Cricket: Meg Lanning's Australia retain Ashes in a dreary draw

Amidst all the talk of introducing more Test matches for the world's best female cricketers, a spectacle we did not get as Australia secured the Ashes in a dreary draw.

Meg Lanning's side took an unassailable 8-2 points lead over England in a drawn Test match at The County Ground in Taunton on Monday morning [AEST].

It seemed the pre-game declarations of aggression, a will to win and a desire to do the long format justice went astray.

Instead we saw declarations of safety and little appetite for risk. Australia finished the final day on 7-230, with a lead of 375, denying the chance to give England a crack earlier in the day in a bid to force a result.

A similarly dour ending in men's cricket would have critics claiming Test cricket is on death row. For that reason players are often perceived to have a responsibility to attempt to force results.

First glance at this case suggests the drawn one-off encounter does those pushing for more women's Tests no good. But perhaps it shows why there must be more.

MORE SPORT

"It is difficult when we play one every two years to get a handle on it straight away," Lanning said.

Further to the point, it is something of a sporting travesty that we are robbed of the chance to see Ellyse Perry play more Test cricket.

Her first innings century was backed up by an unbeaten 76 in the second to take her Test average to a stellar 78. Wind the clock back two years and she lit up Sydney with a double century.

Yet it is conceivable to think she may don the baggy green just once, maybe twice more.

It makes endings like this unjust. Both sides must shoulder some blame - the hosts seemed afraid to caution to the wind despite knowing a draw would not be enough to salvage the Ashes.

Australia's refusal to take the game on come day four suggested they would be content with a draw, however to pin responsibility on them for a draw would be "harsh".

"Both teams came out with the intention to win. We hold the baggy green very dear to us and every opportunity we get, we want to go out there and wear it with pride," Lanning said.

"We just lost time throughout and once it got to a point where we felt we couldn't win the game, we weren't going to throw it open to England to give them a chance.

"That's just the nature of where we're at. Both teams battled hard throughout. We had to adapt to what the conditions were, we got a used wicket that was doing a bit.

"England made it hard for us. We always had the intention of coming in to try to win the Test match. With that time taken out of the game on day two, it probably didn't allow us to get there."

With baggy greens packed away for another few years, attention now turns to claiming an outright series victory. It was something Australia failed to do as England fought back to level the Ashes two years ago.

It leaves Lanning's crew with a sense of unfinished business as they look to become the first side to claim the Ashes unbeaten since the advent of the points system in 2013.

"We still feel like we've got a bit to achieve on this tour. We finished 8-all in the Ashes series in Australia and we don't really want to feel like that again," Lanning said.

"We know England are going to make it pretty hard and they're a good Twenty20 side. It's not going to be easy, but we feel like we've still got some things we want to tick off.

"England are a world class side, they'll come back. We need to match that."

AT A GLANCE

Ashes Test: AUSTRALIA 8d-420 (Ellyse Perry 116; Katherine Brunt 2-48) and 7-230 (Ellyse Perry 76*; Heather Knight 2-25) drew with ENGLAND 9d-275 (Natalie Sciver 88; Sophie Molineux 4-95) at The County Ground, Taunton.

THE ASHES

Twenty20 international fixtures

Saturday, July 27: England v Australia at Chelmsford County Ground, 4.15am

Sunday, July 28: England v Australia at The County Ground, Hove, 11pm

Thursday, August 1: England v Australia at Bristol County Ground, 3.30am