The Ashes resume tomorrow with England trailing after the first three ODIs and really needing a win to take control of the series.
The game will be played over four days at the St. Lawrence Ground in Canterbury, and here is the place to post your comments over those next few days.
Given the prominence we will be giving to Death of a Gentleman, I regret that this post will be below that one for a while, but you lot have the gumption to find it.
All the very best to the England team, and I’ll be keeping a firm eye out when I can during office hours tomorrow.
Being Outside Cricket 
Aus won the toss and are batting. It appears there is swing and, interestingly, they’re playing with a Kookaburra ball – apparently because it’s the best quality at the slightly lighter weight that the women use.
It often seems that the Ashes go the opposite way for the women to the men and given that Aus were very much on top in the last ODI, there’s a certain amount of anxiety chez Zephirine about this match.
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is it a cheaper type of Kookaburra?
Seriously though, I find it sad that there is no quality Duke (Duchess?) available
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Seems there’s agreement that it’s better quality. Yes, you’d think there’d be a Marchioness ball or something.
70 for 2, Lanning gone, good, Perry in, not so good.
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Aus 87 for 4, all wickets to Anya Shrubsole. Anxiety diminishing.
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Broad should take some lessons in celebration. Some nice photos on Cricinfo
http://www.espncricinfo.com/womens-ashes-2015/engine/match/798375.html
(Obviously not as nice as our hosts….)
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Aus 268 for 8, England lost the initiative, You get the feeling they’re a bit too conscious of the length of the match – patience paid off this morning but then they seemed reluctant to drive ahead.
Maybe they should do what the men did and just play it like a one-day match anyway 🙂
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5 day Tests? Will never catch on…
🙂
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I’m horribly busy today (Wednesday) but hoping others will keep an eye on progress… Don’t know the par score till both sides have batted etc.
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Australian Jess Jonassen, who looks about 12, batted really well and so nearly made a century ‘on dayboo’.
England’s prospects are not looking good and it seems that women’s cricket supporters up and down the land have decided that it isn’t cowardly to pray for rain.
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Are you sure it was not Joe Root?
I see Aus 15/2 (effectively 121/2) both for Brunt
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Friday: Aus have just declared leaving England chasing 263. Apparently no women’s team has ever chased more than 200.
Weather unsettled. So all three results still just possible. Praying for rain still seems like the best bet.
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I reckon it is not cowardly to pray for rain – it’s part of home advantage!
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Think we need a stormcloud soon after lunch!
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Sarah Taylor in wretched form – I wonder if she’d be better off at 5.
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27/4 now in the 4th innings. Not looking good for England.
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29/5 now. Will take some divine intervention now in all likelihood. Still nearly 70 overs left to survive.
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Damn sun’s shining now…
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meant as a rain dance!
🙂
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Great dance! Still ominously sunny at Canterbury though. 76 for 5 at tea.
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There are some things that are just wrong – and then there’s Richard Williams writing about cricket. Or just writing.
The last paragraph reads like it’s from Dominic Lawson’s left-overs.
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The world is a bad place. Terrorists, poverty, warmongers and then…. Kevin Pietersen.
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AAAAHHH
2 in 2 balls. 85/7.
We need Kate Bush’s rain machine:
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101-9 off 59 overs. Good old fashioned attritional stuff
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Adelaide-esque
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Sigh. Australia just the better team.
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