Batting first in the Women’s Ashes Test, Australia reached 327-7 at the close of day 1.

And no, that’s not a typo – it’s the previous Ashes Test, played at Manuka Oval in Canberra in January 2022.

Here at Trent Bridge, a year-and-a-half later, Australia went exactly one run better – 328-7. They did it at a considerably faster run-rate however: at Manuka they scored at 3.4 runs per over; but with rain having taken 5 overs out of the day, and the required number of overs reduced from 100 (for a 4-day Test) to 90 (for a 5-day game), there were just 85 overs bowled today, with Australia scoring at 3.9 runs per over – half a run per over quicker.

Indeed during one phase after lunch, Ellyse Perry and Tahlia McGrath reached the positively Bazballish heights of 6 runs per over, between overs 35 and 40.

Perry and McGrath looked odds-on for at least one century between them, if not two, and had just taken Australia past the 200 mark when a little bit of Ecclestone magic did for McGrath on 61 – the ball fired-in in the direction of leg stump, pitching on middle and then straightening to take out middle as McGrath covered leg with her defence.

Ecclestone bowled on and on, in a mammoth spell of 28 overs across the rain break. It was perhaps a slightly risky move in the context of what’s to come, with Ecclestone having priors for breaking down later in the season after having been over-bowled in a Test, but this match is probably the key to England’s summer. With Australia only needing to draw the series to retain the Ashes, England’s only real hope of winning back the trophy is to win this Test, and they’d probably be quite happy if Ecclestone having to sit out the Sri Lanka series in September was the price to be paid for that.

And of course, the rewards came today, as Ecclestone maintained her control for a total of 31 overs, at an economy rate of 2.3. England’s next best was Kate Cross’s 4.3 – not bad, by any means, but a whopping 2 runs-an-over more expensive than Ecclestone. Even more importantly, Ecclestone added two more crucial wickets. Jess Jonassen was a tad unlucky to glove an attempted sweep to Tammy Beaumont at short leg who took the catch.

Alyssa Healy – the really big wicket – then followed two balls later – a quite similar dismissal to McGrath’s, playing for a ball heading towards leg but seeing it turn back past the outside of her bat and clatter into the stumps. Healy will look back and wince. Her choice to drop down the order made a lot of sense on paper, but she isn’t used to sitting in the pavilion for hours waiting her turn to come to the middle, and the concentration when she did was just a little bit lacking.

She wasn’t the only one who will be kicking herself – Perry also perished, on the dreaded 99, due to a lapse in concentration, flashing at one she could have left alone.

Australia bat deep though – Ash Gardner coming in at 7, and Annabel Sutherland at 8 meant England weren’t into the tail yet, and another big partnership of 77 took Australia past the 300 mark, which you feel means they have the right to claim they “won the day”, before Lauren Bell , preferred to Filer with the new ball, delivered the goods with a bit of inswing and an edge to Amy Jones.

England would have liked one more from the new ball, but Sutherland and Alana King survived to the close, brining to an end what turned out to be an entertaining day.

Trent Bridge seems like a really good venue to have chosen for this Test match – it is the most intimate of the “Big” grounds, with the front few rows of seats feeling much closer to the action than they do elsewhere, and there was a real buzz through the day, with a decent crowd enjoying all the hospitality on offer. Whether your tipple was Pimm’s, gin cocktails, or the more traditional pint of lager, all the concessions were open for service, which hasn’t always been the case for women’s matches. It wasn’t a “sell out” by any means, but it was definitely a much better crowd and atmosphere than any recent Test I can remember, and fully justified the decision to show faith in the bigger venues.

Will it be a venue where England get a result in a Test for the first time in nearly 10 years? It won’t be easy – the pitch is already breaking up a bit, with the ground staff called on to repair Ecclestone’s footmarks at one point, and batting on the final day will be a… well… a test, I guess! But if they can play positively tomorrow and look to bat into day 3 towards a lead of 100-150, they have a chance.