The fast bowler Katherine Brunt spearheaded an aggressive day’s cricket from England, but Australia were still in the ascendancy at Canterbury on day three.
Brunt, as well as being England’s best batter on Wednesday, dragged her side back into the game with a stunning new ball spell. Jess Jonassen’s late hitting, however, ensured that Australia ended the day with a strong lead of 196.
England took to a playing field that resembled a horror movie set. It was murky and misty, floodlights illuminating the ground. Of the 11 who heard Charlotte Edwards’ impassioned morning speech, Brunt was the one who took it most to heart. She tore onto the pitch, covering her mouth with her cap as she psyched herself up at the Nackington Road end.
“Charlotte keeps it pretty simple,” Brunt said after the game. “She gave us a very small target to defend and generally we react really well to that. You might think sometimes they’re impossible targets but once you put your mind to it you can go out there and express yourself.”
Her third delivery thudded into Elyse Villani’s pad, as Brunt let out a yelp. The fourth was a beauty. It pitched and shaped away from Villani’s tentative prod. Brunt glared at Villani’s smile as though it had personally offended her.
The fifth ball was a stunner. Full and swinging in, it beat Villani all ends up to send her off-stump cartwheeling out of the ground. Meg Lanning could barely lay bat on ball. Pinned on the crease, she was given out lbw and Australia were struggling at 2-2.
A fired-up Brunt registered bowling speeds of 75mph, among the quickest in the women’s game. The battle between her and Ellyse Perry was absorbing. She beat Perry’s waft outside the off-stump by a centimetre. Brunt followed it with a few words, while Perry prodded at the pitch. The next delivery was wide and Perry leaned beautifully to cut to the boundary.
An epic thunderstorm delayed any further play until 3.45pm. It was of upmost credit to the groundstaff that they managed to clear the lake on the outfield. The resumption started strongly for England as Perry shaped to cut a loose delivery from Shrubsole and edged through to Sarah Taylor, standing up at the stumps.
Kate Cross then struck to dismiss Nicole Bolton. Getting some extra nip and pace from the pitch, she forced Bolton into a loose drive away from her body. Bolton went through the shot too early, the ball flying off a thick outside edge to Brunt at cover.
Alex Blackwell steadied the ship but looked unwilling and unable to rotate the strike while Jonassen played beautifully at the opposite end. She played and missed but when she connected the ball flew off the bat. She was aggressive against Laura Marsh, twice using her feet to the off-spinner and sending the ball for four and then six straight back down the ground.
Blackwell’s vigil looked to be over when she edged a Shrubsole leg-cutter to Heather Knight at slip. Knight took the catch low down and Blackwell began to walk. She was almost at the boundary when the decision went upstairs, and the third umpire decided the ball had hit the grass. Blackwell returned and Shrubsole fumed – but given the way Blackwell played, having her at the wicket rather than the assertive Alyssa Healy was the lesser of two evils.
“I’m English, so I’ll say it was a catch,” Brunt added. “Things like that happen. This was the first time we had a catch referred in a Test. It brings fairness into the game, which I’m all about.”
Australia will look to declare tomorrow morning. They have time and statistics on their side – no Test team has ever chased down more than 200 runs. England will be hoping to channel their newfound aggression into their batting.
