Heather Knight: "I feel like I'm really peaking as a batter"

NICK FRIEND: England's captain produced what she described as her best innings for England to move her side into a position whereby they can attack Australia tomorrow in an attempt to force an unlikely Test victory

Heather Knight described her unbeaten Ashes century as her "best innings for England" after rain curtailed the third day of the Test in Canberra, with the tourists enjoying an excellent morning that leaves the match in the balance ahead of the final day's play.

A draw would appear the likeliest result, with the forecast suggesting more adverse weather is possible and Australia just 52 runs ahead after Knight was supported by Sophie Ecclestone and Kate Cross to drag England within just 40 runs of their hosts' first-innings total.

Knight, who has enjoyed a remarkable love affair with Manuka Oval and was 168 not out when she ran out of partners, has now scored 534 runs in her last six innings on the ground, including two hundreds.

She admitted to feeling rusty early on in her innings, which was hardly surprising given both teams' lack of red-ball preparation, but once set she played with astounding control while her teammates struggled around her. Ecclestone was the only other batter to pass 15.

"The situation we were in, in an Ashes game, against probably the best team in the world, I'm super-pleased," said Knight.

"They bowled pretty well with the first new ball despite probably bowling a little bit more in the channel and not making us play. But when you've played a lot of white-ball cricket and you've got a red ball moving in the channel, it's quite hard not to have a little flirt with it. I did that a few times but managed to get through that tricky period.

"When the spin came on in the middle, I felt a lot more comfortable and like I'd found my rhythm a lot more."

^{Only Rachael Heyhoe Flint has made a higher Test score for England against Australia (Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)}

It is Knight's second Ashes century, narrowly bettering her first which came nine years ago at Wormsley when she made 157, again without much support from her teammates. She was opening the batting back then and it represented a breakthrough performance that acted a "an indication to myself that I could perform at this level against really good players".

She added: "I feel like I'm really peaking as a batter. I feel like I've progressed a lot. I've made a few technical changes since then. I'm really confident in my batting at the moment, and I feel like I can adapt to different situations.

"One of my strengths has always been my mental resilience and being able to grit it out and concentrate for long periods of time. In that respect, I think I'm quite well suited to Test cricket, so I'm really pleased that I've been able to put in that sort of innings, particularly when the team needed it the most."

Before the rain arrived shortly before lunch, there was enough time for Katherine Brunt to continue her excellent game, having Alyssa Healy caught behind without scoring for the second time in the match, before Rachael Haynes was well taken at short leg by Tammy Beaumont.

With Australia on the back foot and holding a far slenderer lead than looked likely at one stage on Friday, Knight admitted that the deterioration of the weather – as was forecast – was "really frustrating".

"I think we put ourselves in a really nice position," she said. "The way we came out just before lunch was just what I asked of the girls. Anya [Shrubsole] and Katherine [Brunt] were brilliant – Brunty's having a brilliant Test match. The way she bowled, the aggression, the skill.

"Just hunting Australian wickets – to pick up those two wickets, it felt like we could really break the game open and try to get them out for a cheap score and set up a chase.

"We're still holding out a little bit of hope – we've got 109 overs tomorrow, so a little bit extra and a little bit of time left in the game. We're going to have to bowl absolutely out of our skin to try to take early wickets and put the Aussies under the pump and set up a chase."

^{Knight praised the contribution of Katherine Brunt, who has taken seven wickets in the match so far, including Alyssa Healy twice (Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)}

The loss of two thirds of the day to rain has reopened the debate around five-day women's Test cricket, with no good reason existing for their restriction to four days. There hasn't been a result in a women's Test since 2015, while England's last two encounters – against India last summer and Australia in 2019 – were also impacted by the weather, which prevented exciting finishes.

"I've said it before that I think five-day cricket would be slightly better, particularly when you lose some time to rain," said Knight, asked for her opinion.

"If we're playing one Test per year, I think five days is a bit of a no-brainer. If we're playing more regularly, then potentially four days. That would be my view."