England are already on the back foot in their attempt to avoid a 16-0 clean sweep in the Women’s Ashes, having been bowled out for 170 on day one of the one-off Test.

Leg-spinner Alana King took 4-45 as England crumbled inside 72 overs at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

All-rounder Nat Sciver-Brunt provided the only resistance for England with a gritty 51 from 129 balls amid an array of wasteful dismissals.

England then bowled 22 overs at the end of the day, in favourable conditions with the pink ball under floodlights, but Phoebe Litchfield and Annabel Sutherland batted sensibly to reach 56-1 at the close of play, trailing by 114 runs.

Earlier, England had been put in to bat and it took just four balls for the all-too-familiar batting woes to resurface with Maia Bouchier caught behind in Kim Garth’s opening over.

Garth also removed captain Heather Knight for 25, Tammy Beaumont was trapped lbw by Darcie Brown for eight before a stand of 50 between Sciver-Brunt and Sophia Dunkley led a rebuilding effort from 47-3.

But Australia expertly exposed England’s spin weaknesses once more as they lost four wickets to King and Ash Gardner combined in the afternoon session to dent any hopes of posting a competitive total.

Australia will be confident of accelerating on day two with their formidable batting depth, having only lost debutant Georgia Voll to Lauren Bell for 12.

Having won all six preceding white-ball matches, Australia are now eyeing all 16 points from the series, which has never been achieved in the multi-format Ashes.