Australia (198/7) beat England (141) by 57 runs
Sophia Dunkley took the fight to the Australians, but it was not enough to prevent England succumbing to defeat in the Women’s Ashes at the earliest opportunity.
Chasing what would have been a record-equalling 199 to win, Dunkley struck a powerful 59 from 30 as England briefly threatened to take the game down to the wire, before suffering a 57-run defeat as Australia retained the Ashes.
Yet again England were left to rue missed chances in the field, as Australia posted a match-winning 198 for seven, with Beth Mooney hitting an impressive 75 from 50.
The visitors were not without their chances, making mistakes including two drops, one of which was Mooney when she was on just 16, as Australia’s strength in depth proved effective again.
Phoebe Litchfield and Tahlia McGrath delivered explosive innings of 25 and 26 respectively, as Australia left England facing a monumental task at the halfway mark.
Dunkley attacked from the outset of her innings after England lost the two opening batters for ducks, firing her way to her fourth half-century in T20 cricket from just 24 deliveries, but after she fell for 59, the result was never in doubt.
Australia went into the T20 series needing just one more victory following whitewash in the ODIs to retain the trophy, and did so at the earliest opportunity.
In the final ODI, Australia found their footing and showed their strengths in all areas of the pitch. Without Alyssa Healy and Ashleigh Gardner for the opening T20 through injury, their depth set them apart.
Once Dunkley and Heather Knight’s explosive partnership was broken, England slid from 96 for three to 137 for seven, and then 141 all out.
When asked about retaining the Ashes, Litchfield only had one response, that they needed one more game to win it, and England already face a difficult challenge to prevent that happening on Thursday.
11:41 AM GMT
Heather Knight on defeat
I thought it was an outstanding innings by Moons, the way she moves about the crease, she’s so hard to bowl at like that.It gave them 20 or 30 too many runs. if we’d kept them top 30 or 40 less I think we would have been in the game for sure.
We felt we were in it when Dunks was in. She gave us a chance and was smart with her options. I thought we had a good partnership going but I went for the wrong option.She has such a beautiful swing. Frustrating today but we move on to the next one.
11:36 AM GMT
Phoebe Litchfield is on the mic in the field
And, while celebrating victory, says Australia are targeting the whitewash. And given how comprehensively they have won, by four wickets, 31 runs, 86 runs and 57 runs, who would back against them?
11:29 AM GMT
Wicket!
Bell c Mooney b Sutherland 0 The No 11 has a swipe and pops up a skyer off the toe. The keeper runs to her right again to take it. FOW 141 all out
Australia win by 57 runs.
Australia retain the Women’s Ashes!
11:26 AM GMT
Wicket!
Glenn run out 0 Make that one wicket required. Kemp shouted for two but Glenn just didn’t have the gas to beat Perry’s throw. FOW 140/9
11:26 AM GMT
OVER 15: ENG 139/8 (Kemp 9 Glenn 0) chasing 199
Time and again England have got themselves into a promising position in this series and then crumble. Two wickets to retain the Ashes for Australia.
11:23 AM GMT
Wicket!
Dean c Mooney b Wareham 2 Top-edges a sweep that goes straight up the chimney and the keeper runs round to her right to take it. FOW 139/8
11:21 AM GMT
Wicket!
Ecclestone c Sutherland b Wareham 13 A cameo but a contribution nonetheless of 13 off six until she arcs an on-drive off the leg-break down long-on’s throat. FOW 137/7
11:21 AM GMT
OVER 14: ENG 137/6 (Kemp 9 Ecclestone 13) chasing 199
England take Schutt down to give themselves a glimmer. Ecclestone murders a hoick across the line for six to the midwicket boundary, Harrow drives for two off a thick inside-edge and drives for a single to long-on. Kemp square drives for four and then slices a slog safe over point for two.
11:18 AM GMT
OVER 13: ENG 120/6 (Kemp 2 Ecclestone 4) chasing 199
Lisa Sthalekar had urged some degree of patience as advice for Jones, telling her to rack up the twos before looking for the big shot but she could not resist and, after a pair of deuces, she went for the big wipe across the line and was undone by a relative grubber.
Ecclestone starts by freeing her arms by backing away and carving the ball through backward point for four.
11:14 AM GMT
Wicket!
Jones b Wareham 12 Another shooter as she played back and was beaten by the low bouncing leg-break. FOW 116/6
11:12 AM GMT
OVER 12: ENG 112/5 (Jones 8 Kemp 2) chasing 199
Dunkley swipes four through mid-on from outside off but goes down swinging when trying to maintain the rate. Kemp, a rare English woman left-handed bat, gets off the mark first ball by working two off her pads.
11:08 AM GMT
Wicket!
Dunkley b McGrath 59 Cutter, kept low as Dunkley tried to mow it over cow corner, it went through the gate and into leg stump. Six fours and four sixes in her 30-ball 59. FOW 110/5
11:08 AM GMT
OVER 11: ENG 103/4 (Dunkley 54 Jones 6) chasing 199
England have only three serviceable batters left this far from the target in Dunkley, Jones and Kemp. And they’ll have to be careful with King who has forced out Sciver-Brunt and Knight, flashing that beaming smile when the ump’s finger goes skywards.
Jones thumps a boundary through mid-on and they end the over with three singles to keep them in touch with the original rate.
11:02 AM GMT
Wicket!
Knight lbw b King 18 Trying to reverse sweep, she was struck on the knee on leg stump first ball after drinks. FOW 96/4
11:01 AM GMT
AUS review
Knight lbw b King The old drinks’ break voodoo?
10:57 AM GMT
OVER 10: ENG 96/3 (Dunkley 53 Knight 18) chasing 199
Fifty for Dunkley, though she had to wait for Sutherland’s slow bouncer to get to her, patting it through midwicket for a single. A fifty off 24 balls under this pressure is remarkable. Another slow bouncer is swatted at shoulder height over cover for two and she cover drives for a single to give Knight the strike.
The captain walks towards the bowler and is clipped on the thighpad, outside the line and they jog a single.
Time for drinks.
Sophia Dunkley was dropped ahead of the international summer and told to return to domestic cricket, score runs and work on her technique.
Her impressive unbeaten half century against Australia has showcased all of those improvements.
The small changes has seen her return, stand tall in the crease and punish any errors by the Australians, hitting a lot straighter than she used to and with power.
Dunkley’s innings has kept England in the match after it looked like they would struggle to even get close to the home side’s total at two for four.
10:54 AM GMT
OVER 9: ENG 89/3 (Dunkley 49 Knight 16) chasing 199
McGrath brings herself on with her cutters. Knight works two off her pads and then closes the face too soon but gets away with it as the ball spoons wide of cover and they run a single. Dunkley mistimes a pull for a single as the rip imparted by the Aussie captain made it stick in the pitch. She has 49 off 23 balls.
10:50 AM GMT
OVER 8: ENG 84/3 (Dunkley 48 Knight 12) chasing 199
Leg-spin from both ends, back to the days of Shane and MacGiller. Wareham gives the ball more flight and Kinight shovels four over midwicket followed by two glorious strokes from Dunkley, a lofted cover drive eclipsed in grace and style next ball with one all along the carpet that raced away like a harpoon dart.
10:46 AM GMT
OVER 7: ENG 69/3 (Dunkley 39 Knight 6) chasing 199
Good shot from Knight to counter King’s drift. She chassés towards the bowler and plays a Viv-esque inside-out drive over extra-cover for four.
10:43 AM GMT
OVER 6: ENG 62/3 (Dunkley 38 Knight 0) chasing 199
Sutherland starts with three dot balls as Dunkley drives hard but sees the ball stopped at cover. And she is though her swing too quickly when she tries to uppercut a slow bouncer.
But the fourth ball has pace on and arrows into her pads and she collars it to smack it over midwicket for six. The next ball is charged and belted over mid-off but she can only glean two, the first ‘run runs’ of the innings. Dunkley ends the over with a thunderous cover drive lanced between the fielders for four.
10:39 AM GMT
OVER 5: ENG 50/3 (Dunkley 26 Knight 0) chasing 199
Two leg-byes elongate the wait for a run as Knight struggles to knock the leg-spinner off the square.
10:34 AM GMT
Wicket!
Sciver-Brunt b King 20 Kept low but ragged from outside leg to hit middle and off as Sciver-Brunt tried to pull what looked like a long hop but in fact skidded through. FOW 48/3
10:34 AM GMT
OVER 4: ENG 48/2 (Sciver-Brunt 20 Dunkley 26) chasing 199
Well now. This is encouraging. Dunkley starts Garth’s second over by charging down the pitch and lofting a drive over long on for six. Next ball is more of a T20 slog but for the same return over midwicket. Then Dunkley square cuts for four and ends the over skipping down and on-driving for a third six!
Twenty-two off the over. England have 46 runs from boundaries and two from wides! No runs run.
Alana King is brought on for the Powerplay. She was England’s tormentor in chief in the ODIs.
10:29 AM GMT
OVER 3: ENG 26/2 (Sciver-Brunt 20 Dunkley 4) chasing 199
A glimmer of defiance if not yet hope from Sciver-Brunt who flicks four off her toes, pulls the short ball for four more and picks up a third when using the angle into her pads to whip the ball behind square and over the boundary. Some tap for Schutt.
10:25 AM GMT
OVER 2: ENG 12/2 (Sciver-Brunt 8 Dunkley 4) chasing 199
Garth is swinging the ball but it’s fairly gentle shape. Nonetheless she accounts for Wyatt-Hodge who threw her head up into a drive and then catches Sciver-Brunt’s leading edge as she tried to work one through midwicket. The ball flies wide of slip for four and Sciver-Brunt ends the over by opening the face to work one down through third, more edge than middle. Put some more slips in.
10:20 AM GMT
Wicket!
Wyatt-Hodge c Litchfield b Garth 0 Lord. Trumps Bouchier’s second-ball duck with a golden one, giving second slip catching practice by nicking off when trying to drive an outswinger. FOW 4/2
10:19 AM GMT
OVER 1: ENG 4/1 (Wyatt-Hodge 0 Dunkley 4) chasing 199
The worst possible start as Bouchier holes out second ball. Dunkley defends the first two and then climbs into a pull over midwicket for four.
10:15 AM GMT
Wicket!
Bouchier c Wareham b Schutt 0 Out second ball, swatting the ball down deep square leg’s throat off a crease-bound pull. FOW 0/1
10:05 AM GMT
Chance missed
Beth Mooney played a stunning innings to put her side firmly in control of the first T20 of the Ashes series.
Australia went into the game needing just one more victory to retain the Ashes, and England will have to deliver their joint-highest ever chase in the team’s history to prevent them doing so at the earliest opportunity.
Amy Jones will regret her chance to put an early end to Mooney’s innings when she was on just 16 and she went on to score 75 from 50.
Every new batter came in and attacked, without giving away their wicket as England again missed early chances.
10:04 AM GMT
Change of innings
England will need 199 to keep the series alive after a bowling performance ruined by full tosses, a handful of wides and half a dozen episodes of calamity fielding. England have made 200+ four times in the last seven years batting first but their record chase is the same as today’s target 199, which they ran down for the loss of three wickets in Mumbai against India in 2018.
10:00 AM GMT
OVER 20: AUS 198/7 (Wareham 11 King 1)
Harris swings and swats Bell’s full toss through mid on for four and then departs, swinging for the bleachers. Wareham chucks the bat at one outside off, misses the ball and Jones, diving across parries it for four byes. Wareham goes again, smacking four through mid-off, helped by Knight missing the ball when she dived to try to stop it, and finishing with two hoicked from outside off through the onside.
09:55 AM GMT
Wicket!
Harris c Ecclestone b Bell 14 England know Harris likes to cart what she can to cow corner so Bell hides the ball outside off and it spoons to short third off the edge of the toe as she closed the face to try to whip it through midwicket. FOW 187/7
09:55 AM GMT
OVER 19: AUS 183/6 (Harris 10 Wareham 5)
Ecclestone screams in exasperation after only conceding three off her first five and then hooping down a full toss. But Wareham only slaps it over the bowler’s head for two. Five off the over. That qualifies as ‘brakes’ at this stage.
09:51 AM GMT
OVER 18: AUS 178/6 (Harris 9 Wareham 2)
After Kemp celebrates dismissing the game-changing opener Mooney, she tries to diddle Harris with a slower ball but she picks it and waits and waits and waits before thrashing it oer long-on for siz.
09:47 AM GMT
Wicket!
Mooney st Jones b Kemp 75 She has used her feet well throughout but now strands herself when the ball from the left-armer kicks on. Excellent handwork from Jones. FOW 168/6
09:45 AM GMT
OVER 17: AUS 167/5 (Mooney 75 Harris 1)
Ecclestone is taken for a pair of fours, Mooney crouching deep in her crease to collar one through square leg, McGrath reaching over to flick hers, outside-in, from a fifth-stump line through square leg. But when she tries again to work one into the legside, McGrath comes unstuck when Ecclestone darts one into the blockhole.
09:40 AM GMT
Wicket!
McGrath b Ecclestone 26 A proper captain’s knock of 26 off nine balls ends as he swings and misses and Ecclestone zips one through the widest of gates. FOW 166/5
09:40 AM GMT
OVER 16: AUS 157/4 (Mooney 70 McGrath 22)
Knight brings back Bell who starts with two short balls from round the wicket to the left-handed Mooney. Both are dispatched for four, the first under the diving Glenn at short fine leg – she should have done better – the next wider and higher. Bell carries on with this strategy after a solitary dot ball when she takes the pace off and Mooney flips her off her pads down to long leg for four more. The next short ball at least is on off stump and Mooney swats it for a single while McGrath waits for the slower ball and cleaves it through point for four more.
The pitch is bouncier than England thought giving Mooney the opportunity to hit over the field. But Bell has to make an adjustment to counter that, bringing her line over to off or even fourth stump. But she cracks on with the original strategy.
09:34 AM GMT
OVER 15: AUS 140/4 (Mooney 57 McGrath 18)
McGrath sweeps Glenn behind square for four, Sciver-Brunt should have done better with her dive and saved one, maybe two but not to be. Bouchier shows her athleticism and resilience to cut off McGrath’s spiffing off drive and bounce back from hurting her shoulder.
Once play resumes McGrath takes down Glenn with a slice through gully for four and a cart over cow corner for six.
Eighteen off the over.
09:31 AM GMT
Maia Bouchier needs urgent treatment
After stopping a boundary at mid-off and landing on her shoulder. The phyios get to work and actually get it rotating again. She seems keen to continue so it looks like a stinger rather than anything more serious.
09:28 AM GMT
OVER 14: AUS 122/4 (Mooney 56 McGrath 1)
Sophia Dunkley is on the mic out in the deep and says she feels England have fought back well and the pitch is playing so well for batting that she thinks 180 is chaseable.
Dean ends with 4-0-38-1.
Since the drinks break, whatever words were said by the England coaching staff have made a significant impact.
Firstly with Heather Knight’s direct hit to dismiss Phoebe Litchfield, then Ellyse Perry was stumped to give England a significant boost.
Perry’s stumping was the first in four years, and Annabel Sutherland was also caught for just three runs by Danni Wyatt-Hodge.
England cannot afford to let up in the final five overs, but the brief pause in play has handed them a lifeline
09:25 AM GMT
Wicket!
Sutherland c Wyatt-Hodge b Dean 3 And now one sticks. Wyatt-Hodge makes a running, diving catch at cow corner as Sutherland heaved across the line. FOW 121/4
09:24 AM GMT
OVER 13: AUS 116/3 (Mooney 50 Sutherland 2)
Where there’s Ecclestone. there’s hope. Sutherland gets off the mark after Perry’s departure with a dabby cut for two.
09:19 AM GMT
Wicket!
Perry st Jones b Ecclestone 7 Came down the pitch to the great left-arm spinner, looking to drive her back over her head, but was gulled by the flight and dip. Perry did get her foot back pretty sharpish, quicker than most mortals, but not quick enough. FOW 114/3
09:18 AM GMT
OVER 12: AUS 111/2 (Mooney 50 Perry 7)
Oh dear. Glenn resumes with a waist high full toss to Mooney who strides towards it like Oliver Hardy to a cream bun and pans it over mid-off for four. The opener pulls a drag down for a single, Perry on-drives twice, once for two, once for a single before Mooney brings up her half-century by tucking the leg-spinner, with the turn, off her pads for a single. It has taken her seven balls and includes seven fours. Nelson!
09:14 AM GMT
OVER 11: AUS 102/2 (Mooney 44 Perry 4)
It was Litchfield’s call so she can’t really have any complaints. Mooney climbs into Sciver-Brunt’s cutter and carves it for four through point, another short ball is pulled for two and a single pushed to mid-on. That give Perry the strike and she opens her stance by withdrawing her front leg into the onside to wallop four over mid-on.
09:09 AM GMT
Wicket!
Litchfield run out (Knight) 25 Excellent work from Knight with a headlong dive at cover and toss with only one stump to aim at, She was short by a metre. FOW 91/2
09:09 AM GMT
Drinks
The consensus back in the TNT Sports studio is that England have been ‘sloppy’. It doesn’t seem critical enough for the fielding.
Australia started trying to attack everything as England’s bowlers were wayward at times, scoring 38 runs from the opening three overs.
In the next three, England pegged them back and broke the opening partnership with the hosts only managing nine runs.
But all that pressure was released between the sixth and ninth overs, with Australia’s positivity returning as they put on a further 31.
At the halfway point in the first innings, yet again it has been a case of what if for England, as they will have to dwell on missed opportunities.
09:07 AM GMT
OVER 10: AUS 90/1 (Mooney 30 Litchfield 19)
Oh dear, the pain keeps piling up for England. Litchfield reverse sweeps Dean for four over short backward point and then nails a cover drive between point and cover for four. On come the drinks. The bowlers may want to serve the fielders hemlock.
England started the must-win clash with nerves understandable of the occasion, but some crucial mistakes have yet again crept into the performance.
Lauren Bell dropped Georgia Voll in a ball that then trickled to the boundary in the third over, there was a misfield by Sophia Dunkley and overthrows in the second.
But the one that could come back to haunt England is Amy Jones dropping an edge off Beth Mooney, who has started so well in this game.
Jones made the decision to stand up to Nat Sciver-Brunt, but it has cost England so far.
09:02 AM GMT
OVER 9: AUS 78/1 (Mooney 30 Litchfield 19)
Knight turns to Ecclestone, two overs too late in this author’s opinion with both now set. They take her for three singles and Mooney ends the over by using her feet to drive her back over her head for four, the bat coming through the perpendicular in an elegant arc
09:00 AM GMT
OVER 8: AUS 71/1 (Mooney 25 Litchfield 17)
Enter Sarah Glenn, the leggie, into the attack but she starts with two problems: length and line. Mooney carves a drive that drops short of Wyatt-Hodge as the point sweeper. They run a single. Litchfield reverse sweeps but cannot pierce the infield then uses her feet to cream four through cover. Having failed to make anything with the reverse-sweep, she goes for the even bolder option, the switch hit and smites the first six, flaying it over square leg.
Then Glenn elicits the mistake with both batters’ beans pumping. Mooney swipes a drive over cover but Sciver-Brunt and Dean play ‘After you, Claudine’ and let the ball fall to earth barely a yard behind them as both stop in their tracks. That’s three drops so far, two of them down to buttered fingers, this one down to lack of communication, urgency and a willingness to seize responsibility.
08:54 AM GMT
OVER 7: AUS 57/1 (Mooney 22 Litchfield 7)
Another dropped catch, this time from Jones behind the stumps as Mooney feathered an edge off a Sciver-Brunt cutter. The left-handed opener was trying to cart her over midwicket. Jones was standing up but she really should have held on, seven times out of 10. She could have stumped her too but the ball was on the floor as Mooney ducked back into the crease
Ecclestone saves one with a dogged chase and full-length, diving claw back from the rope as Litchfield chips a drive over mid-on for three and Mooney follows it by collaring a pull off a slower bouncer for four.
08:50 AM GMT
OVER 6: AUS 47/1 (Mooney 16 Litchfield 3)
England have managed to pull this back from the brink as Australia flew to 38 for no wicket off three overs. The next three have brought one wicket for nine runs and in this over Kemp returns and nails a couple of yorkers and slower balls. Litchfield scrambles two behind square on the charge and Mooney also uses her feet to drill a single to mid-on.
08:45 AM GMT
OVER 5: AUS 43/1 (Mooney 12 Litchfield 0)
Very good use of the review by Mooney because it looked out. Only a two and a single off the over, the single coming from a misfield by Dean herself as she tried to gather a punchy defensive on the walk to hurl down the striker’s stumps… but failed to gather.
08:42 AM GMT
NOT OUT
Too high. The ball, according to tracking, was going over middle stump. Didn’t look like it to the naked eye…
08:39 AM GMT
AUS review
Mooney lbw b Dean Pinned her below the knee as she was sweeping from round the wicket. Where did it pitch?
08:39 AM GMT
OVER 4: AUS 40/1 (Mooney 12 Litchfield 0)
Atonement for Bell and a good over around the wicket-taking ball, making the busy Litchfield play and miss, using pace and seam movement to beat the bat.
08:36 AM GMT
England review
Litchfield c Jones b Bell Not out. She hopped across to reverse-ramp, missed the ball but England thought they heard a snick. There was a big gap between bat and ball and England burn a review.
08:33 AM GMT
Wicket!
Voll lbw b Bell 21 How to make amends for dropping that catch. Bell arrowed an inswinger into leg stump and Voll tried to heave it over midwicket, missed it and was pinned above the knee of her right leg as she bent it to stretch forward. FOW 40/1
08:33 AM GMT
Australia review
Voll lbw b Bell Only hope for her is that it was high. But it was on the back leg.
08:31 AM GMT
OVER 3: AUS 38/0 (Mooney 11 Voll 21)
Charlie Dean is taken to the cleaners by Georgia Voll who smacks her for three fours but she should have been back in the hutch when she top-edged her second slog sweep to short fine leg and Bell dropped an absolute dolly. Yes it swirled but all she had to do was get her bearings. Going to be a long old tour if they don’t start taking their chances.
08:27 AM GMT
OVER 2: AUS 21/0 (Mooney 6 Voll 9)
Good shape from Bell, swinging the ball into the left-hander. Good pace and movement to begin with and yet she follows that with a legside wide and a half-volley on leg-stump that Mooney flicks down to long leg for four.
Mooney plays tip and run to cover, bisecting the fielders in the inner ring and Voll cuts straight to Dunkley at point who misfields and gives away a single. The fielding all series has not been up to snuff and of to emphasise that an overthrow from Wyatt-Hodge doubles the return when Voll dabs what should have been a single through backeard point.
08:21 AM GMT
OVER 1: AUS 11/0 (Mooney 1 Voll 6)
Kemp, the left-arm seamer, starts over the wicket to the left-handed Beth Mooney and sprays a wide down the legside. The next ball is back of a length and Mooney sits back to slap it through cover for a single. Voll also gets off the mark first ball but streakily with a sliced drive over point. After Kemp sprays another wide down the legside she gets he line wrong again but this time it clips the pad and they jog two leg-byes as the ball scuttles under Jones’ dive. Voll then tucks in to a fuller ball and pumps it over mid-on for four. Nice shot, poor delivery, loose start from England.
Lauren Bell shares new-ball duties.
08:15 AM GMT
The players are out
Freya Kemp has the ball in hand.
08:02 AM GMT
England changes
In come Dunkley, Glenn and Kemp for Capsey, Filer and Beaumont.
England’s thorn in the side from the last Ashes, Ashleigh Gardner, who also scored a match-winning century in the final ODI, will not be available for the first T20 of the series.
Gardner is unavailable for the match with a low grade calf strain and will be assessed over the next 48hrs to determine her availability for the next game.
While captain Alyssa Healy will also be on the sidelines after having developed mid-foot soreness on the same side as her previous plantar fascia injury following the ODI series. She is currently being managed in a boot and will not be available for this game. Cricket Australia’s medical team is consulting with specialists to develop an appropriate management plan over the coming days. Her availability for the remainder of the series will be assessed as more information becomes available.
08:00 AM GMT
Team news
The big news is that both Alyssa Healy and Ash Gardner have been ruled out with injury, which ought to be a fillip for England.
Australia Georgia Voll, Beth Mooney (wk), Phoebe Litchfield, Ellyse Perry, Annabel Sutherland, Tahlia McGrath (c), Grace Harris, Georgia Wareham, Alana King, Kim Garth, Megan Schutt.
England Maia Bouchier, Danni Wyatt-Hodge, Sophia Dunkley, Nat Sciver-Brunt, Heather Knight (c), Amy Jones (wk), Freya Kemp, Charlie Dean, Sophie Ecclestone, Sarah Glenn, Lauren Bell.
07:55 AM GMT
Sonia Twigg: It is right to call this Australia-England series the ‘Women’s Ashes’
Women have always been involved in the Ashes. After all, the small terracotta-coloured urn that is permanently held at Lord’s Cricket Ground in London was created by two women and one man in 1882.
Now, 143 years later, an England women’s team and an England men’s team travel to Australia in a bid to regain the Ashes. The trophies are different, and the series have dissimilar histories, but the name of the contest is rightfully the same.
You can read Sonia’s piece in full here …
07:49 AM GMT
England have won the toss
And put Australia in to bat.
07:48 AM GMT
Preview: Cornered tiger time
For the second Women’s Ashes series in succession, England fine themselves 6-0 down on points against the holders who need only two more points, or a victory in one of three T20s or a draw in the Test (which has four points at stake), to extend their hold on the series to 10 years. Having lost all three of the ODIs in a campaign marked by appalling catching, failures throughout the batting line-up, poor judgment at crunch time in a tight chase and, finally, some tonk for their bowlers at Hobart, all that’s left is to channel Imran Khan and make like cornered tigers today at the SCG.
The solace in that rather bleak scenario is that they have done it before. They were 6-0 down at home in 2023 having lost the Test and opening T20 but rallied so spectacularly that they won two ODIs and two T20s to tie the series 8-8 which may have left the Women’s Ashes in Australia’s possession but matched the men’s feats at home in 2019 and, indeed, 2023.
However, their recent record in T20s in Australia is poor, having tied one and lost their last two of their last three completed games. A tie would obviously keep the series alive but make a precarious situation even worse. Heather Knight, whose hold on the captaincy must be under threat even if few seem willing to question it, believes 2023 can inspire her side. “What we learned from that 2023 Ashes series when we were in exactly the same position was to be really focused on what we had to do in the moment.
“There’s no doubt it is going to be tough but we will try and bring our best to the T20 and I think the format change will suit us well.”
All-rounder Freya Kemp, spinner Linsey Smith and wicketkeeper Bess Heath are new to the squad for the T20 leg and Georgia Voll will make her Australia debut, as England look to reassert their dominance over the short format after a disappointing 2024 World Cup.
“I think it’s a real strength of ours,” added Knight. “It’s a format the girls really love playing and it suits a lot of the characters in the group because it’s fast and exciting. I think the mental side will suit us as well, we can draw a line under the one-day series and come out and play at a beautiful cricket ground and hopefully put in a really strong performance.”
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