England v Australia
County Ground, Worcester: 10th – 13th July 2009
The Test began well for the new Australian captain Jodie Fields who won the toss and elected to bat at Worcester.
“On the first day of the Test everything was going well – my parents and family were in Worcestershire to watch the match, Allan Border was there supporting the team and a number of debutants were presented with their Baggy Green caps. I won the toss and elected to bat – what could possibly go wrong?” – Fields
The debutants were Leah Poulton, Jodie’s skipper in the Under 23s team, Rachael Haynes, a promising left handed allrounder from Carlton in Melbourne, Victoria; Lauren Ebsary, an allrounder from Snowtown in South Australia and Rene Farrell, a fast bowling allrounder from Kogarah, Sydney, NSW. Yes indeed, what could possibly go wrong?
Alex Blackwell fell in the first over for a duck, to Katherine Brunt. Karen Rolton fell eleven balls later, also for a duck, LBW to Brunt. Lisa Sthalekar out for 6, also LBW Brunt. The England bowler was on fire with three senior scalps to her name.
Embed from Getty Images“I remember sitting in the changerooms with my pads on and Katherine Brunt was having a field day with our batters – the ball was swinging and unfortunately the wickets kept falling.” – Fields
Fields went in to bat at the fall of Sthalekar’s wicket when Australia was 3/19. Four runs later, Shelley Nitschke was out to Nicki Shaw for 15 to make it 4/23. Leah Poulton came and went, bowled by the destructive Brunt and Australia were now on the canvas, waiting for the count, 5/28. Welcome to the Test captaincy! Standing alone at the non-striker’s end Fields was nothing if not defiant. Perhaps it was that Queensland blood circulating through her system.
“I remember walking out to bat and I just said to myself, whatever happens give it your all and dig in – you are playing for Australia and now is your opportunity to fight for it! Katherine was bowling quick and particularly liked to bounce the short people like me but I remember just digging in and wanting her to keep at me – I used that as motivation to keep going.”
Rachael Haynes will remember her debut Test match. Joining her captain at 5/28 the newcomer buckled down with her captain and the two of them plotted a recovery. Baby steps. Keep the goals easy and within sight.
“When Rachael walked out to bat as one of the debutants I said, let’s do this and we simply started having small goals of getting to 30, then 40, then 50.”
The pair took the score past the initial goal of 30 and then 40. Excruciatingly, they nudged their way past 50. They saw off Brunt and Shaw and cautiously made their way towards the century mark, a far cry from 5/28.
Embed from Getty ImagesBy now Fields was beginning to play some more adventurous strokes, a cover drive here, a pull shot there and with the assistance of Haynes brought up the 100 partnership. It had come from 212 balls over 116 minutes. And still they kept going.
As they brought up the 200, Fields passed the century mark. By the time she was out for 139, at 6/257, she had played one of the most memorable captain’s knocks of all time. Australia were gone for all money when Haynes joined her skipper at 5/28 and 229 runs later the pair had rescued Australia with a world record 6th wicket stand.
“It was awesome to be at the other end when Jodie got her hundred. It really felt like we’d dug in and worked really hard for each other. It was one of the most satisfying partnerships I’ve been part of.” – Rachael Haynes
Disappointingly, Haynes was out for 98 when the score was 271, the debutant falling just 2 runs short of a well deserved century on debut.
“Rachael was playing out of her skin on debut – I was so disappointed when she was out on 98 – she deserved a hundred! For me it was a dream come true to not only score my first test hundred but I was so happy Rachael and I were able to fight and get Australia back in the match – it was an ecstatic kind of relief combined with excitement that we had a chance.” – Jodie Fields
Australia finished with 309, a more than respectable first innings score given the circumstances. While the wicket had settled down a little, England too started with the wobbles. Both openers, Caroline Atkins and Lydia Greenway were removed by Rene Farrell by the time the score was 11. On 28, Ebsary saw off Claire Taylor for 10 while Perry removed Charlotte Edwards, also for 10. The England batting was mirroring the Aussies.
Sarah Taylor was out for 21 when the score was 5/59, before a dogged recovery by Jenny Gunn and Beth Morgan helped England to 6/136. Gunn then became Ebsary’s second wicket before England’s tail wagged well. The last wicket pair put on 59, to give England 268. It gave Australia a 41 run lead.
Where Brunt had been unplayable in the first innings, she was somewhat blunted in the second and the only wicket she took was that of Alex Blackwell who completed a well made 68. However some silly runouts – three of them – made it hard for the Aussies to gain any stranglehold on the match, all out for 231. It left England a victory target of 272, however time was the enemy and the hosts were 3/106 when play ended and the Test yet another drawn fixture.
There was no real opportunity for Fields to declare early in order to push for a result, as this might have given England an easy path to victory, especially given the strength of the batting line-up. Perhaps a draw was a small mercy after being 5/28 on the first morning.
Australia 309 (Fields 139, Haynes 98, Brunt 6-69, Shaw 3-67) and 231 (Blackwell 68, Colvin 3-59) drew with England 268 (Morgan 58, Gunn 41, Farrell 3-32, Ebsary 2-35) and 3/106 (Edwards 53*)