How difficult is it to combine a top-level athletics career with being a hands-on dad? Katy Barden talks to the European medallist about balancing fitness and family life

Chris O’Hare was trying to finish his session. Or, more accurately, he was trying to get it started. His four-month-old son Ronan, however, had a different plan.

“I had 4×1 mile then some fast stuff after,” he says. “I was only halfway through the first mile rep and he woke up screaming …”

O’Hare – who was preparing for the 2017 indoor season at the time – wasn’t just doing his wife Meredith a favour, or having a day of dad-son time. This was his new normal.

Meredith had returned to work after three months, by necessity rather than choice, and his athlete-husband role had evolved to include a full-time dad dimension.

“Other than track sessions, I did all my running on a treadmill in the living room with Ronan in his little seat next to me on the floor,” he explains.

“At first it was great because the noise of the treadmill put him to sleep and it was no problem, but within a month of me doing that and getting used to it, it became significantly harder because he was like ‘I’m awake, I don’t want to sit in this chair, I want to be with you, or I want out on the floor’, and he would just cry.

“I was often turning a double day where I’d do 8am and 4pm into one 11/12 mile run in the evening when Meredith got home from work.”

O’Hare’s track sessions, in the company of his training group and coach Terrence Mahon, took place once a week at Harvard indoor track, but he was soon left to train alone – with Ronan in tow – when they departed for an altitude camp.

Things were working well between father and son, though, and their respective routines appeared complementary.

“Ronan would always fall asleep in the car on the way there,” he explains. “I’d get him into his pram and, if I was lucky, I’d finish my session by the time he’d wake up. I’d change him, feed him his bottle, and then we’d go to the weights room to do lifts and I’d let him watch me in the gym.

“He was happy enough to watch me, until he wasn’t…”

His mile reps session already interrupted, O’Hare had picked his son up, settled him and figured he’d start again when the track’s janitor stepped in and offered to help.

“At first, I was like ‘no’, then I thought, ‘I really do need your help’, so he pushed him round the indoor track for the next 40 minutes or something.”

Life for O’Hare had definitely changed.

“Yes, being a dad is hard and being a dad as an athlete is hard, but that shouldn’t take anything away from what mums do,” he says.

“For a dad, for instance, when I think about women runners who come back from having children, I never had to sit out any time from my running. Yes, it made it inconvenient, slightly more difficult, but if I was motivated to do it, it was doable.

“My preparation in 2017 was more difficult than most other western world athletes, but my difficulties – they weren’t struggles – my hurdles to overcome were nothing compared to what female athletes, and even women who are not athletes, have to go through in bringing up children.”

O’Hare is a doting dad and acknowledges that his parents played a significant role in his own upbringing, instilling strong family values from a young age.

“Growing up, I never once thought, ‘where is dad, where is mum?’ They were always there,” says the 28-year-old.

“Sure, dad might have missed putting us to bed, coming home late from work, meetings and stuff like that, but he was always there all weekend and without fail to take me all over the country for track and cross country. I never once thought growing up, ‘oh, I don’t know if dad will be able to make it’.

“It’s only now I realise it’s because he made it that way, not because that’s how it was – and to do that for four children is no easy feat. And not just my mum and dad, but both sets of grandparents were always there, were always supportive.

“I never questioned their love or questioned their being there for my siblings or for me, so it’s never even crossed my mind that anyone would be any different to that, which is how it should be.”

“My preparation in 2017 was more difficult than most other western world athletes, but my difficulties – they weren’t struggles – my hurdles to overcome were nothing compared to what female athletes, and even women who are not athletes, have to go through in bringing up children”

At the end of 2017, when their son was a little over a year old, the O’Hares made the decision to relocate from Boston back to Tulsa to be closer to Meredith’s family.

“When Ronan was a baby it was fine, but once he was moving around he required more from us, it was almost impossible with running and Meredith working full-time.

“Moving has helped. The fact that it benefits Mere makes me happier. It’s also huge knowing that when I leave for training or racing that she’s got her mum and dad nearby for support.”

2018 was a big year for O’Hare with the World Indoors in Birmingham and the Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast, but it was, by his own admission, a disappointing one.

In spite of running some quick times, including breaking his own Scottish national 1500m record in the Monaco Diamond League meet with 3:32.11, he says he messed up.

Being a husband and father had changed things.

“I’ve always wanted to make sure I was doing the right thing for my running, to make sure that I was ready for races, and in an attempt to make sure everything was physically 100% right as well as mentally in terms of being prepared for a race, we overlooked the general happiness level,” he continues.

“Last year was tough. I had injury issues at the start of the year that knocked on through the whole year. My foot injury that had ruined the World Indoors carried on and ruined the Commonwealths and, while being away is hard, it makes it harder when you’re not achieving what you went out to achieve, when you’re not justifying it.

“Collectively, I was away for almost seven full months last year. That’s too much.

“When I was in Berlin for the Euros I’d been away at that point for two and half months and we had another two weeks to hang around in Europe until the Birmingham Diamond League. By the time I got home I’d been gone three months.

“When you’re younger you just absorb all of these things, but you can’t possibly comprehend – or I couldn’t – how difficult it would be to be away from my son; it’s a totally different ball game when it’s your own baby.”

In addition to the strain of being away, O’Hare was also worrying about things he’d previously never had to give a moment’s thought to, like that fact Ronan was now spending more time in daycare rather than with him. That, he says, was tough for his wife, so in turn it was also tough for him.

“It’s those tiny little things that people don’t think of, they add up to being so emotionally stressful,” he says.

“While last year’s track season was somewhat successful in terms of running fast, in my book it was still a disappointment, an unsuccessful year, and I think it was because I was drained, as well as having been injured.

“That was kind of hard to grasp for me, for someone who prides themselves on just getting it done, toughing it out, to fail because I was emotionally stressed or emotionally tired. It seemed like such a pathetic reason to fail, but I’m not 18-19 years old anymore and I have the experience to be like ‘now we’ve identified the problem we can make sure it’s not a problem anymore’”.

As he prepared for the 2019 indoor season O’Hare adopted a new approach – one which saw him, as well as his training partners, skip their traditional altitude camp.

“I spoke to Terrence and said I honestly didn’t think it was worth going because the thought of leaving at that point was exhausting,” says O’Hare. “A couple of the other guys said the same thing, so the whole team decided to give altitude a miss and when I got to Glasgow for the European Indoors I was fresh as a daisy.

“I’d been away from home at that point for about two weeks rather than six weeks, and it was so refreshing to go into a major champs excited about competing and not just being excited to get home.”

The decision paid off, with O’Hare splitting the Ingebrigtsen brothers Jakob and Henrik, to clinch 3000m silver.

His year is now geared towards this October’s World Championships in Doha.

“I’m confident we can make it work outdoors as well,” says O’Hare, who opened his outdoor track season with a run of 13:48.66 over 5000m at the Payton Jordan Invitational and improved to 13:33.99 in Los Angeles last month before a win at the Vitality Westminster Mile (pictured above).

There will be challenges to overcome, of course, not least the late summer peak and the highly competitive nature of the men’s 1500m in the UK currently.

He also believes he has more to come in that event, but for now O’Hare is keen to keep his options open and hints at potentially doubling up in the 1500m and 5000m in the British Championships if he feels strong enough.

Arguably, however, his biggest challenge this year will be the arrival of his second child in July; “it’s going to be mayhem,” he laughs.

Tactically, though, he’s got the move covered.

The IAAF World Championships will be the climax to a packed summer and for athletics fans, the signs are that a trip to Qatar will be very worthwhile

The past few months have given a few clues as to what we might be able to expect from this summer’s IAAF World Championships in Doha. First, the host venue of the Khalifa Stadium staged the Asian Championships as a test event in April before May saw the annual Diamond League meeting taking place on the pink track.

Given the fact that around 13,000 people turned up to the latter and that there were impressive early season performances from athletes such as Hellen Obiri, Dina Asher-Smith, Caster Semenya and Daniel Stahl, the signs have been very encouraging ahead of the global event.

David Barnett of Track and Field Tours (trackandfield.co.uk) has attended and organised tour parties for every World Championships to date since the inaugural event took place in 1983. He will be leading a tour for the 2019 edition, too, and travelled to the Qatari capital to see the Diamond League action and gain a perspective of the set-up ahead of September’s showpiece.

He was left impressed and enthused by what he saw and experienced. Here he gives a few of his thoughts.

The Khalifa Stadium

I think the venue is really good. It’s very comfortable. People have been sceptical that it’s going to be too hot but it does have this air conditioning system that really does work. When I was there it was 35 degrees outside the stadium at around five o’clock but inside it was only 24 or 25 degrees.

The acoustics in the stadium are also very good so if you’re a fan going to an event and you want to hear the announcements then they were clear and easy to follow.

The atmosphere

There are over two and half million people in Qatar now – it’s ever-expanding – but there are only 400,000 Qataris in the whole country. Most of the population, therefore, is international or multi-national, so the audience at the Diamond League was a cross-section of people from all over the world. It felt automatically very international, as does most of the city.

At the Diamond League there were Kenyans, Ethiopians, Jamaicans… all jumping up and down and waving flags. There was almost a football supporting kind of fervour.

The women’s 3000m (which saw Kenya’s Hellen Obiri beating Ethiopian Genzebe Dibaba) was brilliant.

Coping with the heat

Everyone says how hot it’s going to be and if they held it in the usual period of August then it would be pretty horrible. But,
having the championships at the end of September means that the outside ambient temperature will be 32-33 degrees during the day.

By the evening it will only drop to around 30 but there will be that air conditioning at the stadium and because it will already be dusk when the sessions start at 4:30, there will be no issues about sitting in the sun for anybody. As a fan, I found it very, very pleasant.

The reality is that in Berlin it got up to 39 degrees on a couple of days during the European Championships last summer, while I remember the 1999 world championships in Spain was also very hot, with people being physically unable to sit in their seat due to the heat at some points.

One session per day should work well

From our experience of looking after thousands of fans for the last 30-odd years, going backwards and forwards to the same place twice a day is sometimes not ideal. For most people who attend major championships it can be like a mass commuting exercise.

However, with Doha having just one session a day, you’re going to get to the stadium around 4:30pm, having had the chance to relax, to do a bit of tourism – and there are a number of things to do.

The stage is set

I’ve attended and organised people at every single world championships since 1983. If the athletes are looked after properly then they are going to compete to the best of their ability regardless of where they are.

The quality of the competition will be great and recent world championships have shown it’s also really good value for money.

I think it’s going to be a really good championships.

The GB international is both organising and competing in the new 5000m Track Challenge

The phrase ‘doubling up’ is becoming increasingly common as more and more athletes tackle multiple distances at major championships. Next month, however, GB international Sam Stabler will be facing a multi-tasking challenge with a difference, writes Lewis Moses.

Rather than tackling two different races, Stabler and his younger brother are part of a small team of event organisers who are hosting the 5000m Track Challenge on July 27 at Nottingham’s Harvey Hadden Stadium. Stabler will not only be working at the event but also racing in the elite men’s field that same evening.

Events such as the 5000m Track Challenge are providing more opportunities for British athletes to chase down fast times.

Asked what motivated Stabler to set up the meeting, he said: “I remember being in Belgium in 2017 and thinking why have we had to travel here (there were about 150 Brits abroad) to race?

“I thought surely we could get our heads together at home and put on a race where people don’t have to travel all over Europe?

“It seemed like a good idea at the time and I thought that even if it costs me a couple of hundred pounds to set up the race then it would be the same as paying to go to Belgium whilst hopefully saving other people a lot of money, too!”

Stabler’s enthusiasm for the event to succeed is clear and he has been helped by figures such as former GB athletes Lewis Moses and Tom Boardman, who have been working in the background, his younger bother Olly as well as James Ecklestan to try and create a night to remember.

“Seeing the success of Highgate (Night of 10,000m PBs) as well as other events and realising what an impact that has had on our sport, made our decision much easier,” adds Stabler. “That, coupled with the fact we have like-minded, enthusiastic people helping with the event has made it much easier to work on and balance my time.”

The elite men’s entry list currently includes 19 athletes with sub-14 minute personal bests, including Stabler, Luke Caldwell, Dewi Griffiths, Philip Sesemann and Alex Teuten.

The women’s field features 11 sub-16 minute runners, including Kate Avery, Sarah Inglis, Calli Thackery, Verity Ockenden and Emily Hosker Thornhill.

Elite entry lists can be found here, while further details on the meeting are at 5ktrackchallenge.co.uk

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Yorkshire 327 (Fraine 106, Clark 5-77) and 303 for 9 (Lyth 68) lead Surrey 362 (Stoneman 100) by 268 runs

Surrey are back at Scarborough for the second successive season and those Yorkshire spectators who like their Championship cricket hard-bitten might be in the mood to book them in for the next decade. This was the antithesis of the Festival cricket that was once the soul of the town. It was Division One cricket, it mattered and everybody knew it. And a compelling finale could be in prospect as Yorkshire resume with a lead of 268 with the last pair at the crease.

This match has felt too close to call from the outset, but at no time was the contest keener than in a wary fifth-wicket stand of 57 in 26 overs between Tom Kohler-Cadmore and Johnny Tattersall on either side of tea. Yorkshire's lead when they came together was 133, Rikki Clarke having removed Adam Lyth, driving at one angled across him on 68, and Jack Leaning in successive overs.

Spectators dwelt upon Leaning's pair in the match - lbw this time to Clarke as he got too far across to one that swung back a shade - and wondered with good reason if his middle-order place might be vulnerable to Harry Brook. But while they chatted they watched intently, as they always watch. A Scarborough spectator on the popular banking can surreptitiously check their change at the bar and criticise a bowling change at the same moment.

It while attention was at its height that Gareth Batty added his own personal brand of spice; he should come in a little jar with refills available. Batty is Bradford born, educated at Bingley Grammar, but that is no protection from occasional barracking and every time the crowd did so they sharpened him. They would have been better yawning with a faked lack of interest.

Batty is so stingy at giving away the slightest advantage that if he managed one of the amusement arcades on North Bay you would be best advised to visit the one next door where you would lose your money more slowly. His return of 1 for 75 in 30 overs suggest that Yorkshire dealt with him competently enough, but it was a close-run thing.

He possessed two warm-up acts in medium-pacers Ryan Patel and Rikki Clarke. Patel appealed for a catch at the wicket when there was daylight between the ball and Tattersall's outside edge; the crowd's derision was sparked. Clarke followed up with a series of lbw appeals against the same batsman, the slips taking their cue and hamming it up in turn; the derision level went up a further notch.

When the cricket is consequential, Batty comes alive. His face creases with exasperation, making use of every one of his 41 years, he puffs out his cheeks meaningfully in disbelief at a rejected appeal and he considers the minutiae of every delivery as if the world might suddenly end if he moved square leg in the wrong direction. The unsupportive umpire, Ian Blackwell, the same age as Batty, at 41, but a considerably bigger figure than when he retired seven years ago, moved slowly to square leg at the end of the over as if in search of a bit of peace.

"Tek 'im off," came the cry as the new ball loomed. But Batty wasn't takken off. He negotiated two more overs and got his wicket, switching around the wicket to have Kohler-Cadmore stumped for 42 as his back foot strayed momentarily, a rapid reaction from Surrey's stand-in captain and keeper Ben Foakes.

The new ball came after 83 overs, at 242 for 5, and Tattersall fell three overs later, his 38 spanning 103 deliveries, as he fenced at Sam Curran and was caught at first slip. Yorkshire looked vulnerable, their lead 216, four wickets standing, but a foray from David Willey - 43 from 35 balls with eight fours against the new ball - swung the match again.

Throughout it all, a low murmur could be heard around North Marine Road. The cricket is never incidental at Scarborough, but it is an excuse for conversation, including for some who are not by nature conversational. That conversation would extend into the evening in a town that mixes natural grandeur with the downbeat consequences of human frailty, and which often appears to survive hand to mouth, but which for all that with the simple addition of a dual carraigeway the lenth of the A64 remains a place of huge potential, the prince of England's seaside towns.

Northamptonshire 273 and 331 (Vasconcelos 88) beat Sussex 106 (Sanderson 6-37) and 105 (Sanderson 4-18, Hutton 4-32) by 393 runs

Northamptonshire claimed their first County Championship win of the season after Sussex's batsman capitulated for the second time in the match to lose by a record 393 runs at Hove.

Having been bowled out for 106 in their first innings, Sussex fared even worse as they were dismissed for 105 after another abject batting performance. Their margin of defeat was the heaviest in their history in a County Championship game.

Sussex's coach Jason Gillespie, who is desperately seeking the right formula in both batting and bowling ranks for a county plagued by inconsistency, said: "That was an unacceptable performance and there has to be a lot of self reflection as individuals on areas where we have to improve. We didn't score enough runs and the lads have to work out what they can do better to get the job done.

"We haven't batted well enough obviously but yesterday afternoon I thought our body language and our bowling was very disappointing and we allowed Northants to take the game away from us.

"I can't take anything away from them - Ben Sanderson and Brett Hutton bowled really, really well - but we were blown away again today. We need to be better all round. There was a great opportunity today for someone to put a big score on the board and we weren't able to do that. We need more lads to put their hands up than guys like Ollie Robinson and Ben Brown. We've had a couple of tough games but we need to be better."

They seemed to be making a better fist of things when Varun Chopra and Luke Wells took the score to 35 for 1 but Sussex then lost nine wickets for 70 runs with Ben Sanderson and Brett Hutton again wreaking havoc.

Sanderson's 4 for 18 in two spells included the 200th first-class wicket of his career. He finished with match figures of 10 for 50 while Hutton improved on his 3 for 47 in the first innings by taking 4 for 32 in the second to finish with a match haul of 7 for 79.

There were boos from some Sussex supporters when a second successive defeat was confirmed shortly after 4pm. Although they remain third in Division Two they have played a game more than most of their rivals, many of whom could overtake them depending on results in the other matches which finish on Wednesday.

Once again Sussex's batsmen were like rabbits in the headlights against a relentless Northamptonshire attack who found a consistent length and enough seam movement and swing to take nine wickets in 19 overs during the afternoon session.

Sussex began their notional pursuit of a target of 499 25 minutes before lunch but they didn't get to the interval unscathed with Phil Salt pinned in Hutton's second over for one of three ducks in the innings.

The experienced Chopra, who is on loan from Essex, and Wells, negotiated 12 overs either side of lunch but when Wells (11) nibbled fatally at Hutton's away-swing the innings went into a dramatic tail spin.

Laurie Evans (3) became Hutton's third victim and with the score still on 41 Chopra (22) was caught behind off Nathan Buck, who then had Delray Rawlins (8) taken mid-off off a mis-timed pull.

Skipper Ben Brown decided to go down fighting, hitting five fours and two sixes - both in the only over bowled by off-spinner Rob Keogh - as he dominated a sixth-wicket stand of 28 with David Wiese.

But when Sanderson returned to the attack Sussex's last five wickets disappeared for 13 runs with Sanderson removing Wiese and Will Beer in the space of three balls before Keogh clung on to a good catch in the gully to remove Brown for 46 in the paceman's next over.

Sanderson finished things off by bowling Aaron Thomason, Hutton having picked up his fourth wicket when wicketkeeper Adam Rossington held his fourth catch of the innings to remove Ollie Robinson.

Earlier, Buck hit a 59-ball half-century as Northants added a further 119 runs during the morning session before being bowled out for 331. Resuming on 212 for 4, they lost their first three wickets to Robinson, who finished with match figures of 10 for 132. His performance was the lone positive for Sussex.

Buck was dismissed two balls after reaching his half-century when he top-edged a pull at Abi Sakande before left-arm spinner Rawlins picked up two wickets to finish with 3 for 34.

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Warwickshire 400 for 3 (Sibley 207*, Rhodes 109) trail Kent 585 for 7 dec (Bell-Drummond 166, Dickson 161) by 185 runs

Warwickshire's Dominic Sibley's found claims that he had become the first batsman to reach 1,000 first-class runs for the season put under scrutiny as Glamorgan's Marnus Labuschagne also laid claim to the honour.

But what was abundantly clear was that Sibley - like Labuschagne - underlined that he is an Ashes contender as Kent's bowlers continued their thankless toil on day three of this Specsavers County Championship run-fest in Canterbury.

Sibley's record includes runs in the pre-season opener to the county season between MCC and the Champion County which was traditionally staged at Lord's but which now takes place in the UAE.

In a phenomenal display of concentration and will power, Sibley, the 23-year-old former Surrey batsman, took his total crease occupation to almost nine hours in reaching an unbeaten 207 from 409 balls and 31 fours.

After his marathon innings a delighted Sibley said: "We've played on some tough wickets this year and I was thinking about this opportunity a lot last night, and I told myself that I really needed to make the most of this chance."

As for his chances of forcing his name into the hat for potential Ashes selection, Sibley added: "A lot of people are chatting about it and there's a bit of hype surrounding my name, but I just want to keep batting and scoring runs. It's really that simple. If I keep batting and stay in the grove then who knows? We'll see what happens."

The World Cup has quickened conversation around Jason Roy but England are also watching Sibley - and neither England opening berth is pinned down with the likes of Keaton Jennings and Rory Burns the current incumbents.

Sibley's stoical innings helped Warwickshire to close on a season's best 400 for 3 off 143 overs as the visitors responded to Kent's summer's-best total of 585 for 7 declared.

Against a fellow Division One county in distress, which has had to resort to several loan signings to keep body and soul together, Kent have somehow produced one of the flattest pitches of the season.

Sibley and his opening partner Will Rhodes took advantage of the most placid batting conditions of the season to post a record opening stand of 221 in first-class matches between Kent and Warwickshire.

Having resumed on 142 without loss, Kent introduced the off-spin of Ollie Rayner after an hour but Rhodes swept his fifth delivery for a boundary to take Warwickshire past 196 - their previous best championship opening stand against Kent recorded by Dominic Ostler and Roger Twose at Edgbaston in 1989.

Rhodes again swept Rayner for his 14th boundary to reach his first century of the summer from 218 balls, but, only nine runs later, the left-hander chased a wide, full delivery from Grant Stewart to be caught behind for 109.

After lunch, Rob Yates succumbed to the second new ball when he nibbled outside off against Darren Stevens to be caught at slip as Kent's attack, which had hitherto banked maximum bowling points in every game, missed out completely.

Sibley, who became marooned in the 90s for 48 minutes, finally reached three-figures after tea with a clip to the mid-wicket ropes. The 10th century of his first-class career came off 241 balls and included 16 fours.

Kent made their next breakthrough when Sam Hain (40) aimed to glance against Harry Podmore only to be caught off a fine edge by Ollie Robinson, the in-form Kent keeper, diving way to his left.

Sibley ploughed on however, moving past his previous best score for Warwickshire of 144 not out scored against Sussex at Hove last season. He then went onto the back-foot to pull a Podmore bumper for four to reach 175 for his 1,000th first-class run of the season.

The landmark boundary also took him past Nick Knight's 174 scored against Kent at Canterbury in 1995, Warwickshire's highest individual score in matches between the two counties.

Sibley's record-breaking continued when, just before stumps, he reached the third double century of his career and his first for Warwickshire from 406 balls and with 30 fours as he and Adam Hose cut Kent's first-innings lead to 185 runs.

Though Kent could only manage to pick up one wicket in each of the three sessions, they will take some solace in restricting the Bears to only three batting bonus points as the dogfight to avoid championship relegation continues.

However, a final day of leather-chasing awaits Heino Kuhn's side on Wednesday, when Sibley will have one eye on surpassing his career-best 242, scored for his native Surrey against Yorkshire at The Kia Oval in 2013.

Australia 178 for 8 (Healy 66, Ecclestone 3-34) beat England 177 (Sciver 64, Perry 3-43) by two wickets

Australia - led by the bowling of Ellyse Perry and the batting of Alyssa Healy - have claimed early Ashes honours, winning a tight opening contest by two wickets in the first one-dayer at Leicester.

England never recovered from a top-order batting collapse, led by Perry's three wickets, despite the best efforts of England spinner Sophie Ecclestone, who claimed 3-34 as the tourists wobbled in their modest run chase. They reached the target with 45 balls remaining on the back of Healy's half-century but, in the face of some tense moments at the death, the match was much closer than it might appear on paper.

The hosts crumbled to 19 for 4 after Perry had Amy Jones out attempting a pull which ballooned to Healy behind the stumps and accounted for Jones's fellow opener, Tammy Beaumont, who chopped on a short time later.

Megan Schutt bowled Sarah Taylor with an in-swinger and then Perry had Heather Knight out lbw for a duck, walking across her stumps.

It became 44 for 5 for England when Fran Wilson was out to a dubious lbw decision to spinner Jess Jonassen. Replays showed Wilson clearly gloved the ball first but, with no player review system in place for this series, Wilson could do nothing but march off the field making no secret of her consternation.

Natalie Sciver launched a salvage mission with a spirited 64 off 95 balls but when she and Katherine Brunt were out lbw, to Jonassen and Delissa Kimmince respectively, and Anya Shrubsole was caught brilliantly by a leaping Rachael Haynes at mid-off, it fell to Sophie Ecclestone to carry on the attempted fightback.

Orthodox spinner Ecclestone showed fine touch, reaching 27 of as many deliveries, including five fours, but her cameo ended when she attempted to loft Ashleigh Gardner for a second four in a row but found Beth Mooney just inside the long-on boundary.

Laura Marsh was left standing unbeaten on 24 off 52 when Schutt bowled Kate Cross with a beautiful leg-cutter which clattered into off-stump.

Chasing just 178 for victory, Australia more than fancied their chances. Despite the early loss of Nicole Bolton, caught behind attempting to drive Shrubsole, the tourists were in control at 41 for 1 after the first Power Play.

But Brunt, celebrating her 34th birthday and in the rare position of first-change bowler, made the breakthrough with the first ball of her second over when she had Meg Lanning out to a plumb leg-before decision.

Sarah Taylor's stunning glovework shone as usual with a leg-side stumping to dismiss Ellyse Perry cheaply off the bowling of Sciver.

The England bowlers kept the pressure on Australia by claiming wickets at fairly regular intervals, including that of the dangerous Alyssa Healy - who reached 66 off 71 balls before holing out to Wilson off Marsh. By the time Marsh bowled Beth Mooney, who attempted to work the ball over the keeper but missed, Australia were 150 for 7 and, while the run rate required was easily attainable, England were in with a sniff if they could just take the reamaining wickets.

Shrubsole put down what should have been a regulation caught-and-bowled off Kimmince, demonstrating the less-than-assertive fielding that had bothered both sides at times during the match. Ecclestone gave England a glimmer of hope with her penultimate ball, when she tempted Jonassen into a stroke that went straight to Shrubsole at mid-on.

Needing 11 runs off the last 10 overs, the Australians held their nerve, Kimmince struck a lofted four off Brunt which had everyone's hearts in their mouths as it went just wide of star fielder Wilson and five wides off the next ball sealed a low-key end to a thrilling contest.