Day 1: World record beckons for brave Brittin
By Cath Harris at Guildford
ENGLAND'S Jan Brittin hit a fourth Test century in the first game of the inaugural Ashes series against Australia at Guildford yesterday and now needs just six runs to break Rachael Heyhoe-Flint's career world Test record of 1,594 runs.
Brittin batted through the first day hitting 104 runs off 372 balls, including four fours and one five, as England reached 255 for three after Karen Smithies won the toss and elected to bat.
The 39-year-old from Surrey had scored 1,485 runs in 24 Tests before this game began, in an international career which started in 1979, the year Heyhoe-Flint set her record.
To play yesterday, Brittin wore a splint of foam and bubble wrap made by physio Sue Tobin around the second finger of her right hand. She fractured and dislocated the finger in the third one day international at Hove 19 days ago.
England looked positive on the hard, flat wicket despite their 5-0 whitewash against Australia in the one-day series last month.
Charlotte Edwards had recovered sufficiently from knee problems to score 53 off 101 balls before skying an easy catch to Olivia Magno for the first wicket in the 30th over. Barbara Daniels followed in the 78th over for 31 after a 59-run partnership with Brittin.
Day 2: England's hopes with spinners
Second day of four: Australia (99-1) trail England (414) by 315 runs
ENGLAND'S hopes of forcing home the advantage they hold in the first women's Test against Australia rest with their spinners.
After they posted a record 414 in their first innings, England captain Karen Smithies turned to the leg spin of Kathryn Leng as early as the 11th over.
Leng, Charlotte Edwards and left-armer Clare Connor managed to extract some turn but Australia, showing no signs of tiredness after six sessions in the field, punished the all too frequent bad ball and lost only one wicket before the close.
Left-arm seamer Lucy Pearson got the important breakthrough as Australian captain Belinda Clark was snapped up at short leg by the recalled Suzanne Redfern.
Earlier, England opener Jan Brittin recorded a Test best of 146 before being run out. Her fourth Test century also made her the highest scorer in women's Test cricket with an aggregate now of 1,631. The previous best was 1,594 by the former England captain, Rachael Heyhoe-Flint.
England's most productive stand was for the fourth wicket as Brittin and Connor put on exactly 100 in 120 minutes.
Leg-spinner Olivia Magno was Australia's most effective bowler, taking five for 87 from 43 overs.
Day 3: Australians take a grip
Third day of four: Australia (393-5) trail England (414) by 21 runs
JOANNE BROADBENT and Melanie Jones scored superb centuries to give Australia the upper hand on the third day of the first Women's Test at Guildford yesterday. The Tourists finished on 393 for five - 21 behind England's first-innings total.
Broadbent's elegant strokeplay enabled her to reach her hundred in 232 minutes off 228 balls and she was unbeaten on 146 at the close. Jones, with whom she shared a century partnership, was run out for 131.
Charlotte Edwards put England briefly in charge, with two Australian wickets in one over. She took a return catch to dismiss Lisa Keightley for 56, then trapped Karen Rolton lbw for four.
But the subsequent stand by Broadbent and Jones made it a frustrating day for England's bowlers.
Day 4:: Broadbent's feat caught on video
By Geoffrey Dean at Guildford
England Women's (414 & 160-1) drew with Australia Women's (569-6 dec)
BUT for the presence of Joanne Broadbent's parents, Frank and Elma, the first time an Australian woman scored a Test double century would have gone unrecorded. Happily, their video camera whirled away as their daughter scampered the single that took her to 200 after more than 8.5 hours of unflagging concentration in heat that was more South Australia than Surrey.
By now, Broadbent was entitled to make a mistake, and sadly one came when she was just a six-hit away from beating the women's world-record score of 204 by the New Zealander, Kirsty Flavell, against England at Scarborough two years ago. Pulling at a ball that was only just short of a length, Broadbent was bowled.
Her parents rushed off to phone home to Adelaide before their son and three other daughters went to bed. They returned to reveal that Joanne had only taken cricket up aged 19 after excelling at the indoor game in her teens.
Even more remarkably, Broadbent started life as a bowler who could bat a bit. Until the early Nineties, the 32-year-old blonde left-hander was going in at No 8 for South Australia.
Resuming on 146 yesterday, she was soon hustling towards the previous Australian best of 193 by Denise Annetts in 1987. ``Keep it going, Broggsy,'' yelled her team-mates with enthusiastic regularity. In the noise stakes, they comfortably outdid the English. Later, in the field, cries of ``C'mon Aussies'' became the chant, but all to no avail as England, left with a minimum 61 overs to survive, comfortably played out for a draw.
``This wicket, you need a driving licence to bowl on it,'' protested Australia's fastest bowler, Cathryn Fitzpatrick, clearly au fait with male cricketers' jargon. A 'road' is an oft-used term for a flat pitch, and this Guildford strip was most certainly that.
On a surface with more in it, such as should be the case at Harrogate and Worcester, venues for the second and third Tests, Fitzpatrick could prove a match winner.
Athletic and quite tall, Fitzpatrick swings in energetically off a 20-metre run-up and, thanks to good use of the wrist, can propel a ball at not far off the pace of, say, a Dermot Reeve in his final years. In women's terms, that is quick, but Fitzpatrick bowled a bit short yesterday.
Australia's total was their highest, beating their 525 against India at Gujarat in 1984. Their seventh wicket stand of 89 was also a best against all-comers. Never before had they scored more than 400 against England.
Julia Price reached a maiden Test 50 with a rollicking unbeaten 80 off 103 balls, while for England Charlotte Edwards played beautifully for her 77 from 160 deliveries.