Australian women's cricket team in England in 2005 played on 31 July, Australia beat the Irish women's cricket team by 240 runs, Karen Rolton and Lisa Sthalekar both making centuries as Australia made 295 for 3, and Cecelia Joyce top-scored for Ireland with a paltry 18 - Shelley Nitschke taking four for 15 as Ireland collapsed to 55 all out in 26 overs. England got an excellent start to the first women's Test at Hove, where two debutants were to take centre stage; but the match petered out into a draw. In one of the highlights of the first day of play, Belinda Clark — arguably Australia's best
Test matches in England in 2005 for 3, with pundits reckoning the game would not reach the third day. On the second day, Ian Bell became the first Englishman to score 100 before lunch in a Test match for 70 years, the last one being Les Ames, as both Bell and Thorpe hit out ahead of the predicted lunchtime declaration, which happened with England on 447 for 3. What followed was what the series had been crying out for earlier: a spirited Bangladeshi performance with proper cricketing shots. Whilst some Bangladeshis did get out to wild shots, the senior players got behind the ball, selected which