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Australia beat England by 89 runs to win the one-off Ashes Test match and take a 4-0 points lead in the multi-format series.
Spinner Ash Gardner starred with 8-66 as England were bowled out for 178 before lunch on day five at Trent Bridge.
Gardner’s effort gave her an astonishing 12 wickets in the match after her four in England’s first innings.
Danni Wyatt top-scored with 54 before she was given out lbw to Gardner for Australia to wrap up the victory inside 21 overs on the final day.
England resumed on 116-5 after a late collapse on day four left them requiring another 152 to win.
Wyatt and nightwatcher Kate Cross added 25 for the sixth wicket before the latter was caught behind for 13 off Gardner, who took all five remaining wickets.
England then slumped from 151-6 to 178 all out as Wyatt struggled for support from England’s lower order.
Amy Jones made just four before she was stumped by Alyssa Healy after a fumble, Sophie Ecclestone was pinned lbw for 10 and Lauren Filer was bowled for a duck.
Defeat felt cruel on Tammy Beaumont, who scored 208 in England’s first innings, and Ecclestone, who also took a 10-wicket haul in the match but was ultimately eclipsed by Gardner.
The series continues with three T20s and three one-day internationals, all worth two points each, starting at Edgbaston on Saturday 1 July.
Gardner the difference despite Wyatt’s resistance
Wyatt, unbeaten on 20 overnight, was going to be key to England’s hopes with her naturally aggressive style of play, and she stuck to her task efficiently by reaching her half-century from 78 balls.
But Gardner toiled away unchanged in an incredible effort of consistency with the day five pitch offering some uneven bounce and turn.
The all-rounder’s match figures of 12-165 are the second-best of all-time in women’s Test cricket, after Shaiza Khan’s 13-226 for Pakistan against West Indies in 2004.
England promised an attacking brand of cricket and over four days, proved that they could unsettle Australia, but in a tough morning session, it was the world champions who held their nerve under the pressure.
The hosts’ have much to be proud of – and justified the decision to play the Test over five days- but now have a very difficult task in overturning Australia’s four-point lead.
Australia are world champions in both white-ball formats, their dominance particularly evident in ODIs where they have lost just one match from their last 42. BY THE STAR