Only Test – Australia v England
Melbourne Cricket Ground, 31 January
Australia 422/5 lead England 170 by 252 runs
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252 – With five wickets in hand heading into day three, Australia already have the second biggest 1st innings lead by any side against England women in Test cricket. England’s two biggest 1st innings deficits in the format have occurred within the last three matches they have played:
- 292 India at DY Patil, 2023
- 252 Australia at The MCG, 2025
- 245 Australia at The Oval, 1976
422 – Australia’s total is currently their second highest in the first innings of an Ashes Test on home soil, beaten only by the 448/9d they made in the previous day-night Women’s Ashes Test, at North Sydney Oval in 2017.
163 – Superstar Annabel Sutherland continued the extraordinary start to her Test career, with another match-defining innings. Sutherland’s 163 was the first Test century made by a woman at the MCG and was the fourth highest score in a women’s Test played in Australia:
- 213* Ellyse Perry (AUS) v ENG at North Sydney Oval, 2017
- 210 Annabel Suthelrand (AUS) v SA at WACA, Perth, 2024
- 168* Heather Knight (ENG) v AUS at Manuka Oval, Canberra, 2022
- 163 Annabel Sutherlandd (AUS) ENG at The MCG, 2025
- 148* Denise Annetts (AUS) v ENG at North Sydney Oval, 1992
3 – Having played just six Tests, Sutherland already has the joint most centuries by an Australian woman in the format:
- 3 Annabel Sutherland (9 innings)
- 3 Betty Wilson (16 innings)
- 3 Jill Kennare (19 innings)
Sutherland became the third woman, and the first from Australia, to convert their first three Test fifties into hundreds. The others to do so are England’s Claire Taylor (the only woman to convert her first four) and Enid Bakewell.
23 – At 23 years 111 days, Sutherland was the second youngest woman to make three centuries in Test cricket, beaten only by India great Sandhya Agarwal (23y 55d).
150+ – Following on from her monumental 210 against South Africa at the WACA last year, Sutherland became the fifth woman to score Test centuries in consecutive innings, and the only woman in the history of the format to make back to back scores of 150+ runs.
Sutherland is just the third woman to make two 150+ scores in their entire Test career, joining Australia’s Karen Rolton and England’s Heather Knight.
98* – On the verge of a maiden Test century overnight, Beth Mooney currently has the second highest score in a women’s Test at the MCG:
- 163 Annabel Sutherland (AUS) v ENG, 2025
- 98* Beth Mooney (AUS) v ENG, 2025
- 83* Betty Snowball (ENG) v AUS, 1935
- 77 Myrtle Maclagan (ENG) v AUS, 1949
- 74 Betty Wilson (AUS) v ENG, 1949
64 – Mooney’s half-century, which came off 64 balls, was the seventh fastest recorded fifty by an Australian woman in Test cricket.
4 – This was the third time, and the first for Australia, that a team has had four 50+ partnerships for the first five wickets in a women’s Test innings
- 2nd wicket Phoebe Litchfield & Annabel Sutherland 80
- 3rd wicket Annabel Sutherland & Alyssa Healy 71
- 4th wicket Anabel Sutherland & Beth Mooney 154
- 5th wicket Beth Mooney & Ash Gardner 81
5 – Alyssa Healy lost her wicket for a score between 30-39 for the fifth time in her Test career. Healy’s five dismissals in the 30s are the joint second most by any woman in Test cricket.
6 – During her innings, Sutherland cleared the rope for the fourth time in her Test career. Sutherland’s four sixes are the second most by any woman in the format, and the most for Australia.
There have been more sixes hit in the eleven women’s Test matches played since 2020 (41) than were recorded in all 140 previous matches combined between 1934-2019 (36).
39.0 – Sophie Ecclestone’s 39 overs are currently the second most she has bowled in a Test innings, beaten only by the 46.2 she sent down in the Ashes Test at Trent Bridge in 2023.
37 – Ecclestone (39-6-134-2) now has the joint sixth most career wickets by an English woman in Test cricket. Only India’s Shubhangi Kulkarni (51) has taken more wickets in the format before their 26th birthday.
7 – A hapless England dropped seven catches on day two.
Stats derived from ESPNcricinfo statsguru, Cricket Archive, Women’s Cricket History and womenscricket.net
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