England were left in a spin by Ashleigh Gardner as their hopes of victory in the lone Women’s Ashes Test drastically receded despite the indefatigable Sophie Ecclestone’s 10-wicket match haul.

The slow left-armer claimed back-to-back five-wicket hauls to finish with astonishing figures of 77.1-16-192-10 this week and restrict Australia to 257, which left England requiring 268 for victory.

Despite Emma Lamb and Tammy Beaumont putting on opening stand of 55, Gardner’s introduction to the attack was the catalyst for a top-order collapse as England ended day four on 116 for five.

Read the full report of day four below:

And the final wicket of the day with just two overs remaning , saw Sophia Dunkley depart as she got a thin edge through to Healy of the bowling of Garth who took her first Test match wicket in the process:

Captain Heather Knight had hit Ash Gardner for six moments before this but the Aussie spinner got her revenge with a beautiful delivery which caught Knight on the crease leg before wicket:

The worst wicket of the lot was that of Nat Sciver-Brunt who was caught playing a terrible shot for nought.

Jones was next, as she was dismissed leg before wicket off the bowling of the impressive Tahlia McGrath:

Let’s have a look at some of the wickets that fell for England in that second innings. Beaumont was first as she departed to Gardner’s first ball of the innings:

“I’m absolutely buzzing - especially walking off the pitch with my dad and my brother in the crowd. It’s quite a special day for me.

“I varied my pace a bit more today, especially the one that got Mooney, was a bit slower. It was spinning a bit more today so I was able to bowl that attacking line.

“I just go out and enjoy myself. I’m so much better when I enjoy my cricket. I don’t really look at stats or anything like that. I just go out, put a smile on my face and do what I do best.

On her body: “It’s alright. My shoulder was about to fall off at the end so who knows how I’ll wake up tomorrow morning but it’s a batting day tomorrow, win a Test match - it’ll be alright.”

On tomorrow’s chances: “We’ll definitely win tomorrow. I trust ourselves, we’ve put ourselves in a lot of pressure situations in practice games so hopefully tomorrow it will pay off. Backing our team all the way”

She said: “We probably didn’t bat to our full potential. But I guess you’ve seen in this last innings how hard it is to bat. Some balls are spinning, some balls aren’t. Some balls are rolling so it’s about keeping the stumps in play.

“Thankfully for us we’ve taken five wickets and [we will look for] five more tomorrow.”

“We speak about batting in partnerships but bowling in partnerships is just as important. Talia [McGrath] and I were able to string a few overs together and build a little bit of pressure and put that back on England to take the upper hand going into tomorrow.

“You have to stay patient. You want to take wicket-taking balls but on a pitch like this, it’s not going to happen. As a whole bowling unit, we needed to stay patient and keep the stumps in play and that will happen for us.

“We have to go in with confidence and I’m sure they will go in with confidence as well knowing they only need around 150 so I think as a bowling unit we’re good enough to take these final five wickets and I’m sure all of our chats will be around that as well.”

An absolute rollercoaster of a final session at Trent Bridge. England found the final three wickets for just three runs after the break and began their chase of 268 with plenty of intent with a quick 50 partnership between Lamb and Beaumont.

However, Australia responded in emphatic style as they dragged England back from 55-0 to 73-4 in the space of five overs as England’s batters fell to a combination of good bowling and poor shot selection.

Sophia Dunkley and Dani Wyatt began a rebuild but Dunkley fell late on to give Australia their fifth wicket. The home side will require 152 runs tomorrow with just five wickets remaining. The wicket appears to be offering more for the bowlers so Australia will go in favourites but if this game has taught us anything, it’s that you never know what could happen in Test cricket.

Final over of the day and Cross needs to survive six more balls. Garth is taking dead aim at the stumps but Cross defends resolutely for the first three. She prods at the fourth and nearly catches her edge but it’s a superb stroke with her penultimate delivery to find the gap past Perry and a vital four runs for England.

The last one is very close to the stumps but it’s left well by Cross. She survives and that’s play done for day four.