England's women cricketers will need to dig in early on the final day of their tour match against an inexperienced Cricket Australia XI to avoid risking a shock warm-up loss.
Less than a week-out from the one-off Ashes test, England only lead the hosts by just 47 with seven wickets in hand, after they toiled through a difficult day two in the field in Sydney on Saturday.
After losing the one-day leg of the series 2-1 to Australia, England must either win or draw the four-day Test, starting Thursday, to have any any hope of regaining the Ashes.
But the signs are worrying for the visitors.
After they were bowled out for 231 in their first innings, England suffered a 40-run first innings deficit as a Naomi Stalenberg century pushed the CA XI to 271 at Blacktown International Sportspark.
England were then 3-87 at stumps in their second innings, with captain Heather Knight not out on 34.
Stalenberg's innings could help her push for a recall into Australia Twenty20 squad for the final leg of the series, after she last represented her country in 2016.
The 23-year-old capitalised as England struggled to get much purchase out of the old pink ball during the daylight hours in their first ever match with it, as the hosts went on a run of 2-165 midway through their innings.
Meanwhile, Australia had similar difficulties with the old ball in the penultimate afternoon of their three-day warm-up match against an ACT XI in Canberra.
ACT allrounder Angela Reakes smashed 103 from 141 balls as they also claimed an unlikely first-innings lead 7(dec)-290, in reply to the national side's 8(dec)-272.
However, normality was restored when Elyse Villani (48 not out) led Australia to 2-126 at stumps and a lead of 108, with a draw the most likely outcome.
"The ball gets old pretty quickly, once it stops swinging it's done for the day," Villani said.
"Obviously we haven't experienced it before, but we don't want to get too carried away with the fact it's a pink ball and it's a day-night test.
"Because at the end of the day it's still a cricket ball coming down your way."
