Test Match cricket hinges upon a collection of moments. Split-seconds in which games are ultimately defined.

The format, though, would be nothing without the time which precedes it, which allows the anticipation to build. 

If you closed your eyes after Lauren Filer was thrown the ball and immediately claimed the wicket of Ellyse Perry for the second time in the Test Match, you could have been in Gothenburg in 1995, watching on as Jonathan Edwards was cheered into triple jump folklore. 

Each of the seamer’s subsequent deliveries was preceded with a clap ever-increasing in tempo, the sense of occasion palpable. 

By the time she bowled Tahlia McGrath in her next over - the Australian vice-captain beaten for pace as the ball cannoned off her pad and onto the stump - Trent Bridge had become a balloon ready to explode. 

The same was true for Tammy Beaumont’s double-century on day three. As she tiptoed through the one-hundred-and-nineties, the hum of expectation and excitement grew and grew. 

And, in many ways, it's been true for this Test as a whole.

Nine months ago, the fixture was a mere date in the diary. With confirmation of a five-day match, tickets on sale and media buzz building, reality began to dawn - and with it, the sense that history was to be made. 

It has been all the better for that build up.

At the outset of the fourth day, the visitors had looked in good shape to set a sizable target. Both Phoebe Litchfield and Beth Mooney had made promising starts for the Southern Stars, and Australia’s lead was up to 92. 

By the time the former was dismissed, bowled shouldering arms to Kate Cross, the advantage was 109, but after nearly 24 overs, a glimmer of light had appeared for the Three Lions and the celebrations were appropriately feverish.

Each partnership bought fresh angst for those of an English persuasion - and an opportunity for the guests to build the lead. 

Hence the pandemonium when Filer took her two prized wickets. A sense of relief perhaps. 

Even more so when Sophie Ecclestone bowled Jess Jonassen for her first scalp of the innings, and combined with Kate Cross to see the back of Beth Mooney for 85, followed by Ash Gardner and Annabel Sutherland for the addition of three runs. 

An Australian lead of 207, with three wickets in hand, meant England’s tails were up. The possibility of a chasable target was within sight, and so too was an Ecclestone five-wicket haul for the second time in the match. 

The anticipation once again began to brood.

Alyssa Healy had no intention of rolling over, and nor did her side’s strong tail, Alana King punishing two fours as the eighth wicket partnership reached fifty.

But when Ecclestone became the fourth player in England Women's Test Cricket history to take a 10-wicket haul, the target had been set at 268. 

Beaumont and Emma Lamb made haste in reply, adding 50 inside 10 overs, and with free tickets for day five announced, hope became expectation as England assumed the mantle of favourites.

But this game has a funny way of keeping twists up its arm. 

In the remaining 17 overs, the pendulum swung. Australia took five wickets - all of the hosts’ top order. 

The scenario resultantly became thus: England will return on the fifth and final day needing 156 to win. 

The 15 wickets which fell in the day had enthralled those watching on. But, in truth, the anticipation of what might next happen, at any given stage, was what truly excited.

And the possibility of what might still yet occur keeps us coming back for more.

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Women's Ashes at Trent Bridge

England and Australia's five-day Women's Ashes Test is moving towards a thrilling conclusion.

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