Women's Ashes: Australia's Perry heading towards century, keep edge over England at end of session two (Day 1, Tea)

Nottingham [UK], June 22 : All-rounder Ellyse Perry is cruising to her third Test century as rain halted play, forcing the second session of Australia's one-off Ashes Test against England at Nottingham on Thursday.
At the end of the second session, Australia was at 213/3, with Perry (82*) and Jess Jonassen (8*) unbeaten.
Australia started the second session at 100/2, with Perry (30*) and Tahlia McGrath (11*) unbeaten.
The duo kept the partnership going, with McGrath smashing Lauren Bell for three fours in the 34th over.
Perry brought up her half-century in 76 balls.
Australia reached the 150-run mark in 35.5 overs, with Kate Cross getting smashed by McGrath-Perry for 16 runs, including three fours.
McGrath-Perry kept attacking England bowlers and brought up their century stand.
Australia touched the 200-run mark in 46 overs.
The 119-run stand between McGrath-Perry ended when the latter was bowled by Sophie Ecclestone for 61 off 83 balls, consisting of eight fours. Australia was 202/3.
Perry continued to build her innings with Jonassen at the other end, however, rain brought the session to a premature end.
Earlier, Perry and McGrath led the team from the bat after the visitors ended up losing both openers in the first session of the one-off Test match of the Women's Ashes 2023 series at the Trent Bridge on Thursday.
At the end of the Lunch, Australia registered 100/2 in 27 overs with Ellyse Perry and Tahlia McGrath unbeaten at 30(57)* and 11(18)* respectively.
Australia's decision to bat first after winning the toss seemed to be the ideal choice as openers Beth Mooney and Phoebe Litchfield started the game on a positive note.
Both batters looked in shape with the continuous rotation of strike and picking up boundaries to maintain their run rate. In the first over Litchfield produced a sublime drive through the covers area to score the first boundary of the match.
In the fourth over she played another drive on a slightly overpitched delivery to find the fence in no time. Her intent became clear as she continued to exploit the cover areas as she found the fence for a third time with the same shot in the seventh over.
Mooney on the other hand was a mere spectator, her struggle was quite evident in her shot selection. In the 9th over just before Litchfield lost her wicket, Mooney had a moment of scare as she played a shot with a straight drive towards Cross. The bowler stuck her hand out to get hold of the ball during the follow-through, but the ball didn't stick to her fingers.
Litchfield came on to the strike, and before losing her wicket she found the fence yet again with a sublime shot in the mid-off area. But on the very next ball, she made a judgement of error and got herself trapped in front of the stumps. Cross opened England's account by drawing the first blood.
With Litchfield gone, Mooney tried to play her role by scoring back-to-back boundaries in the next over. Perry joined hands with her and welcomed Sophie Ecclestone with a four.
With Perry on the other end, Mooney looked like a different cricketer as she once again scored two fours in a single over of Nat Sciver-Brunt. Mooney's knock came to an end as she lost her wicket to Lauren Filer in the 22nd over. She ran out of luck as she tried to gamble once again. She tried to play a shot but found a thick edge, the ball went carried comfortably to the gully fielder.
Mooney became the maiden test wicket of Filer and walked back with a score of 33(57). From that point, Perry and McGrath took control of the game with their impressive shots.
Australia ended a gripping session with a score of 100/2.
Brief Scores: Australia 213/3 (Elleyse Perry 82*, Tahlia McGrath 61, Sophie Ecclestone 1/46) vs England.