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Spin ‘King’ provides MCG masterclass | 02:01
An injury to superstar Ellyse Perry overshadowed another comprehensive day by Australia in the marquee day-night Test match at the MCG. Scroll down to see our Talking Points!
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Perry hurt her hip after landing awkwardly during Australia’s fielding innings and left the ground in pain.
She did not return and Cricket Australia said she would undergo further assessment before day two of the Test. It is understood the nature of the injury is a cork and she would have been able to bat if required on Thursday night.
The injury was untimely for the Aussies, who had surged into a strong position through spinners Alana King and Ash Gardner.
King took 4-45 while Gardner claimed 1-30 as Australia reduced England from 4-127 to all out for 170.
MATCH CENTRE: Australia vs England, Ashes Test at the MCG, live scoreboard
The strong hour either side of the dinner break came after a mini fightback from England, which was yet again on the back foot due to early wickets.
Nat Sciver-Brunt scored a gritty half-century but was a lone hand in much-needed English resistance.
King found the edge of Sciver-Brunt early in the middle session but the third umpire deemed the ball to have touched the ground on its way to captain Alyssa Healy at first slip.
Perry, who has two centuries and averages 62 in Test cricket, was listed to bat at No. 3 but was replaced by Annabel Sutherland after the loss of debutant Georgia Voll (12).
Sutherland (24no) and Phoebe Litchfield (20no) steered the Aussies to 1-56 at stumps and in a strong position heading into Day 2 of the Ashes Test.
DAY 1 TALKING POINTS via Courtney Walsh
A SPIN KING DAZZLES AGAIN ON THE MCG
It was the most fitting of introductions to the attack, with the sense there was an extra hint of excitement in the voice of the MCG ground announcer when the moment happened.
A.King to bowl from the Shane Warne end. And Alana King produced a performance the legendary ‘King of Spin’ Warne would have loved as she tormented the old enemy.
As former Australian cricketer Mel Jones told foxsports.com.au, the star leg-spinner was never going to open her opening spell from the Members end of the MCG in this Test match.
“There was no way known she was coming on from the Members end, because that just wouldn’t fit the storyline, would it?” Jones said.
King was mesmerising in the middle session of the day as she wrested the momentum firmly Australia’s way, with her precision, drift, bounce and ability to turn the ball simply superb.
After Nat Sciver-Brunt and Sophia Dunkley had stabilised the English innings, King struck when removing the latter caught-and-bowled to end a 50-run partnership between the pair.
Bowling in tandem with fellow spinner Ashleigh Gardner, the duo managed to slow the English scoring and bowled perfectly to the field set by the Australian skipper Alyssa Healy.
Just as Warne used to beguile rivals with his discipline and accuracy before ripping a delivery that snared the wicket, King followed suit against the English middle-order.
A spell against Danni Wyatt-Hodge made was especially appealing to watch, with King beating the No.6s bat time-and-again before snaring an edge that flew to Phoebe Litchfield.
Watching at the other end, Sciver-Brunt said her teammate tried to be proactive in her approach to the Aussie star.
“It depends who you are and it depends if you are confident in your defence or you are confident to use your feet,” she said.
“Danni ‘panelled’ her a couple of times and was trying to use that to disrupt her, I guess, so people do it in different ways.”
The Aussies snared 3 for 4 in less than four overs to put the pressure back on England as King went through what former Middlesex captain Izzy Westbury described as a “little purple patch” in Fox Cricket commentary.
King ultimately finished with 4-45 from 23 overs, narrowly missing out on a fifth wicket when putting down a sharp caught-and-bowled opportunity late in the England innings.
In a landmark Test celebrating the 90th anniversary of the first women’s clash between England and Australia, Jones said it was also a fitting salute to the deeds of another spinner.
Victorian Peggy Antonia, who was also a leg-spinner, snared the first ever wicket by an Australian woman in Test cricket and finished with 12 wickets in a three Test series against England back in 1934/35.
The other big piece of the storyline is Peggy Antonio, who took the very first Ashes Test wicket here on the MCG back in 1934/35,” Jones said.
“She was a magnificent leg-spin bowler who should have played for many, many more years, but unfortunately, didn’t. She’s on the Honour Board here at the MCG.
“So there was that fairy tale story with Alana King … and what a spell she produced, to bowl 23 overs straight. I mean, that was phenomenal. The precision and the amount of turn she got, as well as the drift, she had everything, right?
“The game plan, I thought, was absolutely superb. (She got) big wickets. They weren’t tail-enders. She got Nat Sciver-Brunt again, who thoroughly enjoys playing Test match cricket and was setting herself for another big one. There was a lot to love about her bowling.”
It was also fascinating to see the success the Australian spinners enjoyed with the pink ball compared to the recent Border-Gavaskar Trophy day-night Test in Adelaide.
In that match, champion off-spinner Nathan Lyon bowled only the solitary over in the Indian first innings, while his Indian counterpart Ravi Ashwin snared one wicket from 18 overs.
Sciver-Brunt, who top-scored for England with 51, said she was a little surprised by the turn King and Gardner extracted.
“When I was batting, when I first went out (the pitch) was a little bit tacky and the ball seamed around a bit, but it seamed a bit slowly,” she said.
“Then as the day went on, the pitch got a bit drier, I think, and hardened up, and it got a bit quicker. Obviously we saw a lot of turn from Kingy and Ash (as well). I guess (I was surprised at that) for a Day One pitch, but by all accounts, that is not necessarily unusual here.”
A FATAL FLAW IN AN ENGLISH KNIGHT
After a testing time in Australia, England captain Heather Knight declared that she was determined to make a significant impact in the Ashes Test to finish the torrid tour.
Facing the prospect of a whitewash amid criticism targetted at several different aspects of the English team over the past three weeks, Knight said this was a Test to turn it on.
“Everyone’s really disappointed with how we’ve performed so far. We feel like we haven’t played our best cricket at all as a side,” she said.
“We haven’t shown what we’re about and the next four days is a chance to do that, for us to show exactly who we are as cricketers and who we are as people.”
The 34-year-old, who averaged 42.26 in her dozen Tests prior to stepping on to the MCG for the historic match, set about steadying the ship for England after opener Maia Bouchier departed in the opening over when edging Kim Garth to wicket-keeper Beth Mooney.
But it was not long before Knight, who contributed a phenomenal 168 not out in the opening innings in a drawn Test in Canberra in 2022, fell prey to Garth in a familiar fashion.
It was a significant moment, with former Australian cricketer Alex Blackwell saying the wicket denied England the opportunity to seize the upper-hand after Knight steadied the tide.
“That’s a huge wicket (because) she’s the backbone of the English order,” Blackwell said.
The Australians have clearly done their homework on the English captain, with the Australian fast bowler targeting the No.3s pads and snaring her LBW.
It is the 13th time in the 22 times that Knight, who also scored 157 against Australia at Wormsley in 2013, has been dismissed LBW in Test cricket.
Jones, in assessing the dismissal, said it was an example of the homework the Australians have put in on their rivals in order to ensure a successful Ashes at home.
“You have got to go out somehow and when you do look at her Test record, she’s now two big hundreds against Australia in Wormsley and at Manuka,” she told foxsports.com.au.
“But you would think that that’s Australia’s game plan and if you’re honing in that much, with the skill set that the Australians do, and I think it’s not so much the fault of Heather Knight as the skill set of Garth and (Grace) Brown, particularly, who can beat both sides of the bat.
“That makes it really tough, doesn’t it? And that’s a skill set that they’ve developed over the last little bit. If all of a sudden, you know, you’re just sort of trying to negate the one that’s missing the outside edge, you can sort of set yourself up for that, but it’s that one that jags back in (that gets her LBW).
“And when you do it at pace and and (move it with the) lateness that these two do, it’s pretty tough for even the best in the world.”
A CAPTAIN’S CALL VINDICATED
When Healy won the toss and elected to send England into bat, the decision was greeted with some surprise given conventional wisdom of trying to avoid batting at night.
This has proven the most dangerous period for bowlers in pink ball Tests in men’s cricket and there were concerns that Australia’s top-order could find itself in a perilous position.
“You would definitely take that (scoreline),” Jones said.
“I know there were a lot of eyebrows raised (because) usually the Australian way is that you win the toss (and bat), particularly as it was a beautiful day at 2.30pm.
“I know that they probably would have thought about (putting) them out in the sunshine and putting on a big total (and) not having to negate the night session and batting at the back end of the evening.
“But again, Kim Garth with that first over, she’s been fantastic. (There was) probably not as much swing as we probably thought there would be here at the ‘G with the pink ball, but on seeing that, the Australians just adjusted.”
She said the Australians bowled well in partnerships, with Garth and Brown good early on before King and Gardner wrested momentum Australia’s way as the England innings progressed.
This, King said, had been a feature throughout the Ashes to date and she said the bowling plans leading into the Test were to continue what they had been doing for longer.
“We speak about that and doing that for long periods of time,” she said.
“(We were) obviously coming off a really good white ball series against England where our bowlers really did bowl in partnerships and we just said; ‘Nothing really changes in Test cricket. We have just got to do it for longer and be really patient with that and the reward will come. We just have to stick together a bit and hold our plans for a lot longer.’”
But knocking England over for 170 in fairly placid conditions indicates it was the right call by the Australian skipper, even though the hosts had to bat through the first night session.
Jones also praised the field placements and captaincy of Healy and the discipline of the Aussies in the field, which put the tourists under immense pressure. The day could have gone even better for the Aussies had they snared their chances, with a few tricky ones missed.
“I was impressed. Alyssa Healy reacted really quickly and just didn’t let the game sort of drift at any stage,” she said.
“There was a moment there where, even though they had the pace and the swing of Garth and Brown and the slips cordon in play, I think they realised that the ball wasn’t carrying.
“So all of a sudden, bang, there were two catchers in front of the wicket on either side and (when) England looked up and would go, ‘Where are the gaps? Where am I going to find runs if I try to be a little bit overly aggressive?’
“I think Alyssa Healy almost sensed that (indecision) from them out in the middle and that’s what Australian captains do, don’t they? They sense a little bit of a weakness and they really go at it.”
LIVE BLOG
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Australia XI: Phoebe Litchfield, Georgia Voll, Ellyse Perry, Alyssa Healy (capt), Annabel Sutherland, Beth Mooney (wk), Ash Gardner, Tahlia McGrath, Alana King, Kim Garth, Darcie Brown
England XI: Tammy Beaumont, Maia Bouchier, Heather Knight (capt), Nat Sciver-Brunt, Sophia Dunkley, Danni Wyatt-Hodge, Amy Jones (wk), Sophie Ecclestone, Ryana MacDonald-Gay, Lauren Filer, Lauren Bell
