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Roberto Colombi: Let’s be honest no one except the most optimistic is going to see this as a total rout and shellacking! Even worse I’m surrounded by Aussie fans in the MCG - it's gonna be a long painful day. The one good thing about England batting first is that it’ll all be over in two days, will give me a chance to explore Melbourne more.

Georgia Elwiss
England all-rounder on TNT Sports

England's players will be hurting and very aware of the criticism they are receiving. They will want to stick together, play for pride, and get something out of this Ashes tour.

Over the past 12 months or so England have played quite a few Test matches and it can rejuvenate you to pull the whites out.

Darcie Brown shares the new ball for Australia and goes very full in her first over.

That allows Tammy Beaumont to get up and running with a drive through mid-off.

The fielder gets a hand to it, which prevents the boundary, but England get back for three.

Heather Knight then flicks a single down to fine leg before Beaumont goes at another half-volley but plays and misses.

Steven Finn
Former England fast bowler on TNT Sports

In pink ball Tests you are always thinking about that twilight period. You want to be bowling then.

When you win the toss and bowl first you want early wickets, but in the back of your mind you'll be thinking about that twilight period later in the game.

Having that ball zipping around at that stage is a real psychological edge.

Heather Knight has a very good record in Test cricket but she's out in the middle far sooner than she'd have liked.

The England captain batted well in the last couple of T20s, too. A change of mindset here but she'll hope to continue that good form.

She defends solidly to see out the remainder of a good first over from Kim Garth.

Michelle Goszko
Ex-Australia batter on BBC Sounds

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What a perfect start here for the Australians. Didn't quite get the swing to find outside edge like I thought it did, it was more seam. What a series Kim Garth has had.

England are off the mark first ball.

A hint of swing for Kim Garth, onto the pads of Tammy Beaumont, and it deflects into the on side for a leg bye.

Maia Bouchier then clips the next delivery through mid-wicket for a couple - the first runs off the bat.

Michelle Goszko
Ex-Australia batter on BBC Sounds

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It's all on the line here for the Aussies, they want the whitewash.

Here we go then.

Tammy Beaumont and Maia Bouchier are the openers for England on a glorious day at the MCG.

Kim Garth has the new pink ball in hand for Australia.

Georgia Elwiss
England all-rounder on TNT Sports

England need to recognise the key moments in games.

They had chances in the first two ODIs where if they had done better in the key moments there could have been different results and the momentum could have been different.

I'd like to see players stepping up and having the game awareness to know these are pivotal moments and hold their skills for longer.

Steven Finn
Former England fast bowler on TNT Sports

The pitch looks patchy to me. A little odd. The curator at the MCG in recent years has tried to leave a bit of grass on to keep the bowlers in the game because it has been quite flat before that.

We saw in the Australia vs India men's series quite recently it was a bit of spicy for the seamers towards the back end of the game. Hopefully that means there's some life in it for the seamers.

Anthems done, it's time for some cricket!

A reminder that England have been put in to bat by Australia.

Heather Knight's side have the chance to get some runs on the board early as they aim to avoid a 16-0 sweep.

Alex Hartley
Former England bowler on BBC Test Match Special

Australia have been the better side under pressure. England haven't performed under pressure, they've just gone into their shells. There is a difference between the two sides.

It's a good place for England to be in because they can come away from the series and see what they need to work on. It's like Jon Lewis said, 'We've poked the bear and it's come back fighting'.

The players out at the MCG and the pre-match ceremony in under way.

It's time for the national anthems.

Srinivas Vijaykumar
Cricviz analyst

Today is the 17th women's international to be played at the MCG. The last game was the final of the 2020 ICC Women's T20 World Cup between Australia and India. The last time England played at the MCG was in a T20I, 11 years back on 31 January 2014.

Georgia Elwiss
England all-rounder on TNT Sports

England's team shows they think the pink ball is going to do a bit in terms of swing. Ryana Macdonald-Gay is an exponent of that. I like what she is about as a cricketer. I like her inclusion and she will bring something a little bit different to this line-up.

Alex Hartley
Former England bowler on BBC Test Match Special

You would think that with the squad they've picked today that England have been more positive. They've brought in an extra batter, Sophia Dunkley was outstanding in the T20 games, if she can do that in Test cricket it'll be exciting.

Steven Finn
Former England fast bowler on TNT Sports

In terms of a whitewash there's shades of Glenn McGrath and 5-0. He used to love predicting that. It's an important game for many reasons. There's pride to play for and it's the start of a new dawn for England in this Test match. They can begin looking forward.

There are usually inquisitions at the end of an Ashes loss and even more if you lose every single game. Pride to play for and as a player you want to be part of what happens next.

This is a day-night Test - hence the lovely middle of the night start for those of us in the UK - so while the players will be donning the whites, it'll be the pink ball in use.

In these matches, the twilight period is often seen as the best time to bowl.

While the sun is shining, batting is that much easier so England will want to make a good start to position themselves well going into that trickier phase later on.

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