Sydney Thunder’s Naomi Stalenberg frustrated England on day 2 of their day-night Test warm-up against a young Australia XI in Sydney.

Stalenburg, looking to bounce back after a disappointing 2016/17 season which saw her average just 10 in WBBL, made 114 off 165 balls before finally being caught by Nat Sciver off Anya Shrubsole, as the Aussies battled their way past England’s 1st innings score of 231, to a final total of 271 all out.

Although none of the other Australians were able to surpass the 36 Georgia Redmayne made yesterday, they nonetheless hung around, with Molly Strano making the most significant contribution, lasting 66 balls for her 14, partnering Stalenburg through her 80s and 90s at the other end.

England used 8 bowlers, with Katherine Brunt adding 2 more wickets to the 2 she took last night, to finish with 4-37; and Sophie Ecclestone taking 2-58 off a marathon 22 overs. Kate Cross also got in on the action late-on with the tail-end wickets of Piepa Cleary (LBW) and Lauren Smith (bowled) as she finished with 2-36 off 9 overs.

Embarking on their second innings in the evening session, England lost Lauren Winfield early for 7; reaching 87-3 at stumps, having also lost Tammy Beaumont and Georgia Elwiss. Going into the final day England lead by 47 runs, with Heather Knight 34* and Nat Sciver 9* – a draw looking probably the most likely “positive” outcome for the tourists.

Lauren Winfield found some much-needed form ahead of the Women’s Ashes Test, as she made 82 off 161 balls on the first day of England’s 3-day Day-Night warm-up in Sydney.

However, wider questions about England’s batting fragility raised themselves once again, as they were bowled out for 231 by a young Australia XI – the next highest score after Winfield was Tammy Beaumont’s 28 off 74 balls, with Sophie Molineux and Lauren Smith taking 3 wickets apiece, as the Aussies took advantage of the “flexible” warm-up playing conditions to use 11 bowlers in the 71 overs England faced!

Katherine Brunt soon got stuck into the Australia XI’s reply – taking two wickets in two balls in her second over. By the close, the Aussies had recovered to 82-4, with Sophie Ecclestone and Laura Marsh taking the other wickets to fall.

England made one change to their batting order – bringing in Georgia Elwiss for Fran Wilson; and one change to the bowling – Laura Marsh replacing Alex Hartley. In terms of final Test selection, both are potentially “safety-first” all-rounder choices – with Elwiss bolstering the bowling with a few overs of medium pace, and Marsh offering a bit more batting at the tail of the innings.

However, it is quite possible that Hartley in particular could still play in the Test, in place of Ecclestone – it would be a big ask of either left-armer to play 7 days of cricket in 10 (this 3-day warm-up and the 4-day Test) so maybe England are just resting Hartley and the two will swap-out for the Test?

Kate Cross, meanwhile, was also named on England’s team-sheet, but did not bat or bowl on Day 1, reinforcing the impression that she is likely to play only if injuries intervene in England’s plans.

Kate Cross, Amy Jones and Tash Farrant will all train with England ahead of the Women’s Ashes Test, which begins at the North Sydney Oval next Thursday.

Cross and Jones are in Australia playing WNCL state cricket for the Western Fury, who have won both their opening matches – Cross taking 3-26 against the Tasmania Roar; with Jones also making 48* in the same match – whilst Farrant is playing club cricket.

Although all 3 will play some part in this week’s Test preparations, with Cross likely to feature in England’s official warm-up in some capacity, reports that they have been “called-up” seem possibly a little wide of the mark – CRICKETher understands that they will be “considered for selection if required” – i.e. presumably if there are injury worries, which doesn’t appear to be the case at this stage.

With England having fought back in the 3rd ODI, changes to England’s settled batting line-up for the Test look unlikely; and (barring injuries) we’d expect at most one change in the bowling set-up; but it is more likely to be Hazell or Marsh coming in, rather than Cross, especially given that we now know that England’s other right-arm spin option – Heather Knight – has been nursing a foot injury, which would explain why she did not bowl at all during the ODIs.

England play a 3-day warm-up match, starting tomorrow at Bankstown, against a young Australia XI; with the Day-Night Test beginning at 3:30am UK time next Thursday morning.

England are looking set to host South Africa and New Zealand in a packed summer of international cricket in 2018.

England’s season will begin with the 3 ICC Women’s Championship ODIs against South Africa in June, before New Zealand come to the party for a 6-match round-robin T20 Tri-Series, culminating in a final on 1st July, at the County Ground in Chelmsford.

New Zealand will then play their 3 Championship ODIs versus England in mid-July, prior to the Kia Super League, which all of the top players are of course expected to stay on for.

With the World T20 coming up in the Caribbean that autumn, the T20 Tri-Series will act as both an early warm-up and an important yardstick of the teams’ progress in the game’s shortest format. South Africa and New Zealand will both be among the leading teams challenging for the World T20 trophy, so next summer will represent a stern test for England as they look to add a second world crown to the World Cup they won last summer!

ICC Women’s Championship ODIs v South Africa

9 June – First ODI v South Africa – New Road, Worcester, 11am

12 June – Second ODI v South Africa – The 1st Central County Ground, Hove (D/N), 1pm

15 June – Third ODI v South Africa – Canterbury (D/N), 2pm

T20 Tri-Series – England, South Africa & New Zealand

20 June – The Cooper Associates County Ground, Taunton, South Africa v New Zealand, 1pm start; England v South Africa, 5:40pm

23 June – The Cooper Associates County Ground, Taunton, England v South Africa, 1pm start; England v New Zealand, 5:40pm

28 June – The Brightside Ground, Bristol, South Africa v New Zealand, 1pm start; England v New Zealand, 5:40pm

1 July – Final – The Cloudfm County Ground, Chelmsford, 3pm

ICC Women’s Championship ODIs v New Zealand

7 July – First ODI v New Zealand – Emerald Headingley, 11am

10 July – Second ODI v New Zealand – The 3aaa County Ground, Derby (D/N), 1pm

13 July – Third ODI v New Zealand – The Fischer County Ground, Grace Road (D/N), 2pm

Kia Super League Finals Day

27 August – The 1st Central County Ground, Hove

The Women’s Ashes begins with the 1st ODI, at Allan Border Field in Brisbane, on Sunday morning – starting at just after midnight UK time, with live coverage on BT Sport and BBC 5 Live.

Instinctively, you might feel England are the favourites, having just won a World Cup at which Australia under-performed, but that isn’t how the bookies see it – at time of writing, both William Hill (11/8) and Bet365 (6/4) have England and Australia at identical odds.

The ICC’s own rankings seem to agree that it is a very close call between the two sides: both have a “rating” of 128, and you have to drill down to the second decimal place before you find England ahead by 0.05 “ratings” to claim top spot.

For me, I think the rankings have a point – England are favourites… but only just!

For the first time in what feels like forever, England have a truly settled team of players who you feel all deserve to be there. At the top of the order, Tammy Beaumont and Lauren Winfield can write their own names on the team sheet; and although Winfield has looked slightly the lesser player recently, that is perhaps only because Beaumont has been so prolific, as she has transformed herself from a solid “county pro” to a World Cup-winning Player of the Tournament.

Then a middle-order of Sarah Taylor, Nat Sciver and Heather Knight is a middle order that has some serious runs in it. It says something that if you were forced to name a “weak link” here, it would be Knight, who has actually been by some way the most successful England player in Australian domestic cricket in recent years, captaining the Hobart Hurricanes to an over-achieving semi-final qualification spot in both editions of the WBBL.

Fran Wilson rounds off the batting, with the ability to play a variety of different games according to the state of the match, and her athleticism in the field at cover/ point means you can add another 2o runs to whatever she scores with the bat.

And yet for all this quality in the batting department, that is not even England’s real strength – Australia have some good bats too! But every single one of England’s bowlers would walk into Australia’s team without question.

Katherine Brunt and Anya Shrubsole have proved themselves time and again to be warhorses on the field of play; and whilst Jenny Gunn might not “look” too threatening these days, she weaves all her years of experience into every ball and you underestimate her at your peril!

There is one question mark over England’s starting XI though – which of the four (!!) world class spinners misses out? Laura Marsh, Dani Hazell, Alex Hartley and Sophie Ecclestone can’t all play… but you’d bet Mark Robinson wishes they could!

And then… speak of the devil… there is Mark Robinson himself – the calm, gently-spoken man, who took basically the same team that never quite convinced under the previous regime – tweaked it here and there – and won the World Cup at the first time of asking!

It is still going to be close – Australia will hit some big totals and England wouldn’t be England if they didn’t collapse at least once! But overall, there is a quiet confidence about England – they have the edge, and Australia know it – hence all the “bringing the bitch back” nonsense – they can bring back all the bitch they want… but it is England who will be bringing back the Ashes!

With the Women’s Ashes starting on Sunday, England suffered another exasperating day in Brisbane, as their second ODI warm-up was rained-off without a ball being bowled.

Following Monday’s severely curtailed match against a young Australia XI, England were due to take on the local WNCL team – the Queensland Fire – but the rain meant the players were unable to take the field.

Head Coach Mark Robinson said: “It’s obviously hugely frustrating but there isn’t much you can do about the weather. We’re itching to be out on grass and be competitive.”

England’s only consolation is that Australia’s own preparations have been similarly affected, as they too have struggled to get time in the middle, with their match against the Fire also totally washed-out, and then their game against the youngsters abandoned after 30 overs.

We are told England are still hopeful of scheduling another warm-up prior to Sunday’s 1st ODI, which starts at just after midnight UK time.

The first of England’s two “official” Women’s Ashes ODI warm-ups – against a young “Cricket Australia XI” – was abandoned due to rain in Brisbane.

England named 12 players – adding Sophie Ecclestone to the XI they fielded in the World Cup final at Lords – but Ecclestone didn’t even get a chance to bowl a ball, as the match was rained-off after just 18.1 overs.

With Australia having won the toss and chosen to bat, Katherine Brunt took the early wickets of Sophie Molineux and Katie Mack, before Georgia Redmayne and Heather Graham dug-in to take the Aussies to 67-2. Graham was Caught & Bowled by Laura Marsh for 28, bringing Nicola Carey to the crease, but not for long, as the rain set in and play was abandoned, with Australia on 77-3.

England will get another warm-up chance on Wednesday against the same opposition, prior to the 1st ODI next Sunday.

England have announced their squad for the Women’s Ashes in Australia next month. The 15-player squad is largely the same squad which won the World Cup this summer, with just one change – left-arm orthodox spinner Sophie Ecclestone, who was the leading wicket-taker in county cricket this season, comes in at the expense of fast-bowler Beth Langston.

England will also have Kate Cross and Amy Jones semi-available as potential injury replacements, with both already out in Australia playing domestic cricket.

Full Squad:

• Heather Knight
• Tammy Beaumont
• Katherine Brunt
• Sophie Ecclestone
• Georgia Elwiss
• Jenny Gunn
• Alex Hartley
• Dani Hazell
• Laura Marsh
• Anya Shrubsole
• Nat Sciver
• Sarah Taylor
• Fran Wilson
• Lauren Winfield
• Danni Wyatt

The series begins with the 1st ODI in Brisbane on October 22nd and ends with the 3rd T20 in Canberra on November 21st. All matches are expected to be broadcast in the UK, with the limited overs games being shown live on BT Sport, whilst the Test will be live-streamed on the Cricket Australia web site.