State of play in the Women’s Ashes
By Roy Ward
If this is your first time watching/following along the Women’s Ashes this summer, here’s a quick refresher of what you might have missed.
Healy cleared to play, Voll to debut for Australia
By Roy Ward
Australian skipper Alyssa Healy will throw debutant Georgia Voll in to open the batting in the Ashes Test against England at the MCG.
Healy told Fox Cricket Voll and childhood friend Phoebe Litchfield were set to open for Australia and Healy would move to number four in the order.
Voll has made her debut in one day internationals and Twenty20s during this series and she will add a Test cap taking cap 185 with Australian great Belinda Clark awarding it to her pre-match.
“So exciting for Volly over the last two months to have earned all three caps (ODI, T20 and Test) in that space of time,” Healy told Fox Cricket.
“She is such an amazing talent and to see her take every opportunity she has got and get the nod for this Test is an amazing thing and I can’t wait to see her out there.”
Australian player Georgia Voll. Credit: Getty Images
Australia win the toss and bowl
Australia won the toss and will bowl first in Melbourne.
Head start drowns out Konstas debate before Khawaja, Smith capitalise
By Daniel Brettig
Galle: “Happy birthday!” used to be the cry of Les Favell as he ran down the wicket to belt spin bowlers when captain of South Australia.
That sort of buccaneering spirit was channelled by another Croweater, Travis Head, during a brutal innings that cleared the way for Usman Khawaja (147 not out) and Steve Smith (104 not out) to sculpt centuries on a domineering day for Australia against Sri Lanka in Galle.
Travis Head bats in Galle.Credit: Getty Images
Watched by a crowd that appeared to be composed largely of Australian tourists for the first overseas Test match played in January by Australia since 1970, Head wasted absolutely no time wresting momentum for his team, in sharp contrast to his struggles on this ground when playing more tentatively in 2022.
He tore into the home side’s bowlers from the first over of the match, cuffing 13 from the seamer Ajitha Fernando, instantly putting the Australians on the front foot, much as the national selectors had hoped he would. Head’s 50 arrived in 35 balls.
By the time Head (57, 40 balls) clumped one down the ground to be caught at long on, Australia had 92 runs on the board inside 15 overs, and against spread fields Khawaja and Smith were ruthless in exploiting that start.
Sri Lanka spurned a bevy of chances to get into the game, and it took until the final session for the captain Dhananjaya de Silva to try more readily to clamp the scoring rate. A tally of 2-330 when rain brought an early stumps, left the tourists well and truly in control of the match.
How do these two matches play out?
Hello and welcome
G’day cricket fans.
What a day we have in store.
Welcome to our cricket super blog. We’ll be bringing you all the latest news, updates and analysis from Melbourne and Galle.
First up it’s the opening day of the women’s Ashes Test between Australia and England at the MCG. Not long after, we’ll get started on the happening in Sri Lanka, where Australia are looking to make a massive first innings total following hundreds from Usman Khawaja and Steve Smith on day one.
Andrew Wu is at the MCG, Daniel Brettig is in Galle, Tom Decent is at the Coogee bureau keeping an eye on things while Roy Ward will also be chiming in throughout the day.
You won’t miss a thing.
Steve Smith and Usman Khawaja both notched centuries on day one of the first Test.Credit: AP
