Watch highlights of Australia's victory over England at Lord's
By Rob Barnett
Australia moved two points ahead in the Women’s Ashes with a tense, 27-run win at Lord’s in the opening one-day international.
The tourists’ 203 for eight on a slow and sun-baked pitch proved too much for Charlotte Edwards’ side, who were dismissed with 15 balls of their innings unused.
It moves Australia to four points while England have two, with 10 still available from two more ODIs and three Twenty20 internationals.
Australia’s spinners strangled the hosts, who were reasonably placed at 99 for one in the 28th over when Sarah Taylor and Edwards were going well. Yet Taylor was lbw for 22 to slow-left-armer Jess Jonassen, who then had Lydia Greenway caught behind.
Off-spinner Erin Osborne made the most telling breakthrough when she induced a nick behind from Edwards, attempting to cut on 61, that left England 142 for four in the 38th.
Soon after, the batting powerplay yielded just 18 runs and the last six wickets went for 34 as Jonassen returned limited-overs-best figures of 4-38 and Osborne took 3-39.
Edwards and Arran Brindle had steadily added 63 by the 19th over on a slowing surface until Brindle holed out off Osborne for 21. Twenty-five from last week’s Test centurion Heather Knight was England’s only other double-figure score besides Edwards’ and Taylor’s.
Australia’s 203 for eight owed much to 56 from Meg Lanning, although Katherine Brunt impressed with 3-29 and Laura Marsh with 2-27.
Having won the toss on a gloriously sunny day, it seemed Australia had been limited to a below-par total in the first match to be steamed live by the ECB.
Brunt had Rachael Haynes caught and bowled in the first over and Jess Cameron held at square-leg soon after.
Opener Lanning, who regularly hit fours over the infield, led a strong riposte with 56 from 64 balls. She shared a sprightly 74-run stand with skipper Jodie Fields until being caught at mid-on off Marsh.
Marsh similarly had Fields held at mid-off for 32 before England limited their opponents to 28 in the batting powerplay, during which Alex Blackwell was run out for 23.
The hosts continued to chip away in the closing overs when Jenny Gunn became England’s leading ODI wicket-taker with her 103rd scalp.
Speaking after the match, Marsh said: “At the halfway mark we were very confident with the run-chase and set a good platform at the start, but unfortunately lost some key wickets at crucial times.
“We need to step up and take responsibility; there were some good contributions at the top of the order but I think we can all hold our hands up and say we can do much better than that.
“Katherine Brunt led the attack well and everyone contributed with the ball, which was great. We would back ourselves to chase that total and everyone is very disappointed."
She added: "We will assess what went wrong but we will also take the positives; we bowled really well and we’ll be looking to move on to Hove and perform much better there on Friday.”
England Innings
5:43pm - AUSTRALIA WIN BY 27 RUNS! WICKET! Colvin b Jonassen 3; Eng 176 all out - Holly Colvin is bowled by Jonassen as Australia complete victory with 15 balls to spare. They go to four points in the series, two ahead of England albeit with 10 more available.
5:40pm - WICKET! Brunt st Fields b Coyte 3; Eng 173/9 - Katherine Brunt goes down the pitch but is beaten and Fields does the rest. Australia are on the brink of victory. England need 30 from three overs.
5:35pm - WICKET! Beaumont b Jonassen 9; Eng 170/8 - The right-hander attempts to sweep but is bowled round her legs by the impressive spinner, who takes her second wicket of the over and third in all.
5:32pm - WICKET! Gunn run out 5; Eng 169/7 - Gunn chips Jonassen into the leg side and, going for a second run, is short of her ground when Fields takes the bails off.
5:30pm - Beaumont and Jenny Gunn keep the scoreboard ticking over. England need 38 from the final five overs.
5:23pm - WICKET! Marsh run out 3; Eng 160/6 - Beaumont plays Osborne to midwicket, thinks about a single and sends the advancing Laura Marsh back. Alex Blackwell’s direct hit sends Marsh on her way and leaves England in trouble.
5:19pm - CHANCE! Beaumont advances to Schutt and hits aerially towards mid-off where the fielder cannot hold a diving, right-handed chance.
5:12pm - WICKET! Knight lbw Osborne 25; Eng 154/5 - Knight initially goes forward to the spinner but then plays back and is trapped plumb in front. The hosts need to keep their heads here.
5:08pm - The batting powerplay yields just 18 runs for the loss of Edwards. England require 55 runs from the last 10 overs. Tammy Beaumont has joined Knight at the wicket.
4:58pm - WICKET! Edwards c Fields b Osborne 61; Eng 142/4 - Edwards cuts at a short ball from Osborne and gets the thinnest of edges behind in the 38th over. The game is right in the balance now.
4:49pm - England are forced to take the batting powerplay, needing 73 to win from 15 overs.
4:43pm - FIFTY! Edwards (78b 3x4 0x6) - Edwards hits Jonassen wide of mid-on for four shortly before moving to an invaluable half-century.
4:39pm - Following Coyte’s maiden to Edwards, Ashes Test centurion Heather Knight sweeps Jonassen for four, taking England’s required runs into double figures.
4:30pm - WICKET! Greenway c Fields b Jonassen 1; Eng 103/3 - Lydia Greenway sweeps but succeeds only in lobbing a simple catch to wicketkeeper and skipper Jodie Fields. Australia are fighting back.
4:22pm - WICKET! Taylor lbw Jonassen 22; Eng 99/2 - Taylor powerfully flicks Perry, bowling round the wicket, for four just in front of square-leg but is then trapped in front by slow left-armer Jonassen, playing slightly across the line.
4:12pm - Edwards and Taylor rotate the strike effectively as England reach 92 for one from half their overs.
4:03pm - Jess Jonassen enters the attack as Sarah Taylor plays herself in alongside Edwards. Taylor clips Perry between fine-leg and deep square-leg for the first four in more than half an hour.
3:51pm - WICKET! Brindle c Coyte b Osborne 21; Eng 63/1 - Brindle holes out to long-on as Australia get the breakthrough they craved.
3:46pm - Ferling and Osborne keep it tight before much-needed drinks are taken at 60 for none from 18 overs.
3:33pm - Brindle strikes Osborne through extra-cover and over the top for fours shortly before England reach 50 in the 15th over, bowled by Holly Ferling.
3:25pm - Off-spinner Erin Osborne takes over from Schutt as Edwards and Brindle carry on their steady progress.
3:19pm - Coyte delivers a maiden to Brindle in the penultimate over of the powerplay, which ends with England 32 without loss compared to Australia’s 30 for two.
3:08pm - Schutt continues to bowl tightly but Sarah Coyte replaces Perry and is immediately cut for three by Edwards, who in the next over puts a Schutt full-toss through midwicket for four.
3pm - Perry has found her radar as England move to 21 for none from five overs.
2:54pm - Megan Schutt concedes just one from her opening over and, aside from conceding four leg-byes, Perry’s next is an improvement on her first. Edwards then drives Schutt off the back foot for four.
2:45pm - Ellyse Perry opens the bowling but sends down four wide balls in an over costing seven.
2:39pm - The players and umpires are on their way to the middle. Charlotte Edwards and Arran Brindle are opening for England, who need 204 to win.
Australia Innings
1:57pm - END OF INNINGS! AUSTRALIA 203/8; Jonassen 10, Schutt 5 - Nine runs come from the last over, bowled by Shrubsole. England will be pleased to limit Australia as they have.
1:49pm - WICKET! Coyte c Knight b Gunn 10; Aus 191/8 - Sarah Coyte holes out to long-on off Gunn in the penultimate over. Gunn’s 103rd ODI scalp makes her England’s leading format wicket-taker.
1:47pm - CHANCE! - Brunt cannot hold a regulation opportunity close to the wicket after Jess Jonassen skies a ball from Shrubsole.
1:40pm - WICKET! Osborne c Brindle b Brunt 18; 183/7 - Brunt returns and has Osborne held at mid-off as England continue to chip away at their opponents. Brunt ends her allocation with fine figures of 10-1-29-3.
1:34pm - Gunn and Colvin combine for three overs without a boundary after the wicket of Perry. Australia are 178 for six with five overs to go.
1:22pm - WICKET! Perry b Colvin 24; Aus 162/6 - After Erin Osborne and Perry each pick up a four, Colvin is rewarded for bowling with flight to the latter, who is beaten and bowled.
1:11pm - WICKET! Blackwell run out 23; Aus 150/5 - Brilliant work from Lydia Greenway at deep midwicket, from where she throws to keeper Taylor who relays to bowler Shrubsole for the run-out. That pegs back Australia, who have not yet made the most of the powerplay, which costs just 28.
1:01pm - The first two overs of the powerplay, bowled by Gunn and Brunt respectively, yield eight and seven.
12:47pm - Ellyse Perry gets going with a four off Colvin, who is replaced by Gunn after a maiden from Marsh to Perry. Marsh then completes figures of 10-1-27-2 as the batting powerplay is forced with Australia 123 for four from 35 overs.
12:36pm - WICKET! Fields c Gunn b Marsh 32; Aus 113/4 - Fields falls in similar fashion to Lanning, the right-hander picking out Marsh at mid-off. That is reward for the pressure England built.
12:29pm - Australia, with Alex Blackwell new to the crease, reach three figures during a quiet passage of play as Colvin and Mash tie the tourists down. Soon after, Blackwell gets a much-needed four off Colvin.
12:17pm - WICKET! Lanning c Knight b Marsh 56; Aus 98/3 - Lanning, having powerfully cut Colvin for her eighth four in the previous over, pulls straight to Heather Knight at mid-on as England make a vital breakthrough in the 25th.
12:13pm - FIFTY! Lanning (61b 7x4 0x6) - The sprightly right-hander lifts Colvin over mid-on for two to reach an impressive half-century.
12:05pm - CHANCE! Fields takes a risky single to short fine-leg off Colvin and Shrubsole shies at the non-striker’s stumps but misses. Fields, who was well short of her ground, goes to 23.
11:58am - Following the introduction of left-arm spinner Holly Colvin, replacing Marsh, Fields smites Gunn over midwicket for four. Later in the over the skipper brings up a fifty partnership dominated by Lanning.
11:50am - Lanning continues to score freely with two more fours, pulling Marsh through square-leg and smashing Gunn over mid-off.
11:42am - Lanning, a 21-year-old starlet, lofts Marsh for two fours in the spinner’s second over. Lanning moves to 29 from 35 balls. Australia reach 50 in the next over, the 15th, bowled by Jenny Gunn as Brunt takes a break.
11:34am - Spinner Laura Marsh takes over from Shrubsole. Wicketkeeper Sarah Taylor is standing up to Marsh and seamer Brunt.
11:27am - Shrubsole sends down a maiden to Fields, at the end of which Australia are 30 for two from the powerplay. England will be delighted with that, especially after losing the toss.
11:23am - Shrubsole concedes another four to Lanning but Brunt puts Australia captain Jodie Fields under pressure with an over costing two.
11:13am - WICKET! Cameron c Marsh b Brunt 10; Aus 24/2 - After Lanning twice takes Shrubsole for four in the previous over, Cameron pulls meekly to square-leg where Laura Marsh holds a simple opportunity. England’s start gets better!
11:03am - Brunt bowls two wides in her next over, which is otherwise tight, and Shrubsole keeps the pressure on the following set of six.
10:54am - Jess Cameron clips Anya Shrubsole through midwicket for the day’s first four. Cameron’s new partner is Meg Lanning.
10:47am - WICKET! Haynes c & b Brunt 0; Aus 0/1 - Left-handed Rachael Haynes pulls a ball that is slightly too full for the shot and Katherine Brunt comfortably holds a skied chance to give England an ideal start. Brunt completes a wicket-maiden.
Pre-Play News
10:43am - The umpires and players are making their way out to the middle on a lovely, sunny day. The action will start shortly.
10:30am - Holly Colvin returns for England today. Here are the teams in full:
England: Charlotte Edwards (captain), Arran Brindle, Sarah Taylor (wicketkeeper), Lydia Greenway, Heather Knight, Tammy Beaumont, Laura Marsh, Jenny Gunn, Katherine Brunt, Holly Colvin, Anya Shrubsole.
Australia: Rachael Haynes, Meg Lanning, Jess Cameron, Jodie Fields (captain & wicketkeeper), Alex Blackwell, Ellyse Perry, Erin Osborne, Sarah Coyte, Jess Jonassen, Megan Schutt, Holly Ferling.
10:19am - AUSTRALIA WOMEN WIN TOSS AND BAT - Under glorious blue skies, Australia captain Jodie Fields calls correctly and elects to bat.
10:10am - If you are still unfamiliar with the new format for the Women's Ashes, here's a quick summary:
Last week's Test offered six points to the winner and both teams were awarded two points as a result of the game being drawn.
England and Australia will now do battle in six limited-overs matches (three ODIs and three Twenty20s), with each game worth two points.
The team who finishes the series with the most points will be the winner, although a draw would see Australia retain the Ashes after they emerged victorious last time out.
10am - Ahead of the toss at Lord's, why not catch up with the thoughts of England skipper Charlotte Edwards.
9:50am - That's right - you will be able to watch today's game via the video section of this website or the ECB's youtube channel. Coverage begins at 10:30am, 15 minutes before the scheduled start of play.
9:45am - Morning everyone. The Women's Ashes Series continues today with the first of three one-day internationals. There is all to play for after the solitary Test at Wormsley was drawn and the action from Lord's is being streamed live by the ECB.