Women's Ashes: England crumble to 89-run defeat as Ashleigh Gardner finishes with 8-66 on final day

Danni Wyatt hits maiden Test fifty but is final wicket to fall, England bowled out for 178 on fifth morning; Australia earn four points in multi-format series; watch the second men's Ashes Test at Lord's, live on Sky Sports Cricket from 10am, Wednesday (first ball at 11am)

By David Currie at Trent Bridge

23:06, UK, Monday 26 June 2023

England succumbed to a 89-run defeat to Australia in the one-off Women's Test at Trent Bridge, leaving themselves with a huge uphill task to regain the Ashes in the multi-format series.

Australia were heavy favourites entering the final day, needing five more wickets for the win and England still 152 runs short of their victory target.

Ashleigh Gardner (8-66) was the star of the show, taking all five wickets to fall on the fifth morning to go with her three the previous evening that helped spark an England collapse of 4-18.

Danni Wyatt (54) struck a fine maiden Test fifty on debut but was the final wicket to fall as England crumbled to 178 all out.

Danni Wyatt hit her maiden Test 50 on her debut as she kept England's hopes alive in the first Test of the Ashes

Australia, crucially, earn four points with this Test victory. The current holders need to now win just two of the six remaining white-ball matches (three T20 international, three ODIs), with two points on offer per win, in order to retain the Ashes.

England had given some hope to pulling off an unlikely run-chase early in the day's play, with a positive opening seeing 22 added in the first four overs without great alarm.

Wyatt, in particular, showcased some silky strokeplay, including a gorgeous cover drive cracked off Tahlia McGrath's opening over.

Kate Cross (13) too was ticking off the runs, but with slightly more risk attached to her efforts. And, having thick-edged two just wide of second slip off Gardner, she failed to heed the warning as she nicked the next behind when attempting another extravagant drive out of the rough.

Despite the breakthrough, England continued to play positively, Amy Jones (4) getting off the mark with a glorious drive up and over cover off Gardner - but she was gone to the off-spinner two balls later.

England wicketkeeper Amy Jones was stumped off the bowling of Ashleigh Gardner for just four

Dancing down the wicket, Jones appeared to earn a lucky break when Alyssa Healy juggled her take on the stumping chance, only for the umpire review to show Jones' bat wasn't quite grounded over the line when the wicketkeeper eventually whipped the bails off.

Gardner continued to cause England's batters problems, via a combination of sizable spin and variable bounce on offer on day five and proceeded to rattle through the lower order.

Wyatt resisted for a period, reaching a maiden Test fifty on debut and bringing the equation down to less than 100 runs required in the process, but she was the final wicket to fall to end the contest.

Ashleigh Gardner was delighted after her 12 wickets in the match helped Australia prevail by 89 runs over England in the Women's Ashes Test

Knight 'proud' of England for going 'toe to toe' with Australia

England captain Heather Knight:

"Credit to Australia, they were outstanding, but our girls went toe to toe with them for a long time and that was really impressive.

Despite losing by 89 runs, England captain Heather Knight was pleased with how competitive her side were over the five days against Australia in the Women's Ashes Test

"We had some unbelievable performances from Tammy [Beaumont] and Sophie [Ecclestone]. There were a couple of sessions that we didn't do as well as we could have but what a match.

"I don't want the girls to be too down. We played entertaining, inspiring cricket and should be very proud of that.

"We will have a couple of days off and try to catch up on the Glastonbury highlights! Then we will regroup and go in the T20s, which is one of our strongest formats."

Australia captain Alyssa Healy:

"It was stressful, I have a few more grey hairs! But I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity [to captain] and am really honoured to do it in a Test match and win one as well.

"I am pretty chuffed - but we have our work cut out in the white-ball stuff to need to reset for that."

Australia captain Alyssa Healy was pleased to win the first ever five-day Women's Ashes Test match against England by 89 runs

Butcher: Not much between England and Australia

Sky Sports Cricket's Mark Butcher:

"It is probably not as strong a bowling attack for Australia, overall, as I have seen before but Ashleigh Gardner is obviously a superstar and they did what you expect them to do with the bat.

"Credit to England for storming back on day four and making a game of it. When Australia get in front they are tough to beat but the gap between them and England is not as big as we thought it was.

"England can take enormous heart from individual performances and but for a bit of tactical naivety it could have been much closer."

After losing by 89 runs in the Women's Ashes Test, England head coach Jon Lewis was disappointed with the opportunities he felt his side let go.

Women's Ashes schedule (all games live on Sky Sports)

First T20 international (Edgbaston) - Saturday July 1 (6.35pm start)
Second T20 international (The Kia Oval) - Wednesday July 5 (6.35pm start)
Third T20 international (Lord's) - Saturday July 8 (6.35pm start)
First one-day international (Unique Stadium, Bristol) - Wednesday July 12 (1pm start)
Second one-day international (The Ageas Bowl) - Sunday July 16 (11am start)
Third one-day international (Taunton) - Tuesday July 18 (1pm start)

Watch day one of the second men's Ashes Test at Lord's, live on Sky Sports Cricket on Wednesday, with coverage starting at 10am and play getting under way from 11am.