Australia v England
North Sydney Oval, Sydney: 25th – 28th January 1969
Muriel Picton finally won the toss in the final Test of the series and chose to bat, the first time the Australians had the opportunity.
A good start from Lynn Denholm and Dawn Newman before the former was dismissed for 25, at 1/47. Jan Parker and Miriam Knee fell quickly before good contributions from Elaine Bray (27) and Joyce Goldsmith (24) supported half centuries first to Newman (54) and Lorraine Kutcher (52) but it was a lackluster score, with Australia bowled out for 213, with the skipper unbeaten on 12. There could be a case to suggest the skipper needed to bat higher in the order, but Picton was behaving just the same as her predecessors in putting others before herself. It was a less a tactic and more a culture.
A good performance from the Australian quicks had England struggling their way to 193, twenty runs behind. Anne Gordon was again amongst the wickets with 4/57 and Kutcher with 5/49.
Picton ordered quick runs and she got them through Denholm, Parker, Bray and Knee before declaring 3/210. It gave England the task of scoring 230 in 55 overs. It was as good a declaration as could be made in the circumstances and Heyhoe and her England team mates went for it, setting up an exciting chase, until prudence, and the ever probing Miriam Knee, forced them to play out for the draw, ending 6 down for 155.
In all it was a disappointing result for both teams, a 0-0 drawn series. Both teams had talent, opportunities to press for victory, but manufacturing results in a three day Test match was the biggest enemy.
Australia 213 (Newman 54, Kutcher 52, Clifford 5/51) and 3 dec 210 (Bray 69*, Parker 60) drew with England 193 (Heyhoe 59, Kutcher 5/49, Gordon 4/57) and 6/155 (Moorehouse 59*, Knee 3/34)