England’s promising start slips as Meg Lanning piles on 93 for Australia

England saw a promising start slip through their fingers on the first day of the only Test of the women’s Ashes, with Meg Lanning’s 93 shifting the momentum towards Australia in Canberra.

Heather Knight won the toss and elected to put Australia in to bat, a decision which was quickly rewarded when they reduced their opponents to four for two, but they fought back to finish the day with 327 for seven.

But Lanning, alongside the opener Rachael Haynes, showed her experience and class, hitting 93 from 170 including 13 fours to steer Australia towards a high first-innings total at the Manuka Oval.

Lanning shared a stand of 169 with Haynes, timing the ball well as she hit 13 fours.

England had gone for a bowling-heavy line up with a maiden Test call-up for Charlie Dean, but their lack of preparation time showed as both Haynes, who went on to make 86, and Lanning were dropped on 44 and 14 respectively.

Despite the lengthy tour and her previous injury problems, it was Katherine Brunt who bore most of the workload, as she and Nat Sciver finished with three wickets apiece.

After the loss of Haynes and Lanning in the space of four balls, England looked to regain the momentum, only to be halted by another 84-run partnership between Ashleigh Gardner (56) and Tahlia McGrath (52).

In the final hour England took the second new ball and Brunt claimed the wicket of Gardner, the Australian batter decided to review the decision after her teammate Tahlia McGrath had survived an lbw review against Anya Shrubsole just the over before.

Ellyse Perry, who had been a thorn in the side of England’s bowlers in previous matches, and who boasts an inconceivable Test average of 86.62, only made 18 from 34 before falling to the bowling of Sciver.

Perry