A look at today’s ODI between the Australia and England women’s teams and a look at the current state of the Women’s Ashes series, plus a large photo gallery.,
The Women’s Ashes multi-format series in Australia is nearly done. The ODI and T20I sections (three matches each) are now both done, leaving only the Test Match to play. This post looks at what has happened so far.
TODAY’S MATCH
This morning UK time (late evening South Australia time) the third and final T20I took place in Adelaide. In metaphorical terms England did not merely go off the rails, they careered right to the bottom of the ravine and got smashed against the rocks. At the halfway stage, with Australia having won the toss and batted, it did not look too awful. Australia had scored 162-5, an innings dominated by Beth Mooney, who did not merely bat right through the innings, which on a hot evening would have been impressive anyway, she scored 94 of those 162 runs. That total soon looked positively mountainous, as England began losing wickets right from the start of the reply. At 39-3 with skipper Heather Knight and veteran opener Danni Wyatt-Hodge together England might have had half a chance of getting somewhere close, though that pair would probably have had to do most of the remaining batting themselves. At 48-7 the only question was whether England would avoid their lowest ever T20I score, which stood at 87 all out. Sophie Ecclestone joined Knight and the pair put together the best stand of the England innings. The ending of that partnership, worth 29 by then, was illustrative of one the key differences between the sides – the catch by Georgia Voll, who had earlier helped Mooney to put on 56 for the first wicket, which got Ecclestone was quite simply incredible. A video clip can be seen here. Voll, playing her first international series at the age of 21, has had a fine start, contributing 173 runs at 86.50 and a SR of 108.80 to the ODI leg of the series and 49 at 16.33 and an SR of 132.43. Between that and Beth Mooney playing the best cricket of her life at the age of 31 Australia have barely missed the injured Alyssa Healy from the top of their order. Linsey Smith, who had impressed with the ball and in the field on what was a rare appearance for her (as a left arm spinner she only plays when England deem it right to select two such bowlers) was ninth out at 82, run out by a sharp piece of fielding by Ellyse Perry. Lauren Filer lasted long enough for England to get past 87, but not long enough for England as a whole to match Mooney on her own – when Knight was last out to a stumping by Player of the Match Mooney off Tahlia McGrath’s medium pace the total had reached 90, 40 of them from the skipper. Australia had thus won by 72 runs, and had made six wins out of six across the limited overs element of the series. The points score with the test match to come is thus Australia 12 England 0.
A MISMATCH
The fact that Australia have won all three ODIs and all three WODIs tells some of the story of how dominant they have been, but not all of it. There has been one occasion in the six matches on which Australia have been in genuine trouble: in the second ODI they were all out for 180, which shouldn’t win a 50 overs per side match. They responded by bowling England out for 159. None of the other matches have ever got close. England have a fine bowling unit, though Australia are ahead even there. Batting wise Australia have been far better, but the biggest gulf has been in fielding skill. England have rarely risen above the competent in the field, rather too often have fallen below that level, and whereas Australia have had several show stopping pieces of fielding England have not had one. The two byes that accrued off Linsey Smith’s first ball were illustrative: even though saving runs was no longer relevant to Australia so dominant was their position Darcie Brown raced after the ball, got to it just before it reached the rope, tipped it back into play and saved her side two runs. England have not been at their best at any stage of this series, and against Australia any hint of weakness gets punished.
A look at the opening match of the Women’s Ashes and at the Melbourne derby in the BBL. Also a large photo gallery.
This post is actually a two parter – the first part mentions the opening match of the Women’s Ashes series now underway in Australia, while the second looks at the Melbourne Derby in the BBL.
A BAD DAY FOR ENGLAND
The Women’s Ashes is a multi-format series – three ODIs worth two points each, a test match worth four points and three T20Is worth two points each. Australia as holders will retain the trophy if the series is drawn, meaning that England need to win it outright. The first ODI took place overnight UK time at the North Sydney Oval. There were no great selection surprises. Australia won the toss and put England in. England did not bat well – a number of players got starts but no one managed a really big score, and in the end they only just topped 200. Off spinning all rounder Ashleigh Gardner took 3-19 and also held two catches. England bowled a lot better than they had batted, but the damage was done. Alyssa Healy led the way with 70 off 78 balls, and Gardner also batted well. Ecclestone just failed to complete a catch to dismiss Gardner which would have had Australia 183-7. There were no further chances, and Gardner was 42 not out when Australia completed victory with 11.1 overs to spare. Full scorecard here.
STARS’ LAZARUS ACT
The title of this section has a double meaning – referring to both today’s match and the Melbourne Stars season.
When Stars lost their first five group matches no one would have imagined that they would be anywhere near claiming a knockout slot come the business end. Three successive wins took them into this Melbourne derby still down but not necessarily out. At 75-7 at the end of the 11th over they looked doomed to end their revival, going down to neighbours Renegades. Glenn Maxwell was still there, and was their sole remaining hope. He proceeded to turn the game upside down with a brutal display of hitting. With nine balls remaining in the innings Usama Mir fell an five ball duck – but the 40 balls that Maxwell had faced out of their 45 balls had seen the score advance by 81! Four balls after Mir was dismissed Maxwell’s extraordinary innings came to an end, bowled by Kane Richardson for 90 off 52 balls, including ten sixes and four fours. Peter Siddle, 40 years of age, helped Stars to add a further seven runs before being out to the last ball of the innings. Stars thus had 165 to defend. Every time Renegades looked even vaguely like getting anything going in reply a wicket fell. Renegades took their two over Power Surge for overs 13 and 14, and those two overs seemed certain to settle it one way or another. They did indeed – Renegades had a disaster, accruing a mere seven runs from those two overs and losing three wickets. The required rate was now climbing alarmingly, and by the time eight balls were left in the match Renegades needed 54 to win. They managed to scrape up 11 of those runs, giving Stars victory by 42 runs and a huge net RR boost. Stars now have a long wait for their tenth and final group match, but with the knowledge that if a few intervening results help them they will have a chance to qualify for the knockouts at the last gasp.
An apology, a look at the last two matches of the Women’s Ashes, a team of that series and lots of photographs.
This post focuses mainly on the women’s Ashes series which concluded yesterday evening. However, before I get into the main meat of the post there is one necessary item to attend to…
A CORRECTION
On Monday I reblogged my All Time G’s XI to coincide with the 175th anniversary of the skipper’s birth. I was guilty of inattention – the anniversary day, and the date of the original post was of course July 18th, not July 17th. I should have done a proper post on Monday and reblogged the Gs on Tuesday. Here are some of a bountiful recent harvest of photos…
THE LAST TWO MATCHES OF THE WOMENS ASHES
Australia secured retention of the Ashes by winning the penultimate ODI on Sunday by three runs. Australia posted 282, 26 of them off the final over of the innings, bowled by Lauren Bell. England fought hard in response, with Natalie Sciver-Brunt scoring a superb century. She was on strike for the final ball of the innings, off which England needed six to win or four to tie. Unfortunately she could only manage a single.
While England could no longer win the Ashes they could draw the series by winning the last match, which took place at Taunton yesterday. England batted first, and with Sciver-Brunt hammering another century, her seventh in ODIs, four of which have come against Australia they reached 285 from their 50 overs. Rain intervened after 19.2 overs of the Australian innings, and the DLS adjustment left them needing 171 of24.4 overs. They never really looked like getting them, and England eventually won by 69 runs, to level the multi-format Ashes series at 8-8. They also became the first team win an ODI series against Australia in a decade, and had won four of the seven matches overall, the 8-8 score line being caused by the test match carrying double points. Although Australia keep the Ashes it is England who are the happier side – they have a lot of very talented cricketers who now know that they can go toe to toe with Australia.
Time for a second photo gallery…
A COMPOSITE WOMENS ASHES XI
This is my team of the series:
Tammy Beaumont (England, right handed opener). A double century in the test match, a major contribution in the first ODI.
Beth Mooney (Australia, left handed opener). Made a lot of significant contributions in all formats.
*Heather Knight (England, right handed batter, occasional off spinner, captain). Had a fine series, and given the respective resources at their disposal I would reckon that tying the series is a greater achievement for her as captain than it is for Healy.
Ellyse Perry (Australia, right handed batter, right arm fast medium bowler).
Natalie Sciver-Brunt (England, right handed batter, right arm medium fast bowler). Even if she had done nothing else in the series (which is far from the case), those back to back centuries in the last two matches would be enough to justify her inclusion.
Annabel Sutherland (Australia, right handed batter, right arm fast medium bowler). The 137* in the test match was the highlight of her series, but she contributed with both bat and ball all the way through the series.
+Amy Jones (England, wicket keeper, right handed batter). Her opposite number didn’t have a great series (perhaps the triple role of captain, keeper and opener is simply too much – Alec Stewart struggled when he had the triple role), while she did. The greatest moment of her series came last night when she pulled off a miraculous stumping off the bowling of Sciver-Brunt.
Ash Gardner (Australia, off spinner, right handed batter). Her eight-for to win the test match would qualify her all on its own, but she had other moments in the limited overs matches as well.
Alana King (Australia, leg spinner, right handed lower orderbatter). This one was a tough call, with Georgia Wareham the challenger. However, I refuse to fill a bowling position based on lower order runs, so King gets the nod.
Sophie Ecclestone (England, left arm orthodox spinner, right handed lower order batter). A heroic effort in the test match, a good T20 series, and her bowling was crucial to England’s success in the final ODI.
Kate Cross (England, right arm fast medium bowler, right handed lower order batter). With Katherine Sciver-Brunt retiring she became the de facto leader of England’s seam attack, and she did her job superbly in this series.
This side has a superb batting line up, four genuinely front line seamers (Cross, Sutherland, Perry, Sciver-Brunt), three great and contrasting spinners, a fine captain and a superb keeper.
A look at a remarkable few days for the England men’s and women’s cricket teams, and two photo galleries.
The last few days have been excellent for both the England Men’s team and the England Women’s team. This post looks back at what both teams have done in that time.
THE MEN’S ASHES
England arrived at Headingley 0-2 down after two test matches, and with the Ashes currently in Australian hands that meant they needed to win all three remaining matches to take back the urn. England were ultimately set 251 to win in the final innings. They went into yesterday needing 224 with all ten wickets in hand. At various times it looked like Australia could do it, especially at 171-6, but then the largest England partnership of the match, between Brook and Woakes left England needing 21 with three wickets left, Brook falling for a splendid 75. That brought Mark Wood to the crease. With seven runs needed Carey dropped a chance offered by Wood, and that was the last sight Australia had of victory. At 3:45PM a boundary took England over the winning line with three wickets to spare. Wood, with seven wickets in the match and 40 runs in the two England innings was named Player of the Match.
Although England kept the series alive with this victory, all is not rosy in their garden. The number three position needs filling as a matter of urgency – England tried Brook in the first innings, and Ali in the second after Brook had looked like a cat on a hot tin roof batting there, and both failed. Also, Bairstow as keeper/ batter is proving disastrous – he has missed a load of chances and he has not been scoring runs since taking the gauntlets. Also Crawley twice tossed away promising starts with appalling choices of shot. Finally, Ali is not up to the task with either bat or ball. If England are to complete the miracle comeback all these issues need addressing. I would personally call up Dominic Sibley to open with Duckett (otherwise there would be two debutants in the top three, since I cannot countenance Crawley), select one of Bohannon or Abell to fill the number three shot (Bohannon has the better batting record, but Abell offers a back up seam option, which with Stokes unable to bowl could proved very useful). With Root and Stokes certain picks barring injury I would drop Bairstow to bring back Foakes as keeper, while the number eight slot either goes to Woakes if it looks like no spinner is needed or is a toss up between Rehan Ahmed and Liam Dawson if a spinner is deemed necessary. The 9,10 and 11 slots should go to Wood, Tongue and whichever of the two veterans Broad and Anderson is in better shape at the time.
PHOTOGRAPHS 1
THE WOMEN’S ASHES
The Women’s Ashes is played these days as a multi-format series, with the test match being worth four points and each other match being worth two points. England Women were in a similar position to the men’s team, having lost the test match and the first T20 match, which with Australia holding the urn meant that they also effectively needed to win every remaining game. They won both the second and third T20Is, the former being Australia’s first non-super over loss in the format since March 2021 and the latter being the first time Australia had lost two successive matches in any format since 2017 (also at England’s hands). This keeps England hopes alive going into the ODI element of the series.
The first of the two T20I victories was by only three runs, but it only became that close because with the match already settled Ellyse Perry hit the last two balls for sixes. The second was a more comfortable win for England.
A look at recent developments in the men’s and women’s Ashes and a substantial photo gallery.
It has been a few days since my last post, and a lot has happened in both the men’s and women’s ashes. This post looks at these various developments.
THE WOMEN’S ASHES
The brilliance of Tammy Beaumont (a new England women’s record score of 208 in their first innings) and Sophie Ecclestone (five wickets in each Australian innings) proved to be of no avail. England were bowled out for 178 in the final innings to lose by 89 runs, off spinner Ash Gardner taking 8-66. This is the first time in any test match, men’s or women’s that a losing side has featured both a double centurion and a taker of a 10 wicket match haul. The men’s game has provided three honourable mentions – in the tied test match between India and Australia at Chennai in 1986 Dean Jones had a double century and Greg Matthews took 10 wickets, while in England’s bottle-job at Adelaide in 2006 Collingwood scored 206 and Matthew Hoggard claimed eight wickets in the match, and finally, at the SCG in 1894 Syd Gregory scored 201 in the first innings, George Giffen had a match aggregate of over 200 runs AND claimed eight wickets in the match, and their side, Australia, lost by 10 runs.
THE MEN’S ASHES
Rehan Ahmed was added to the men’s squad in the run up to the second match of their series, which got underway at Lord’s today. In the event Ahmed was not picked, England going for an all seam attack. As was virtually dictated by this selection England put Australia in to bat, a decision that is not working out well. As I type this Australia are 181-2 with Smith and Labuschagne going well, the first named having gone past 9,000 runs in test cricket in the course of this innings. Both wickets have fallen to Josh Tongue. Broad and Anderson have had good moments but as yet no wickets, while Robinson has looked innocuous. Rehan Ahmed is on the field at present, as a substitute fielder.
A look at the women’s Ashes, some thoughts about women’s test cricket (make matches five days, like the men’s are, an)d play much, much more of it) and some photographs
This post looks at the ongoing Women’s Ashes series in Australia, and especially at the test match in Canberra that concluded with an extraordinary closing session at just after 7:30AM UK time this morning. Before going on to the match and associated issues I need to set the scene with…
THE WOMEN’S ASHES: AN OVERVIEW
Unlike the Men’s Ashes, which is purely about test matches the Women’s Ashes as currently constituted is a multi-format series: Three T20Is, One test match and Three ODIs. The limited overs games are worth two points each, the test match four points. Australia are the current holders, which means that England need to win the series outright to reclaim them – a drawn series would see Australia retain.
THE STORY SO FAR
It has been uncharacteristically rainy in Australia while this series has on (not one, but two matches in the driest of all Australian cities, Adelaide, adversely affected by rain). Australia won the only one of the T20Is to have enough play to get a definite result, which took them into the test match with a four points to two lead in the series. Thus, a win for them in the test would ensure that they retained the Women’s Ashes, while a draw or an England win would keep the series alive.
A GREAT TEST MATCH
The women play scandalously little test cricket (more on this theme later), to the extent that Katherine Brunt, the most experienced player on either side, who made her test debut in 2005 was playing just her 14th test match in all.
England won the toss and decided to bowl, a decision that looked good early on when three Australian wickets, including the prize scalp of Ellyse Perry, fell quickly, but four Australians topped the 50 mark, two coming close to centuries but falling just short. Katherine Brunt bowled with immense fire and passion, and when Australia declared at 337-9 she had figures of 5-60.
England’s response began atrociously, and although skipper Heather Knight batted with great courage and determination support for her was sadly lacking. At low water mark the score was 169-8, when Sophie Ecclestone the left arm spinner joined her at the crease. Ecclestone resisted bravely, batting a long time in support of her captain and contributing 34 to a stand that ended up worth precisely 100. Kate Cross, the number eleven, helped a further 28 to accrue for the last wicket, meaning that England were 40 behind on first innings. Knight had scored 168 not out by the end of the innings, the second highest ever women’s test score against Australia, 11 short of the 179 that Rachael Heyhoe-Flint scored at The Oval back in the 1970s.
England bowled pretty well again, with Katherine Brunt claiming a further three wickets, in the process becoming the first woman to record 50+ wickets in all three international formats. Australia declared a second time, at 216-7, challenging England to get 257 from 48 overs for the win. To their full credit England responded in kind and went for the runs. Both openers got into the 30s this time, Knight added 48 more runs to her first innings heroics, Natalie Sciver scored a half century, and a lightning quick 45 from Sophia Dunkley, including successive sixes off Annabel Sutherland put England ahead of the rate. Sadly these players all got out before the job was done, and the middle and lower order panicked in the closing stages. There were two overs left when the ninth wicket fell and Kate Cross joined Sophie Ecclestone. Cross saw out the first of these overs, bravely taking a single off the final ball to accept responsibility for seeing the final over out as well, rather than put the pressure on the much younger Ecclestone. Alana King on test debut accepted responsibility for bowling the make or break over (did I mention that the women play scandalously little test cricket?). Cross saw out the first five balls with varying degrees of assurance, and King at the last bowled a rare poor ball to bring the match to an end. England in the end had scored 244-9 in the chase, finishing 12 runs adrift with one wicket standing in a draw that, drab sounding result notwithstanding, has to go down as one of the great test matches played by players of either sex, fit to stand alongside Manchester 2005 or Lord’s 1963 to name just two other draws that remained live right up until the final ball.
There could of course be only one candidate for Player of the Match – one of the greatest test innings ever played, a major contribution in the second innings and her captaincy made Heather Knight quite simply the only choice, and it was confirmed within a few minutes of the last ball being bowled.
WOMEN’S TEST CRICKET
This match, the two matches India Women have recently played (one in England and on in Australia) have made two things very clear. Firstly women’s tests need to be five days, just like men’s tests are – four days are only enough for a result if there is some artifice used, like Australia’s two declarations in this match. Secondly, there need to be far more women’s test matches. I like the multi-format series, but would alter the balance, lengthening it so that there could be at least three test matches and maybe even five (I do not like even numbers of test matches in a series, though I could live with four) in that portion of the series. India playing a couple of recent test matches is a step in the right direction, but only a baby one. Test matches (and more than one at a time) should be part of many more women’s series than they are.
A CURRENT WORLD WOMEN’S TEST XI
Given how little test cricket is played this exercise is quite a challenge, and one of my picks is I admit a cheat, but hope that my justification gets me the blog equivalent of ‘jury nullification’ and a ‘not guilty’ verdict:
Smriti Mandhana (left handed opening batter, India). Wonderful to watch, and as her 127 not out against Australia in Australia shows, she knows how to go big.
Laura Wolvaardt (right handed opening batter, South Africa). She has yet to play test cricket, but everything about her play suggests that she would be a star in the format, so I am cheating and picking her for this XI on a hunch.
*Heather Knight (right handed batter, occasional off spinner, captain). Her performance in this match speaks for itself, and her 168 not out was her second 150+ score in just nine test appearances.
Meg Lanning (right handed batter, vice captain). The Australian skipper has a great record, and for me has to play.
Ellyse Perry (right handed batter, right arm fast medium bowler). Though by her own mighty standards this was a very ordinary match for her she has an amazing overall test record, and has to be in the team.
+Amy Jones (right handed batter, wicket keeper). The best keeper on the planet and a fine middle order batter.
Natalie Sciver (right handed batter, right arm medium fast bowler). A must pick for me, and with Lanning and Perry occupying, as they have to places higher in the order she gets the conventional all rounders slot.
Sneh Rana (off spinner, right handed batter). The Indian off spinning all rounder had a fine game against England in India, bowling well and helping her side to save the match with the bat.
Katherine Brunt (right arm fast medium bowler, right handed batter). One of the all time greats of the game, eight wickets in the match this time round to demonstrate her enduring brilliance.
Sophie Ecclestone (left arm orthodox spinner, left handed batter). Manuka Oval had little to offer her, but she is undoubtedly the best female spinner in the world at the moment and has to be in the side.
Darcie Brown (right arm fast bowler, right handed lower order batter). The fastest bowler in the side, selected for that reason. She caused problems in both innings of the match just concluded.
This XI has great batting depth, and a dazzling range of bowling options (the all round skills of Perry and Sciver enable the luxury of a having four genuine seam options and two front line spinners, an attack that can be manipulated to suit all conditions.
PHOTOGRAPHY
As usual I end this post with some of my recent photographs…
This West Norfolk sunrise happened about the same time that the test match reached its conclusion.
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