Australia may have retained the Women’s Ashes but England punctured their air of invincibility by winning both the Twenty20 and one-day series within the multi-format contest.
The tourists’ Test win meant an overall 8-8 draw on points but against the reigning 50-over and T20 world champions, and a side with a legitimate claim as the world’s most dominant in any sport, Heather Knight’s team acquitted themselves impressively throughout – capped by a 69-run win in Tuesday’s final ODI at Taunton.
Here, we look at Australia’s record in recent years.
One-day internationals
Australia had not lost a bilateral ODI series since 2013, also against England, and went into the Ashes on a run of 15 straight wins in the format and 41 in their last 42 matches dating back to the start of 2018.
Even their one loss in that time came in a dead rubber, India winning the third game of a 2-1 series loss in September 2021 by two wickets with three balls to spare.
England immediately ended that run by taking the ODI series opener at Bristol by two wickets, continuing their unlikely bid to keep the Ashes alive after back-to-back Twenty20 wins. Australia snuffed out that dream with a tense three-run win at the Ageas Bowl before Nat Sciver-Brunt’s second successive century set England up for a thumping DLS victory at Taunton.
Such was Australia’s dominance in recent years, tail-ender Megan Schutt had faced just three balls in her last 30 ODIs. England ensured she matched that at Bristol alone, and again at Taunton.
Twenty20
Over the same period since 2018, Australia’s record in the shortest format read 56 wins, seven losses and two ties ahead of the England series, with seven matches abandoned without a result.
They had won 22 of their previous 23 T20s – and tied the other before losing to India in a super over – ahead of arriving at Edgbaston for the series opener.
Victory there extended the run by one and left England needing to win all five remaining matches to take the Ashes, though the hosts showed the ability to test their all-conquering opposition who needed 19.5 of their 20 overs and a superb Beth Mooney half-century to chase down 154.
England then won thrillers by three runs at the Oval and by five wickets on DLS, with just four balls remaining, on the back of Alice Capsey’s blistering 46 at Lord’s.
Test
Of course, all that English success counted for little after Australia won the one-off Test by 89 runs. Tammy Beaumont’s first-innings double hundred was in vain as Ashleigh Gardner took eight for 66 in the second.
The relative rarity of women’s Test cricket, and still more so over five days, means a comparable record to the white-ball formats is not available but Australia have not lost a Test since 2014, when England won by 61 runs in Perth.
That run extends to only six games, four of them drawn in between beating England at Canterbury in 2015 and Trent Bridge this time around. All bar one of those have been against England – indeed since 1998 Australia have played England in 19 of their 21 Tests and India in the other two.
One of those draws came in the 2021-22 Ashes, a series in marked contrast to this summer’s as Australia won 12-4 – that four-day match accounted for two of England’s points, with the others coming from a pair of T20 washouts in Adelaide.
Knight said after the draw this time around: “We felt like we were really close and had the players to compete with this very good side. Really pleased with how we’ve done, it’s been hugely impressive.”
SOURCE: livescore.com