Soph has set the benchmark but Gardner isn't far behind: Mooney

Over the years, the Women's Test matches have been a four-day affair, but starting with the one-off clash featuring Australia and England at Trent Bridge in Nottingham, the teams will be involved in a five-day game. 

The visiting side started the fourth day with a lead of 92 runs but were dented at regular intervals courtesy off a sublime five wicket-haul from Sophie Ecclestone. 

The left-arm spinner became only the fourth England women's player to scalp 10 wickets in the game and helped the home team bundle out Australia for 258 runs in the second innings.

Sophie Ecclestone gets 10 wickets in the match 🤩

She is the fourth ever English women's player to do so in Test matches 👏#EnglandCricket #Ashes pic.twitter.com/kBAgO4ND2e

— England Cricket (@englandcricket) June 25, 2023

In reply, England started the run chase in a solid fashion before Ash Gardner rattled them with three wickets to tilt the game in favour of Australia. 

"Ash Gardner, to her credit, has improved her off-spin bowling out of sight in the last couple of years," Mooney said at the end of the day's play. 

"We know that she can settle into one end in this format and bowl the ball in the right areas exactly where we want it. So it's a lot of reward for a serious amount of hard work that she's put in on and off the field. I couldn't be more pleased for Ash, and I think she's done a great job for us."

"Soph has so set the benchmark across a number of years in white-ball cricket, and now she's showing her class in Test cricket, but I think Ash isn't too far behind her."

"Last WBBL was probably the turning point for Ash. She was the player of the tournament, bowled the house down, batted well, and now she's just a mainstay in our line-up with bat and ball, so I'm really pleased for her. Hopefully, there's more improvement to come from her, and she's part of the furniture of Australian cricket as well," she further added.

Chasing 268 runs, England ended day four on 116 for the loss of five wickets, needing 152 runs to win with five wickets in hand on a tricky surface. 

However, Ecclestone stated England will try for a win and backed Danni Wyatt to get the team across the line. "We have to believe we can win tomorrow," Ecclestone told Sky Sports. 

"I think if I hit the winning runs, that will top it off! We need Kate Cross and Danni Wyatt to keep batting. Hopefully, we can put Australia under pressure and go at them."

The 24-year-old also shared insights on her preparations for the red-ball format and said, "I just made sure I played as much golf as I could to get out and about and take my mind off cricket."

"I knew I was going to bowl a lot of overs, and I didn't think it'd be this many, but I'm grateful that I was bowling a lot as I've come out with ten wickets, and I'm absolutely made up with that. You can't really prepare for that, you've just got to go with it, and you've just got to be tough in mind," she concluded.