Women's Ashes: Heather Knight fights a lone battle as England avoid the follow-on

England captain Heather Knight fought a lone battle, on her way to the second Test century, to help England avoid the follow on against Australia and help the team reach 235 for 8 at the end of the second day’s play at the Manuka Oval as well after Australia had declared their innings on 337 for 9.

England pace bowler Katherine Brunt has claimed her third five-wicket haul when she removed the overnight batters Annabel Sutherland and Jess Jonassen early on Friday morning as well. While Sutherland could only manage for 8, Jonassen hit a delivery outside off to give the wicketkeeper an easy catch as well.

England, while chasing, didn’t have a good start as their openers got out early to Australia’s pace pair of Ellyse Perry and Darcie Brown, where Brown took her maiden Test wicket with the dismissal of Lauren Winfield-Hill as well.

While Heather Knight looked stable throughout the innings, she didn’t find much help from the other end, with wickets falling at regular intervals. Natalie Sciver and Sophia Dunkley couldn’t score much and got out in front of the disciplined bowling by the Australians, after scoring 15 each.

Meanwhile, the debutant legspinner Alana King was quite impressive on her debut, troubling the England batters with her variations. However, she picked only a solitary wicket – of Katherine Brunt who was trapped before the stumps while trying to play off the back foot as well.

On the other hand, Sutherland and Perry took a scalp each to dismantle England’s middle order. Meanwhile, Sophie Eccelstone scored an unbeaten 27 and England managed to avoid the follow on.

Meanwhile, Heather Knight went on to score an unbeaten 127, which included 13 boundaries and a six. However, she had added an unbeaten 66-run stand along with Eccelstone and helped the team as well. It will be interesting to see how they do in the rest of the games.

Brief Scores: Australia 337/9 decl. (Meg Lanning 93, Rachel Haynes 86; Katherine Brunt 5-60, Nat Sciver 3-41) lead England 235/8 (Heather Knight 137*, Sophie Eccelstone 27; Ellyse Perry 2-35, Annabel Sutherland 2-52) by 102 runs.