Women’s Ashes: Australia thrash England in Test to wrap up 16-0 sweep – live

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Back in studio, Mark Robinson is trying to make the best of things “Alana King has been the star of the whole thing. The drift, the amount of spin, well backed up by Gardner. She wasn’t meant to play, she was supposed to be a backup for Georgia Wareham.”

“England only went past 200 twice in series. We’re better than that. It isn’t about today, its about early in the tour where you can get a foot-hold in the series. Today was about resisitance, but it was too late.”

Updated at 10.57 CET

Australia won the three ODIs, the three T20s, and the Test by an innings. The first Ashes white-wash since the beginning of the mult-format series. A shellacking by any standards. And the bald facts are: England haven’t won any of the last seven Ashes series.

Shelley Nitschke, Australia’s coach, is quietly happy. “It probably hasn’t sunk in yet, had a pretty tough Ashes a couple of years ago, to come back like this has been awesome. We speak a lot about playing our own way, and not putting too much focus on the scoreline, keeping our eyes down. The application across the series is what sticks out, its beein pretty hectic in terms of travel etc. Seeing the younger players come in, it makes you proud.”

Pure delight from Australia, who hug and jump and grin. Five wickets for King, nine for 98 in the match. The cameras aren’t showing England, out of kindness perhaps. Plucky last wicket stand there though by Filer and Bell – even if Australia suddenly forgot how to field.

ShareWICKET! Filer c Sutherland b King 14 (England 148 all out) Australia win by an innings and 122 runs and take the Ashes 16-0

At last! After Filer was missed at slip earlier in the over, she finally runs out of luck. Hoiking to mid-on for the whitewash.

68.5 overs England 148 all out ( Bell 0)

Updated at 10.45 CET

68th over: England 146-9 (Filer 12, Bell 0) Gardner throws down a bouncer at Filer, who flays blindly and picks up a boundary. Nearly falls to the next as she has another go and the ball plops into the covers just short of the fielders.

67th over: England 141-9 (Filer 7, Bell 0) A DROP! King tosses one up, Filer flicks the ball into short leg’s belly and Voll can’t hold on. The next sings past off stump. Filer launches at another which flies just over the back-peddling McGrath’s head. Bell and Filer laugh in the middle, they are enjoying this.

66th over: England 140-9 (Filer 6, Bell 0) This is now the second-longest partnership of the innings. Bell swings at Gardner with leaden feet, misses, and survives. The ball passing cms over her stumps. If England could force Healy to bring on a fast bowler, that would be a small victory in the hollowness of defeat.

“Thoughts,” writes Stephen Holliday. “Yeah I have some…”

65th over: England 139-9 (Filer 5, Bell 0) Decent application and a fair dose of luck have kept this pair going. King brushes away her hair and takes her cap with a trudge.

Over in Galle, Australia’s men are also in the hunt for a final wicket.

64th over: England 138-9 (Filer 4, Bell 0) A couple of runs as Filer wafts the ball away. Then an LBW cry. Not out on the field but Healy, with a face full of suncream, gives Gardner her review. Would have missed leg stump.

Paul Barnes, if you’re still reading, Raf has got back to me on England’s wicket-keeping pipeline. Bess Heath is next in line, “Except they aren’t totally sold on her. Was picked for her batting (there are better keepers) but hasn’t developed.”

Updated at 10.30 CET

63rd over: England 135-9 (Filer 1, Bell 0) Around the wicket, over the wicket, King can’t poach these English rabbits. Looks almost despondent as she takes her cap.

62nd over: England 135-9 (Filer 1, Bell 0) Slip, leg slip, short leg. Filer, all skinny arms and long legs crouches, watches Gardner carefully as she and King battle it out for five wickets. Survives. On we go.

Updated at 10.20 CET

61st over: England 135-9 (Filer 1, Bell 0) Lauren Bell is the only England batter Alana King has not dismissed this series – and so it remains as Bell, without fuss, prods her away, surving one that turns too much past the outside edge, leaves another.

60th over: England 135-9 (Filer 1, Bell 0) The crowd clap slowly, they want their entrails. But Filer survives.

59th over: England 135-9 (Filer 1, Bell 0) King too, too good for Bell. Rips one through her with her last ball, Bell grins widely. What can you do?

Updated at 10.32 CET

58th over: England 134-9 (Filer 0, Bell 0) Bell has a good giggle with the Australian fielders as she scratches her mark. Survives four balls from Gardner, but it won’t be long. Filer and Bell punch gloves between overs, as the future of England cricket, they will remember the hurt of this day.

Updated at 10.11 CET

WICKET! Ecclestone c King b Gardner 19 (England 134-9)

After a gnarly fight, Ecclestone, carthorse like, flaps a slow bouncer to mid-on.

57th over: England 134-8 (Ecclestone 18, Filer 0) Ecclestone picks up a few more as the curtains begin to close.

56th over: England 131-8 (Ecclestone 15, Filer 0) Another excellent maiden from Gardner, the last ball leaping off pitch towards Filer.

“The excellence of Beth Mooney’s wicket keeping to King, in particular, and the other bowlers is a testament to her skill and preparation given how infrequently she keeps for Australia” continues Paul Barnes. “Does England have a second or third wicketkeeper of such quality as a keeper or batter? Or any wicketkeeper that can handle a top legspinner like King, Wareham or Wellington?”

It’s another element of the game where Australia are streets ahead. Bess Heath I think is the next cab off the block (I’ll check with Raf about that) but as England don’t have such leggies in the domestic game, prospective keepers just won’t have the practice.

55th over: England 131-8 (Ecclestone 15, Filer 0) A lesser-spotted boundary, with the old heave-ho from Ecclestone. King looks pained.

“Consider that if Perry was bowling regularly before this game, Georgia Wareham would probably be playing as another leg spin bowler. King is considered a better test bowler of that type, but the margin isn’t much.” This is a bit much for a Saturday morning Paul Barnes! “And for all the (correct) hype about King, Gardner is both stifling England with maidens and taking wickets at her end. The injured Sophie Molineux and the highly competent and experienced Jess Jonassen aren’t there either, nor the highly talented A-J Wellington. From where I’m looking England just doesn’t have that depth of spin talent.”

“Some talk about Garth not bowling much in the first innings. With due respect to her and the other seamers, on this wicket, the spinners are the stars.”

They absolutely are. Fantastic to watch too.

54th over: England 123-8 (Ecclestone 7, Filer 0) A run at last, after six successive maidens, almost results in a run-out.

53rd over: England 122-8 (Ecclestone 6, Filer 0) King starts with a zinger. McDonald-Gay presses forward gallantly but is nowhere near and the ball rips past the bat and just misses off stump. She lasts just five more balls.

ShareWICKET! McDonald-Gay c Brown b King 1 (England 122-8)

A rare loose ball, a terrible full toss. McDonald-Gay’s eyes light up after the relentless pressure, she throws the bat, picks out almost the only outfielder, and Brown does the business on her knees.

52nd over: England 122-7 (Ecclestone 6, McDonald-Gay 1) And another.

51st over: England 122-7 (Ecclestone 6, McDonald-Gay 1) King beguils the ball, this way and that. Turn and bounce, Mooney taking the ball sometimes with a leap and up by her neck. Another maiden.

Good morning Peter Warrington. “England are going to have to find a way to find young batters who can do more than just slog a pretty 20 in a T20 against weaker attacks. If they had young talent they could get into the WNCL, maybe the ACT, that would be a start. Real hard 50 over comp under the sun, test quality bowlers in every state.”

50th over: England 122-7 (Ecclestone 6, McDonald-Gay 1) Softly, softly, catchee monkey. Another maiden from Gardner.

49th over: England 122-7 (Ecclestone 6, McDonald-Gay 1) McDonald -Gay’s nascent career starting with a pretty stiff test – Alana King from the Shane Warne End on a turning, tricksy, MCG pitch. She survives a maiden, watched by 11,804 people on a gorgeous Australian evening.

Updated at 09.42 CET

48th over: England 122-7 (Ecclestone 6, McDonald-Gay 0) Gardner continues where she leaves off, tightening, tightening the screw.

ShareFinal session

47th over: England 121-7 (Ecclestone 6, McDonald-Gay 1) Out trudge England, for one last time. Ecclestone stretches and tucks into a bad ball from King, sending it whizzing for four. She’s got four close fielders and the keeper in her ear. Oooof that’s another beauty which rips off the surface.

Updated at 09.42 CET

Mark Robinson on Jon Lewis and more: “He’ll take a lot of responsibility himself. It seems like if you lose an Ashes series, you lose a coach. Sometimes we deny people the ability to reflect and think how can we do better. Everyone should be thinking how they would do better. Australia are streets ahead of us, it is how we close that gap. I would hope they’d sit down with Jon, reflect with him and give him another go.”

“There will be a review and I hope it isn’t just about the tour, but what we’re doing, what we should do differently, especially now we’ve got the investment. We haven’t got a left hander, we haven’t got a leg spinner who can change the game. You can’t magic that but you’ve got to have programmes.”

Ex England Women’s coach Mark Robinson is in the TNT studio “The two set batters were going well, and we were combatting it very well until two balls before the interval when Heather was out. It is always hard for a new batter to play against leg spin and then it has a sense of inevitability about it.”

Updated at 09.14 CET

England lost five for 17 in that final hour, with no answer to the exceptional King. After all that, time for a coffee, back shortly.

ShareWICKET! Jones c Mooney b Gardner 6 (England 117-7)

46th over: England 117-7 (Ecclestone 2) The last delivery before the break. Jones prods forward, gets a kiss to the joyous pink ball, which is well taken by the excellent Mooney. Jones is stunned, but off she must go, trailed by a glum Ecclestone and the Aussies, who stroll off, in their own time, enjoying every moment of applause, as they should. What a team. Three wickets each for King and Gardner. The tour closes in on England in a hurry.

45th over: England 116-6 (Jones 6, Ecclestone 1) The first spins past Jones’s outside edge, Mooney takes it up by her ears. Jones bats the second away. The third is blocked. And so on. Jones survives a maiden. One over till the break.

42nd over: England 116-6 (Jones 6, Ecclestone 1) Jones goes up and over Gardner’s head, over mid-on, to break the shackles with a boundary.

42nd over: England 111-6 (Jones 1, Ecclestone 1) Gardner is wearing a microphone and you can hear her heavy breathing as she walks back to her mark, the grunt of exertion as she lets go of the ball. Eleven overs in the heat, this another maiden. Big crowds watch rapt this text-book leg-spin.

41st over: England 111-6 (Jones 1, Ecclestone 1) Gardner whistles through another. Just over ten minutes till tea – supper in a pink-ball game perhaps.

40th over: England 109-6 (Jones 0, Ecclestone 0) A wicket maiden for King – and it feels like she could take one every ball. She’s pocketed 21 wickets in this Ashes series so far: the queen of the green.

ShareWICKET! Beaumont b King 47 (England 109-6)

Make that four for nine, as a tired-looking Beaumont stretches out and drags onto her stumps.

Updated at 09.19 CET

40th over: England 109-5 (Beaumont 47) Gardner tucks a loose hair behind her ear and gets on with dismantling England.

ShareWICKET! Danni Wyatt-Hodge c Brown b Gardner 2 (England 109-5)

Sweeps, uppishly and the pink balls loops straight to Darcie Brown at backward square leg. England have now lost three for nine.

Updated at 08.46 CET

39th over: England 106-4 (Beaumont 45, Wyatt-Hodge 1) King smiles at the top of her mark. Spins the pink ball from hand to hand. England squeeze a couple of singles, one a tight one that would have sent Danni Wyatt-Hodge on her way with a direct hit.

Updated at 08.39 CET

38th over: England 104-4 (Beaumont 44, Wyatt-Hodge 0) Gardner quietly gets on with her work, another maiden.

37th over: England 104-4 (Beaumont 44, Wyatt-Hodge 0) This is an unfair contest now, King in utter, hypnotic control. Even the shade is encroaching on England now, feels like they’re about to slip off into the darkness. Dunkley lasted two balls – four and out.

ShareWICKET! Dunkley b King 4 (England 104-4)

Ripping perfection! Pitched outside leg, hits the top of off. A ball for the ages. I imagine Shane Warne raising a glass right now.

Updated at 09.20 CET

36th over: England 100-3 (Beaumont 44, Dunkley 0) Gardner tightens the screw with a maiden.

35th over: England 100-3 (Beaumont 44, Dunkley 0) King, sleeves buttoned to the wrist, dog at a lampost release. NSB sweeps, repeatedly. Brings up the hundred with another, reaching those long arms and twisting effectively. It felt temporarily, that England were on top. They weren’t. NSB returns to the dressing room, not the Ashes series she’d have been hoping for.

ShareWICKET! NSB lbw King 18 (England 100 -3)

The slider! NSB immediately reviews, pulls her helmet half way up her head with a shrug to watch the big screen. But technology is not her friend – the ball would have shimmied into the top of leg stump. A slider for the ages, King celebrates with both fists.

34th over: England 94-2 (Beaumont 43, Sciver Brunt 13) Nast Sciver Brunt sweeps Gardner for a couple – she’s been full of positive intent since she came to the crease, and then nudges another single. England keeping it moving here, not making the mistake of getting rooted to the crease and letting the pressure build.

33rd over: England 91-2 (Beaumont 43, Sciver Brunt 9) From the Shane Warne end, Alana King. “Spin it, Kingy” reads a sign in the crown. And she does, fizzing it off the pitch. One leg-break dances past the diligent Beaumont. She survives.

31st over: England 90-2 (Beaumont 43, Sciver Brunt 9) Spin both ends, as Gardner wheels in, Beaumont watches carefully.

31st over: England 88-2 (Beaumont 42, Sciver Brunt 8) And good morning from a cold Manchester. I’ve got the heated blanket, the dog, and a cup of tea for company, and for the first time this Test this feels like “a bit” of a contest. I don’t think I’m mistaken – when I first came bleary-eyed downstairs I saw an Australian overthrow and a misfield. Anyway, consecutive boundaries from NSB off Alana King, the second a tip-top grass-trimming on drive. She’s beaten by the next which beats the keeper too.

30th over: England 79-2 (Beaumont 41, Sciver Brunt 0) Thanks Jonathan, great stuff. England so nearly made it to the break – I wonder if that will be Heather Knight’s last Test innings.

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Women’s Ashes: Australia thrash England in Test to wrap up 16-0 sweep – live | Women’s Ashes

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