“Then we got them out for 222 and 193 in the one-dayers, got off to good starts and then suffered batting collapses. “We had Australia at 115 for 7 at the start of the first Test, but their tail wagged and they scored 355, which meant that we had to play some good cricket to save the match,” he said. The second Test starts at Worcester today, the first having finished in a draw, while England’s victory at Stratford kept the one-day series alive, with Australia leading 2-1.Despite England’s progress in recent years – partly a reflection of the fact that more than two million women now play the game in this country – defeat to Australia in the World Cup semi-finals four months ago seemed to show that the gap between the two countries was still sizeable.However, Richard Bates, the coach, said that his side had built winning positions in each match this summer before Sunday’s triumph. After years of domination by Australia’s cricketers, England have finally beaten the old enemy.

The nail-biting win, in front of a packed house, was by just two runs and has given the home side hope that they can go on and win the series. The triumph of the England women’s team at Stratford-upon-Avon on Sunday may not have had quite the same impact as the victory of Michael Vaughan’s men (by exactly the same margin) at Edgbaston a fortnight earlier, but in its own context it was even more epoch-making.

While their male counterparts have enjoyed occasional successes during Australia’s 16 years of Ashes domination, England’s women had gone 12 years and 20 matches without a victory over their great rivals before their thrilling triumph in the third NatWest Series one-day international.Claire Taylor’s dogged innings of 82 helped England, batting first, to make 200. Australia faltered but Cathryn Fitzpatrick hit 26 from 21 deliveries before she was stumped off the fourth ball of the final over, bowled by 20-year-old Katherine Brunt. Julie Hayes was run out on the fifth and Alex Blackwell could manage only a single off the sixth, when four runs were needed for victory.Australia, who cemented their reputation as the planet’s best team by winning the World Cup earlier this year, are here to play one Twenty20 international, two Tests and five one-dayers. He stated that even if the report was “meticulous and well-structured”, Armstrong’s directors and doctors should be allowed an opinion. “If I had to take a journalist’s word or Armstrong’s, I’d take Lance’s,” Merckx said.Among those arguing that more time should be taken before condemning Armstrong is the director of the Tour de France, Jean-Marie Leblanc.

He followed up with a second that is an early candidate for goal of the season. The question of a cover-up by the Met is a side-issue, as is the issue of an imagined new shoot-to-kill policy. A target hit in the upper torso by a high-velocity large-calibre round will probably die quickly as the round will disrupt and destroy the arterial system between the lungs and heart. It coincided with an improvement in their performance in the reading test where the figure was up from 79 per cent to 82 per cent – thus narrowing the gap between them and girls from eight percentage points to five. In maths, boys outperformed girls with 76 per cent reaching the standard compared with 75 per cent. “While it is good to see boys’ reading improve, the yawning gap between boys’ and girls’ writing skills needs to be closed, and quickly,” said Mr Hart. “Primary schools are having to tackle an attitude among boys which basically says that it’s not cool to learn.” Jacqui Smith, the Schools minister, welcomed the results.