Updated July 20, 2019 02:27:14

Photo: Cricket - Women’s Ashes - Test Match - England v Australia - The Coopers Associates County Ground, Taunton, Britain - July 19, 2019 Australia's Ellyse Perry celebrates reaching her century with Rachael Haynes  (Reuters: Peter Cziborra/ Action Images)

Rain has ruined the second day of the Women's Ashes Test in Taunton, but not before Ellyse Perry notched her second straight Test century.

The English weather, which knocked out the final two sessions of the day after Australia reached lunch on 5-341, did not make for interesting viewing but it may have gone some way towards Australia securing the Ashes.

An English victory is all but impossible with only two days remaining and, as the visitors only need a draw to retain the trophy, Meg Lanning's side is a good chance to be celebrating with the trophy for the third straight series.

But play on day two was not a total loss.

After resuming on 3-265, with Perry 84 not out and Rachael Haynes 54 not out, the pair went about slowly building to their next milestones.

With Tests a rare event in women's cricket, Perry was clearly eager to back up her unbeaten 213 from the 2017 Ashes series.

Despite only needing 16 runs to reach triple figures, Perry did not hit the mark until the 15th over of the day, finally getting there on an overthrow — somewhat fittingly considering the sub-par fielding effort by England through the innings.

Photo: The rain settled in at the lunch break and did not relent. (Reuters: Peter Cziborra)

She was eventually caught out at mid-wicket for 116, boosting her career Test average to 68.50, albeit from only eight Tests since her debut in 2008.

With so much focus on Perry, former captain Haynes had quietly made her way closer to a maiden Test ton, but she was unable to improve on her 98 on debut back in 2009.

After leaning on the sweep shot heavily throughout her innings, it eventually proved her downfall when she played over the top of a Laura Marsh off-spinner and the ball found her pad, ending her dig on 87.

Replays showed the ball flicked the glove on the way through, but with no DRS in place, another century had gone begging for Haynes.

Beth Mooney and Jess Jonassen made it to lunch, but that was when the rain began to fall, and it did not stop for long enough at any point to get play going again.

An Australian loss is now effectively impossible, with a draw looking the most likely outcome.

Look back at how a rainy day two unfolded in our live blog.

Topics: cricket, sport, england, united-kingdom, australia

First posted July 19, 2019 19:32:57