Sophie Ecclestone has set the benchmark but Ashleigh Gardner isn’t so far behind: Beth Mooney

It has been a rollercoaster ride at Trent Bridge as Day 5 of the ongoing one-off Test of the women’s Ashes awaits a classic thriller. Following Sophie Ecclestones’s brilliant five-for on Day 4, the hosts managed to restrict Australia to 257 runs after the Alyssa Healy-led side posted 473 runs in the first innings.

England weren’t too far behind as the team countered with 463 runs in the first innings but in the second, things are looking a bit shaky, as the Heather Knight-led side has lost five wickets with just 116 on the board and still needs 152 runs to pull off a terrific victory.

Meanwhile, for her excellent five-for in both innings of the one-off Test, Ecclestone is being massively praised as after dominating white-ball cricket in the last couple of years, the youngster is making a significant impact in red-ball cricket as well. On the other hand, Australia all-rounder Ashleigh Gardner too has had her share of success as she bowled brilliantly towards the fag end of Day 4. 

The 26-year-old changed the complexion of the game by picking up three crucial wickets of Tammy Beaumont, Heather Knight and Nat Sciver-Brunt. Thus, lauding her after the match, star Australia batter Beth Mooney mentioned that Ecclestone has definitely impressed everyone but Gardner isn’t too far behind the race either.

“Ash (Gardner), to her credit has improved her off-spin bowling out of sight in the last couple of years. 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 so I couldn't be more pleased for Ash, I think she's done a great job for us,” said Mooney as quoted by Cricbuzz.

“Soph (Ecclestone) 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. She's been outstanding in the last couple of years for us,” Mooney said after the end of the day’s play.