Annabel Sutherland’s sparkling century and seven dropped catches from England gave Australia complete control of the one-off Ashes Test match in Melbourne.
The hosts, eyeing a 16-0 clean sweep for the series, finished day two on 422-5 and with a commanding lead of 252.
Sutherland was dropped on 29 and 31 by Danni Wyatt-Hodge and Amy Jones respectively before grinding England down to reach 163 from 258 balls, her third Test century in just six matches.
Beth Mooney also ruthlessly punished England’s mistakes, as she was dropped three times on eight, 11 and 18 before finishing the day unbeaten on 98.
All-rounder Sutherland added 80 for the second wicket with Phoebe Litchfield, who was caught behind for 45 off Lauren Bell after a fine opening spell, then added a further 71 with captain Alyssa Healy and 154 with Mooney as England’s bowlers toiled admirably but were horribly let down in the field.
Ecclestone removed Ash Gardner for 44 late in the day after she had also been put down on 12 and 36, but Australia have a wilting England side at their mercy with two days to play. They even had the luxury of resting an injured Ellyse Perry as a precaution.
England’s selection was brought into question with Ecclestone bowling 39 overs in the innings so far, with Ryana Macdonald-Gay’s medium pace preferred to Charlie Dean’s off-spin.
The day also saw a new world record attendance for a women’s Test with a crowd figure of 23,561 in just two days – surpassing the previous record of 23,207 at Trent Bridge in 2023.
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