England captain Heather Knight has delivered a fighting century as her team crumbled around her, as Australia kept control following day two of the Women’s Ashes Test.
The tourists trail by 102 runs after finishing the second session on 8-235.
The Aussie’s declared earlier on 9-337. The decision perplexed viewers as Australia opted to resume batting after losing seven wickets on the opening day of play.
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Scoring just 10 runs in 7.1 overs, the restart consumed half an hour of play in a match contingent on wet weather forecast for tomorrow and Sunday.
No team has ever lost a women’s Test after making 300 in the first innings, but Knight is doing her best to re-write history for her side. The middle-order batter made it to stumps on 127 from 249 balls.
It was the 31-year-old’s second Test ton, scoring 13 fours and a single six to cement herself as the highest-scoring English woman in an Ashes tour on Australian soil.
In England’s first innings, Knight scored more runs than her teammates combined, contributing 54 per cent of her side’s total.
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Australia’s bowling line-up executed a complete performance, with six of the team’s seven bowlers adding a wicket to their name.
Ellyse Perry wound back the clock to take 2-35, while Annabel Sutherland (2-52) and Darcie Brown (1-39) scored their first Test wickets. Just hours earlier, Brown was announced as the recipient of the Betty Wilson Young Cricketer of the Year award.
Debutant Alana King (1-43) also took her maiden Test scalp, dismissing Katherine Brunt lbw.
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