93 and 86 respectively.

Gardner's 56 from just 74 deliveries then kept the pressure on England through the extended final session, and McGrath brought up a half-century of her own – and was dismissed for 52 five balls later – in the final over of the day.

Lanning all class, but falls just short of first Test ton

England captain Heather Knight had been adamant ahead of the Test her team needed to earn the right to play with aggression, and to do that, they needed to win the first hour, the first session and then the first day.

Knight gave her bowlers first use of a Manuka Oval pitch with a greenish tinge and her veteran pace attack ticked off the first two goals.

Pitching it up, Brunt enticed Healy into going after a wider delivery that swung away from Australia opener, who edged behind to Amy Jones for an eight-ball duck.

Much was made of Mooney's return just 10 days after fracturing her jaw, but the move to bat her at No.3 did not pay off for Australia, as the left-hander departed in near-identical fashion to the bowling of Shrubsole for three.

At 2-4, Perry strode to the crease, having been dismissed just once in the last 1016 Test deliveries she had faced. In the unlikely event England had needed any reminding of the allrounder's skill in the longest format, her Test average of 86.62 was a quiz question on the big screen during the pre-game warm-up.

The 31-year-old started promisingly, cutting twice for four, but Natalie Sciver solved what had seemed the impossible riddle, producing a short ball that got Perry in a tangle attempting to a pull shot, with her skied top edge finding the safe gloves of Jones.

Gone for 18, it marked the first time in six innings (and six years) that Perry had been dismissed for less than 100 in a Test match.

Opener Haynes and Lanning, batting at No.5 for the first time in a Test, weathered a difficult period leading into the first break, before Knight almost conjured an enormous blow on the stroke of lunch when she threw the ball to Sophie Ecclestone.

The left-arm spinner caught the edge of Lanning's bat, but the chance went through the hands of the England captain at slip, gifting the Australian captain a life on 14.

Danger had seemed to loom at every turn through the first session, but the demons disappeared when the Australian leadership pair took control through a wicketless second session.

Resuming at 3-79 with the sun beating down on Manuka Oval, Haynes was handed a life on 44 when Sciver put down a chance at slip off a furious Brunt, shortly after bringing up her third Test fifty, before Lanning raised the bat for the second fifty of her six-Test career.

Desperate to find a way to remove the Australian captain, England lost a second review after a shout for lbw off the bowling of debutant Charlie Dean was turned down.

Three consecutive boundaries had Lanning racing past her previous best Test score of 57, hit last Ashes Test in Taunton in 2019, and both Australians entered the 80s before tea, having added 120 to their tally in the session.

Both had maiden hundreds within their sights, but both would be denied as a re-energised English attack resumed after tea to end the 169-run fourth-wicket stand.

Lanning was seven runs shy of becoming only the second woman to hit a hundred in each international format when Sciver had her edging to slip, with Knight this time holding the chance.

A brute of a delivery from Brunt just three balls later the edge of Haynes' bat, as she was caught behind on 86.

But any inroads England made were erased as Tahlia McGrath and Ashleigh Gardner quickly settled, adding 50 runs from just 87 balls and taking the Australian total beyond 250 as they took full toll of the spinners while England delayed taking the new ball.

Gardner’s hard-hitting 56 maintains pressure on England

Gardner brought up her second Test fifty – following the one she hit against India last September – from just 63 balls, reaching the boundary for a seventh time to bring up the milestone.

A fired-up Brunt tried to assert herself however she could, demanding the third umpire check if Gardner had obstructed the field after being struck by the quick's shy at the stumps; the Australian survived and hit a boundary next ball, but Brunt had the final say, trapping her lbw a ball later.

England's strange appeal for obstructing field turned down

But England would not claim another wicket until the final over of the day; just balls after McGrath reached her first Test half-century she was caught behind on 52, leaving Australia 7-327 at the close of play.

Annabel Sutherland (7no) will look to continue building Australia's first-innings total on day two.

Before play, Australia have handed a Test debut to leg-spinner Alana King, who was presented with her Baggy Green cap by former Australia leggie Kristen Beams.

Leggie to leggie: Beams presents King with Test cap

Australia went with the wrist spin option ahead of the pace and bounce of Stella Campbell, while Megan Schutt was a shock omission from Australia's XI.

England meanwhile handed a Test debut to off-spinner Charlie Dean.

Commonwealth Bank Women's Ashes v England

Australia Ashes squad: Darcie Brown, Nicola Carey, Stella Campbell, Hannah Darlington, Ashleigh Gardner, Rachael Haynes (vc), Alyssa Healy, Jess Jonassen, Alana King, Meg Lanning (c), Tahlia McGrath, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Annabel Sutherland

England Ashes squad: Heather Knight (c), Tammy Beaumont, Maia Bouchier, Katherine Brunt, Kate Cross, Freya Davies, Charlie Dean, Sophia Dunkley, Sophie Ecclestone, Tash Farrant, Sarah Glenn, Amy Jones, Nat Sciver (vc), Anya Shrubsole, Mady Villiers, Lauren Winfield-Hill, Danni Wyatt

Australia lead the multi-format series 4-2

Jan 20: Australia won by nine wickets

Jan 22: No Result

Jan 23: Match Abandoned without a ball bowled

Jan 27-30: Test match, Manuka Oval, 10am AEDT, 

Feb 3: First ODI, Manuka Oval (D/N), 2.10pm AEDT

Feb 6: Second ODI, Junction Oval, 10.05am AEDT

Feb 8: Third ODI, Junction Oval, 10.05am AEDT