Ellyse Perry: Getting out for 99 is a 'bummer' but life goes on

Ellyse Perry conceded that getting out for 99 was "a bit of a bummer", but she wasn't about to let that dent her enjoyment of a compelling first day of the Women's Ashes at Trent Bridge.

Perry's dismissal, caught in the gully off the high-octane debutant Lauren Filer, was the key moment of the contest so far, as England battled back from a daunting post-lunch scoreline of 202 for 2 to reduce Australia to 238 for 6, following a lengthy rain delay.

Ashleigh Gardner and Annabel Sutherland then demonstrated Australia's formidable batting depth in a seventh-wicket stand of 77, but when Lauren Bell's first delivery with the new ball prised out Gardner for 40, the teams went to the close evenly matched on 328 for 7.

"It was just a great tussle," Perry said at the close. "Importantly, it was a nice way for us to finish at the end there, after a pretty tricky session after the rain delay.

"If both teams look at it, I think they'd be pretty happy with today in different areas, and then there's probably other areas where one team got the upper hand over the other. So yeah, I think that's a great day of Test cricket, if it looks like that."

For much of her 153-ball stay, it was business as usual in Ashes Tests for Perry, who compiled a career-best 213 not out against England at Sydney in November 2017, before bossing their most recent Test in England, at Taunton in 2019, with twin scores of 116 and 76 not out.

One player, however, caused her more bother than the rest of England's attack. Filer touched speeds in excess of 75mph on debut after her coach, Jon Lewis, had said before the match that she was bowling "with more pace than probably anyone else in the country". And she seemed to have snagged a fairytale first-ball wicket when Perry, on 10, was pinned on the pads and given out lbw, only for Perry's review to confirm a big inside-edge.

She wouldn't be denied that maiden wicket for long, however, inducing a slash to gully from Beth Mooney at the end of her third over. And when she returned in the afternoon for her third spell, Filer landed the big fish. Perry, looking for her hundred, was lured into the drive and hurried by some extra lift and bounce. Nat Sciver-Brunt at gully made no mistake.

Asked if the landmark had been playing on her mind, Perry insisted that she'd been thinking about "nothing in particular".

"Like every other ball, it's just an opportunity at a particular moment in time, and I'd had a really great tussle with Filer the whole time. I thought she was extremely impressive today on debut and brought the game alive at different points.

"So that ball just had my measure, which is totally fine. It's a number, and one that we talk about a lot in cricket, but the whole experience out there today was so much fun. I've loved every opportunity. Sometimes things just go that way. It's hard to be disappointed."

"It was nice to contribute," she added. "It was nice to be a part of a few really good partnerships, particularly that one with TMac [McGrath]. It's just like any other time to get out. It's a bit of a bummer, but gosh, the game definitely goes on, and life goes on for sure."

With the contest coming hot on the heels of the epic final day of the opening Men's Ashes Test at Edgbaston, a healthy crowd of 5,545 turned out at Trent Bridge as the Women's Test returned to a major venue for the first time since 2001, with Hove, Worcester, Wormsley, Canterbury and Taunton having hosted Ashes contests in the intervening two decades.

"I really enjoyed today, to be out there and to be a part of it," Perry said. "To have a great atmosphere with the crowd, which just shows how much the game's come along, and how much quality there was in the game today, with bat and ball, was just awesome."

Much of that quality was provided by England's Sophie Ecclestone, who bowled 28 consecutive overs either side of the rain break, to claim the day's best figures of 3 for 71 in 31 overs. That included the crucial wicket of McGrath, bowled by a beauty for 61 to end her daunting century stand with Perry, then two more in three balls as Jess Jonassen and Alyssa Healy joined a mini-collapse.

"It's probably quite unique, if I think about the Tests that I played in over the years, to just have one frontline spinner in the bowling attack, and that probably just speaks volumes of how incredibly good Sophie Ecclestone is," Perry said. "She's the pre-eminent spinner in the world, really."