Dominant Australia. Next stop, New Zealand.
So that’s that. Well done Australia!
Not a thriller to finish with, largely due to England’s splutterings with the bat but Australia got the job done in style. They haven’t dropped a game all series and sent a pretty clear message to the rest of the world that they are in fine fettle ahead of the World Cup. That is due to get underway on the other side of ‘The Ditch’ in a few weeks time btw.
Excitingly for the Aussies the whole Ashes campaign was a true squad performance. Trusted performers stood up - the likes of Perry, Lanning, Jonassen and Mooney showing their class but also a host of newer names such as Darcie Brown, Annabel Sutherland, Alana King and Tahlia McGrath all put in strong showings. They look a very slick outfit. Beware world.
What of England? Well the series sort of tailed off for them, they’ll feel aggrieved about the T20 washouts as they would have fancied their chances of stealing a few points from those to get them into the series. The Test match was a humdinger, for a good while it looked like they were going to pull off a memorable heist and set up a ding-dong finish in the fifty over stuff. Sadly, they just ran out of steam on that fourth day and in all honesty were lucky to escape with a draw in the end. Kudos to both teams for putting on such a thrilling Test. Let’s hope it leads to more.
Geoff’s match report will be along soon, shout out to him for all his work in these pages over the series, OBO-ing and match reporting, a class act.
Thanks for your company. I’ve safely avoided the 5am caffeine hit, the only thing I’m hitting now is the hay, or 10.5 tog duck down to be precise.
We’ll meet again, goodbye!
Updated
Here are the captains. Apologies for any typos - they’re rattlin through...
A gracious but disappointed Heather Knight: “It was not the ideal build-up but we made the best of a bad situation. We went toe-to-toe at certain times, we’ll be frustrated at few big moments we didn’t win. The last two games aren’t a reflection of us as a side. It was a brilliant Test match and gutting that we couldn’t get over the line. We haven’t quite nailed it in the ODI series. A few little tweaks we need potentially with the bat and looking forward to getting to New Zealand.”
and here’s victorious Aussie skipper Meg Lanning: “It’s been an outstanding series...would like to thank England for coming out and being part of the series. We’ve had so many contributors and haven’t relied one or two players. There’s always a few spanners that get thrown at us, we’ve done an extremely good job in adapting the things that have been thrown at us. Gives us a lot of confidence. Today was a pretty complete performance. We’ll enjoy this win, it’s a massive achievement then we’ll adjust to those conditions in New Zealand.”
Thalia McGrath is crowned player of the series!
The Player of the Series is Tahlia McGrath! #Ashes pic.twitter.com/Km2QAeVqQZ
— 7Cricket (@7Cricket) February 8, 2022
McGrath: “I’ve found a lot of confidence and enjoyment in the game... It was extremely difficult to break back into the side, I was a big fan on the sideline and just loving that I’ve been able to string some games together.”
She’s been magnificent with both bat and ball. That blistering innings to steal the game in the first T20 really set the tone for the series. She hasn’t looked back since. Someone called McGrath dominates an Ashes series? Surely not...
Annabel Sutherland is awarded player of the match for her very tidy 4-31:
“I’m just enjoying my cricket at the moment, having a lot of fun. It was a really good bowling performance all-round. Playing against the England girls is tough and they brought a lot of fight. We really enjoyed it.”
Australia women's 20 consecutive bilateral ODI series wins:
— hypocaust (@_hypocaust) February 8, 2022
2-1 v ENG
4-0 v PAK
4-0 v WI
2-1 v ENG
2-1 v IND
2-1 v NZ
4-0 v SL
4-0 v SA
2-1 v NZ
2-1 v ENG
3-0 v IND
3-0 v PAK
3-0 v NZ
3-0 v ENG
3-0 v WI
3-0 v SL
3-0 v NZ
3-0 v NZ
2-1 v IND
3–0 v ENG#Ashes
Did we mention there is a World Cup around the corner?
Australia win by eight wickets!
Lanning finishes it off in fine style! Farrant pitches one up and the Aussie captain send its soaring over long off! Congratulations Australia. A nice moment for Lanning and Perry to be there at the end. The Ashes are well and truly theirs.
Australia 164-2 ( Lanning 57* Perry 31*)
36th over: Australia 158-2 ( Lanning 51 Perry 31) All over bar the warbling here. Perry whips Davies through midwicket for a boundary and another brace of singles bring Australia within one hit.
35th over: Australia 152-2 ( Lanning 50 Perry 26) Just a single from it and Ecclestone ends with 1-18 off her ten overs. Hats off to her.
Half century for Meg Lanning, who has snuffed out any hope of an English comeback. She's played just six false shots on route to the landmark, ruthlessly taking apart the England attack - 38 of her 50 runs have come in boundaries. #Ashes @IGCom pic.twitter.com/7Gg5UhAtuw
— The CricViz Analyst (@cricvizanalyst) February 8, 2022
And hats off to Lanning. Her team have outclassed England in each of the three formats in this series.
34th over: Australia 151-2 ( Lanning 50 Perry 25) Fifty for Meg Lanning! A classy innings for the skipper. She’d love to be out there to see this home. She reaches the half ton with a thick edge that goes down through third to the boundary. 62 balls. Well batted skipper!
33rd over: Australia 146-2 ( Lanning 46 Perry 24) Just a couple off Ecclestone. MUST STAY AWAKE.
32nd over: Australia 144-2 ( Lanning 45 Perry 23) This is really winding down now, another seven runs picked up easily off Davies’ over. I’m starting to flag, Lord knows how Geoff got through England’s innings earlier. I guess he has the advantage of it being daytime over there. It is inky black still in South London. The sound of my tapping is the only sound to be heard. Too early for the dawn chorus. Too early even for the neon lycra clad joggers. On we go.
31st over: Australia 137-2 ( Lanning 39 Perry 22) Seven taken off Farrant’s latest set as Lanning once again peels off a lovely straight drive.
Watching the last rites of the Women's #Ashes with Lanning and Perry doing their thing. England still trying with the ball but the batting hasn't been able to score the runs to challenge. Can only see one World Cup winner here... #WomensAshes
— Jonny (@Leathernwillow) February 8, 2022
30th over: Australia 130-2 ( Lanning 32 Perry 22) Eight off the over as Dean starts to leak a few runs. Lanning clatters her down the ground and gets the sweep out to pick up a few more. Not long now. I think I’m going out hold out for duvet.
29th over: Australia 122-2 ( Lanning 25 Perry 21) Farrant nearly completes a maiden but Lanning gets a boundary away off the final ball, a coaching manual straight drive back past the bowler to the sponge.
28th over: Australia 118-2 ( Lanning 21 Perry 21) Just a single each off Dean and so still the symmetry continues for the two batters. Could do with Australia polishing this off now as I’m starting to debate whether to go caffeine or duvet.
27th over: Australia 116-2 ( Lanning 20 Perry 20) Four singles off it to keep Lanning and Perry on symmetrical scores.
26th over: Australia 112-2 ( Lanning 18 Perry 18) Wahey! Chunky over for Australia. 12 off Dean. Perry strokes her for a classy six down the ground and Lanning gets a sweep away fine for four.
25th over: Australia 100-2 ( Lanning 13 Perry 11) 100 up for Australia. They are breezing this.
Just on Will Pucovski, this piece from Jo Harman, of the good ship Wisden Cricket Monthly, is well worth your time:
24th over: Australia 98-2 ( Lanning 11 Perry 11) Seven off the over as Lanning picks off a few and then Perry gives a full toss the treatment it deserves.
23rd over: Australia 91-2 ( Lanning 8 Perry 7) Just a single off Ecclestone who is bowling miserly here.
In some positive news for Australian men’s cricket, Will Pucovski is back in the nets & looking as classy as ever on the eve of his return to first-class cricket for the @VicStateCricket team at the Adelaide Oval #SheffieldShield pic.twitter.com/drIPxrZ5z0
— Bharat Sundaresan (@beastieboy07) February 8, 2022
This is nice to see
22nd over: Australia 90-2 ( Lanning 7 Perry 7) Glorious from Ellyse Perry who greets the new bowler, Charlie Dean, with a hop and a skip and a flick away for four.
21st over: Australia 84-2 ( Lanning 6 Perry 2) Just a single off Ecclestone’s latest. Australia still comfortable heading for this target of 164.
“A trifle traipse?” emails Derek Pascoe (a relation of Len?) Well yes Derek, but England have just curtailed Australia slightly in the last few.
20th over: Australia 83-2 ( Lanning 6 Perry 1) Lanning shows her class, picks up a couple with a dab into off and then a delicious late cut, almost out of keeper Amy Jones’s gloves, heads to the fence.
19th over: Australia 77-2 ( Lanning 0 Perry 1) A maiden from Ecclestone, Perry forcing off the back foot a couple of times but can’t beat the fielder. A wee bit better from England.
18th over: Australia 77-2 ( Lanning 0 Perry 1) Tidy over from Davies, she keeps Lanning honest.
WICKET!
Haynes c Lamb b Ecclestone 31 (Australia 74-2) And now Haynes departs, holing out to mid-off, the bat twisting in her hands as she attempted a bit of a smear. ENGLAND WELL IN THIS... sorry.
17th over: Australia 74-1 ( Lanning 0 Perry 0)
WICKET!
Healy ct Beaumont b Davies 42 (Australia 74-1)
A leading edge to Beaumont at point and Healy has to go. She’s more than played her part here and broken the back of this chase. Davies gets a wicket, she deserves that after having one dropped off her very first ball
16th over: Australia 74-1 (Haynes 30 Lanning 0)
15th over: Australia 71-0 (Healy 40 Haynes 30)
14th over: Australia 69-0 (Healy 39 Haynes 29) Haynes is catching Healy up, a cover drive off Davies’ final ball brings her another boundary.
Alyssa Healy since 2017 in the 3rd match in an ODI series:
— Krithika (@krithika0808) February 8, 2022
Without including today's match. From first to last.
21*
71
133
97
46
68
61
112*
87
46
35#CricketTwitter #Ashes
13th over: Australia 64-0 (Healy 38 Haynes 25) A single each to Haynes and Healy before Haynes smokes the last ball of the over down the ground, she nailed it, so much so that mid off got a decent piece of it but it still races away to the rope.
12th over: Australia 58-0 (Healy 37 Haynes 20) Healy charges down to Freya Davies and though she doesn’t get to the pitch she goes through with the shot, one had sliding off the handle in the process. It bounces once and plops over the boundary. Four singles are nabbed by the openers and it’s eight off the over. What’s another way of saying cakewalk? Meringue Hike? Trifle trapeze?
11th over: Australia 50-0 (Healy 31 Haynes 18) Three singles off Ecclestone’s first over of tweakers and FIFTY UP for no loss for Australia.
10th over: Australia 47-0 (Healy 29 Haynes 17) A maiden from Davies completes the powerplay. Sophie Ecclestone is coming into the attack.
Only four boundaries for England in the opening 30 overs of the innings. The last time they hit fewer at this stage of an innings was July 2012. #Ashes @IGCom pic.twitter.com/eot1ZQ9PBa
— The CricViz Analyst (@cricvizanalyst) February 8, 2022
More sorry stats.
9th over: Australia 47-0 (Healy 29 Haynes 17) Shrubsole continues and three runs are picked up off the over with little threat.
Healy or Lanning?
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) February 6, 2022
Which was the better one-handed catch from today's match? @auswomencricket | #Ashes pic.twitter.com/UqqS7Vw29r
You decide. Both good grabs.
8th over: Australia 44-0 (Healy 28 Haynes 15) DROP! Oh no. Freya Davies is into the attack and she finds Healy’s edge with her very first delivery, pitched up, bit of nibble away and a feather to Jones who puts it down! Dunnay do that! Healy, inevitably, picks up a boundary a couple of balls later with another classy pull. At least this might be over quite quickly. England will be out of their misery... and I will be back in me bed.
7th over: Australia 40-0 (Healy 24 Haynes 15) Four more - a two and two ones off the over as the ladies in yellow go about their business. ‘No dramas’ as our antipodean friends might say.
6th over: Australia 36-0 (Healy 23 Haynes 12) Healy is giving a mini masterclass here. Three boundaries off the over, two cuts through point as again Farrant misses her line and then a dismissive pull off the last ball that skims, pebble-like across the outfield. Australia have hit five boundaries. It took England 32 overs to hit the same. Ain’t no demons in this pitch.
Updated
5th over: Australia 24-0 (Healy 11 Haynes 12) Three from Shrubsole’s next. England have really tailed off towards the end of this series:
With the last wicket that fell, England's batting average for the series (14.26) fell below their batting average in the 2019 Ashes (15.00). Grim stuff, really.
— Ben Jones (@benjonescricket) February 8, 2022
4th over: Australia 21-0 (Healy 10 Haynes 10) A more probing over from Farrant, four dots including a play and miss on the forward prod from Haynes. A thick edge then flies wide of Heather Knight at 1st slip and away for another boundary. Fair to say Australia are making this look quite easy. At the same stage England were 1-2.
3rd over: Australia 16-0 (Healy 9 Haynes 6) Shrubsole continues and Australia pick off singles and rotate the strike, simple things that England failed to do in their dig. The difference in intent between the two batting line-ups is marked.
2nd over: Australia 13-0 (Healy 7 Haynes 5) Tash Farrant’s left-arm from the other end, a neat start to the over but she then serves up a short and wide one with her fourth ball and this time it is Haynes who doesn’t miss out - square driving confidently and threading the gap for another boundary. Farrant lobs in a wide outside the off tramline too.
1st over: Australia 7-0 (Healy 6 Haynes 1) A boundary first ball to Healy! Cut away for four, Shrubsole offers too much width and is put to sword immediately. England scored nine boundaries in their innings... Australia showing their intent from the get go.
The players are out. Haynes n Healy with the bat. Shrubsole with the ball. Play!
Nicht so gut:
England women have been bowled out in six of their last eight ODIs.
— hypocaust (@_hypocaust) February 7, 2022
They have failed to bat the full 50 overs in six of the seven ODIs in which they've batted 1st since the start of 2021.#Ashes
Thanks Geoff, a darkened room and a lie down await you sir.
Hello! Jim here to pick up the Australian chase, yes those italics are loaded. What a confused innings that was from England, not the way they would want to finish the series. It was less tortoise and hare more, I don’t know... sloth and mayfly?
It’s creeping up to 3am here in London, so if you’re out there then do give us (by which I mean me, the rest of the household is very much asleep) a shout with any thoughts, theories, missives or whimsy.
We’ll be underway in just over five minutes.
An email. “Am I the only one who has found both England women and men to have been disappointing this summer?”
I doubt it, Murray Henman.
That’s me done. I’ll go off and sit quietly in the corner, while James Wallace comes in to marshal the chase.
Australia must chase 163 to win
Well, that was awful. The bowling was good: consistent and disciplined. The pitch is difficult to score on. This is not a 250 wicket, it’s ok to treat different matches in different ways. But still, and still, and still. It was the complete lack of ability from England’s proper batters to turn the strike over. It was 20 runs from the first ten overs. No one needed to be carving sixes over cover, but they couldn’t knock ones into the gaps.
Tammy Beaumont and Nat Sciver put on 88 together, and batted more than half the innings, but they also batted more than half the inning to make 88.
Yes, you can argue that they had to just stick around because look at how sharply everything else fell away after they got out trying to lift the tempo. A counterpoint is that Beaumont and Sciver batted so slowly that the rest of the order was left in a desperate position by the time they got out.
There could still be twists in the tail - Australia lost five wickets chasing 129 in the last outing. But it’s unlikely.
49.3 overs: England 163-10 (Dean 18) Nearly made it to the finish line, did England. But if your moral victory is merely batting out 50 overs, you’ve got problems.
WICKET! Davies b Jonassen 1, England 163-10
That’s it. Jonassen just bowls straight at middle stump, Davies misses a pull shot, and England get bowled out once again.
49th over: England 162-9 (Dean 17, Davies 1) Sutherland can’t get a five-for, but her best ODI figures of 4 for 31 nonetheless.
WICKET! Farrant c Healy b Sutherland 7, England 159-9
Anotherland for Sutherland. She has 4 for 28 at the moment with eight balls of the match left to bowl. Outside off, a push from the left-handed Farrant to find a run, finds the gloves of the keeper instead.
Updated
48th over: England 156-8 (Dean 14, Farrant 6) Dean flicks Schutt away square, looks like four with fine leg further around, but Perry puts in a huge sprint and dive to save two. Entirely unnecessary in a one-sided game, for a player who has had injuries in the field before, but that’s Ellyse Perry.
47th over: England 151-8 (Dean 10, Farrant 5) Sutherland to Farrant, attempted loft down the ground, and dropped. Tahlia McGrath nearly let the Wyatt catch slip out earlier, and now she comes in too far and has to lunge backwards when she realises her mistake. Looking up into the sun, probably couldn’t spot the ball very well. Can’t hang on going backwards.
46th over: England 147-8 (Dean 8, Farrant 3) Bit of liquorice allsorts in that over: wides, leg byes, singles from Schutt, but little damage done. Notably good strike rotation from Farrant.
45th over: England 142-8 (Dean 7, Farrant 1) Tash Farrant gets going first ball, on the hip of the left-hander for a glanced single. Feel sorry for her and Davies, asked to come in and play amongst this mess.
WICKET! Shrubsole c Haynes b Sutherland 2, England 139-8
That was a really nice shot from Shrubsole. Square drive, scorched off the bat, but the left-handed Haynes diving across to her right takes the catch at point.
44th over: England 137-7 (Dean 5, Shrubsole 1) Initially the least dignified part of this over is Charlie Dean trying a ramp shot to Schutt and falling over backwards in the process, crawling to her feet to scramble a single. But then Jones is clean bowled. Anya Shrubsole joins Dean, with Farrant and Davies to come.
WICKET! Jones b Schutt 4, England 136-7
That’s ugly. Just a straight ball from Schutt, and Jones has an almighty swing of the sort where her eyes were probably closed. An exercise in extremes: block or slog. Nowhere near it.
43rd over: England 135-6 (Jones 4, Dean 4) It’s been a poor series with the bat for Dean so far. She gets a slashed shot away for a run behind point. Jones tries a ramp but gets a yorker from Sutherland, and can only get a bit of toe on it for one run. Then Dean chops one more into the ground towards point.
42nd over: England 132-6 (Jones 3, Dean 2) Charlie Dean heaves at a pull shot from Schutt but can’t time it. Drives one off the outside edge. Then Schutt gets a cutter to leap, hitting Healy in the shoulder keeping up to the stumps. Four singles all up.
41st over: England 128-6 (Jones 1, Dean 0) So it’s Dean and Jones together again, fittingly for Melbourne. That pair didn’t make any in the previous match when they batted together. Can they today?
Updated
WICKET! Ecclestone b Sutherland 2, England 128-6
Make that three wickets in three overs, and four in seven. Sutherland zeroes in on the base of off stump, and the yorker dips under Ecclestone’s bat to take the woodwork. The promotion doesn’t work. Innings slipping.
40th over: England 126-5 (Jones 0, Ecclestone 1) Two wickets in consecutive overs. Three wickets in six. Schutt 1 for 1 from that over.
WICKET! Sciver lbw Schutt 46, England 125-5
Another Australian review for a Megan Schutt not-out, and this one looks closer. Sciver trying to play off the back foot, missing as she clips across the line, and hit on the back leg. Reckon she’s out here.
Gone! Smashing leg stump. That one came in on the angle, but looked like there was some swing that helped it straighten.
Sciver 46 from 95 balls.
39th over: England 125-4 (Sciver 46, Jones 0) Two runs and a wicket from the over, Sutherland 1 for 11 from four. Job done.
Wyatt c Schutt b Sutherland 9, England 124-4
King gets taken off after that six, Lanning with so many bowling options. Sutherland gets the nod. Wyatt has played against her a heap in the Big Bash, crosstown rivals at Red Melbourne and Green Melbourne. But Sutherland wins the contest here! Wyatt skips down. Not sure if she was looking to flat-bat over mid off, or carve over point, but instead she gets it halfway between the two, out to deep cover where the sweeper takes the catch.
38th over: England 123-3 (Sciver 45, Wyatt 9) Sciver just hasn’t been able to time her cross-bat shots at her best today. The cuts, now a pull from Perry, not timed well enough to beat fielders. Singles, a leg bye.
37th over: England 119-3 (Sciver 43, Wyatt 8) Second six of the day, this time to Danni Wyatt! Five balls from King for one run, then Wyatt says, enough of this. A bit of drift for King towards leg stump, but Wyatt leaps outside that line and drives way over mid off. Top shot
36th over: England 112-3 (Sciver 42, Wyatt 2) Perry is back for her seventh over. Three singles from it, which makes for outstanding figures so far of 1 for 15.
Perry on 156 ODI wickets, Brunt on 163, Shabnim Ismail on 164, and Anisa Mohammed on 174 - they should all be at the World Cup in a few weeks, racing to see who can be first to pass Catherine Fitzpatrick’s mark of 180. Jhulan Goswami, the all-time leader on 240, will be there too.
35th over: England 109-3 (Sciver 40, Wyatt 1) The run rate has crawled above 3 per over with those two big overs before drinks, then Beaumont falls. Danni Wyatt gets promoted to 5 to take the game on. Gets off the mark first ball, which is a start. Three singles from the over, and the wicket.
WICKET! Beaumont c McGrath b King 50, England 106-3
Fifty and gone, from 101 balls. Beaumont wants to go larger once again, shuffles to attack King but means to hit it straighter than it goes. Instead it heads towards mid off, and McGrath is back on the edge of the circle and takes the catch.
Updated
Half century! Beaumont 50 from 98 balls
34th over: England 106-2 (Beaumont 50, Sciver 38) Drinks break over, and Beaumont finds a single right away to raise her milestone. It’s been tough viewing at times but she’s starting to move.
Lanning has turned to Megan Schutt to look for a wicket. Gets a chance at one, sent upstairs after an lbw appeal isn’t given, but that looks like it’s going down. Sciver kneeling to sweep, hit on the knee roll, a good step forward. DRS shows it possibly grazing the leg stump on umpire’s call. Schutt attacks the pad again and Sciver digs it out of there, to midwicket for a run.
33rd over: England 104-2 (Beaumont 49, Sciver 37) Nearly gets out, Beaumont, trying a little lap-sweep to King that almost sneaks into leg stump. Gets a top edge or a glove perhaps, and Healy is also in the frame but can’t get to it. Beaumont off strike next ball, as they trade four singles. Sciver pulls out her powerful low sweep shot but straight to the boundary rider.
32nd over: England 100-2 (Beaumont 47, Sciver 35) Tammy Beaumont! What have you done with the other Tammy Beaumont? The new version uses McGrath’s predictable length to play a ramp shot over the keeper for four. Then, assuming that McGrath will pull the length back, she steps away and really whips the wrists through a cut shot behind point for four more. Another 10-run over.
31st over: England 90-2 (Beaumont 39, Sciver 34) Jonassen slows up a delivery, drawing Beaumont down the pitch and nearly chipping a catch back. Beaumont waits a couple of balls and then forays out again, this time going through with it. Six! Six!
After 29 from 86 balls, Beaumont has hit a six.
She celebrates by going back, stepping away, and lashing the cut shot through cover for four!
30th over: England 80-2 (Beaumont 29, Sciver 34) Sciver gets a reprieve! McGrath zips one through, beats the outside edge and clips the back thigh in front of the off stump. Then hits Healy’s gloves and thigh. Three noises, confusion. Umpire gives the lbw. Sciver reviews and finds that it was going over the off bail. Celebrates the reprieve by laying into a cut shot, but the sweeper stops it. Beaumont drives one to the same spot. Two singles.
29th over: England 78-2 (Beaumont 28, Sciver 33) Jonassen gets through another over, four singles this time.
28th over: England 74-2 (Beaumont 26, Sciver 31) Tahlia McGrath is back. Three times, the English batters find a way to use her line to push into the off side for runs.
27th over: England 71-2 (Beaumont 24, Sciver 30) Jonassen to Beaumont, who takes three balls to find a gap for a single, and Sciver, who takes three balls to find the fielder three times.
26th over: England 70-2 (Beaumont 23, Sciver 30) Carey bowls on the hip, Sciver glances fine. Two singles and a leg bye. The 50 partnership comes up from 104 balls. No comment.
25th over: England 67-2 (Beaumont 22, Sciver 29) Jess Jonassen’s first over, left-arm spin, four singles result.
After 25 overs last time out, England were 67 for 6. Today they are 67 for 2.
Which is... better, obviously. But that run total after half the innings is atrocious. It really is.
Ok, England are crawling, we all know it, I’ll stop banging on it about it now and will just describe the crawl.
24th over: England 63-2 (Beaumont 20, Sciver 27) Carey tries to help the run rate along with a couple of wides as well as the obligatory couple of singles.
23rd over: England 59-2 (Beaumont 19, Sciver 26) Beaumont advances to King but doesn’t go big, gets an inside edge through midwicket for a run. Has not played a shot in anger all day.
22nd over: England 57-2 (Beaumont 18, Sciver 25) Singles! Four of them! And a wide! The heady heights of five runs from the Carey over.
21st over: England 52-2 (Beaumont 16, Sciver 23) This time it’s Sciver becalmed for five balls against King, though at least she’s trying to play a few shots, she just keeps finding the field.
20th over: England 51-2 (Beaumont 15, Sciver 23) Nicola Carey gets a bowl with her right-arm mediums, and wouldn’t you know, she hits her length right away and concedes two singles.
19th over: England 49-2 (Beaumont 14, Sciver 22) Outside edge for Sciver against Alana King to start the over, and because King can’t field to herself at deep third, it costs three runs. Brings Beaumont onto strike, who blocks out five balls on the forward stretch. Again... see the post below.
18th over: England 46-2 (Beaumont 14, Sciver 19) Another Sutherland over for two singles. According to the comms, going at 2.5 an over is fine actually because you can keep wickets in hand to attack at the end. I would counter that attacking at the end is not going to be easy in tricky batting conditions, especially for new players, and that scoring singles more regularly at the start and in the middle means there is less ground to make up late.
Of course England’s players want to score, but there’s a lack of adaptability to turn good bowling into a few runs instead of dot after dot after dot.
17th over: England 44-2 (Beaumont 13, Sciver 18) Trying to push the pace a bit is Sciver, backing away and cutting King through extra cover in the end, splitting the field there and going for four. A couple of singles as well from the over.
Drinks on the field.
16th over: England 38-2 (Beaumont 12, Sciver 13) Width to Sciver, would have pitched outside the tram tracks, but she reaches out and makes contact just before the ball hits the ground, driving it behind point. Follows with a single.
Beaumont can’t score. Both in the specific and the general. She finishes the over with 12 from 48 balls. I understand that she’s trying to do a job for the team, but... that’s not the job.
15th over: England 33-2 (Beaumont 12, Sciver 8) Spin for the first time today, Alana King flighting her leg-breaks and landing them well enough, bowling quite full and dipping the ball into the blockhole at times. Doesn’t turn much, three singles.
14th over: England 30-2 (Beaumont 11, Sciver 6) Now it’s Annabel Sutherland to bowl, and there is no respite for England. She hits the line and length right away, testing the batters outside off stump. Two singles only.
13th over: England 28-2 (Beaumont 10, Sciver 5) An attempt to get going from Sciver, cutting McGrath from not too short a length over backward point. Alana King has been Selley’s No More Gaps at deep third, saved lots of runs there in the last match and again makes four into two with a tumbling stop here. The only scoring shot from the over.
12th over: England 26-2 (Beaumont 10, Sciver 3) Perry’s sixth over, more blocking and leaving, a couple of singles. England going nowhere and making a slow job of doing it.
11th over: England 24-2 (Beaumont 9, Sciver 2) Sciver off the mark driving down the ground, Beaumont another single, and McGrath bowls another wide.
10th over: England 20-2 (Beaumont 8, Sciver 0) Perry rolls on into her fifth over. Beaumont leaving, eventually taking a run to the leg side before Sciver is beaten. That concludes a truly parlous opening ten overs for England. Just like last time, they have gone nowhere and lost wickets in the process.
9th over: England 19-2 (Beaumont 7) Knight out from the last ball of the over.
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WICKET! Knight b McGrath 9, England 19-2
The golden season for Tahlia McGrath continues. Comes on to bowl, a couple of wides, a leg bye, nothing doing. But the last ball of her over, her first ball to Heather Knight, after bowling length for the previous seven deliveries, she throws in a yorker. Spot on. Knight is surprised by the length, expects the line to tail in at the stumps a bit, and instead it goes on straighter, misses the bat on middle, and hits off stump. Pew pew.
8th over: England 16-1 (Beaumont 7, Knight 9) Quite the battle! Knight gets forward and drives Perry on the up through cover for four, lovely shot. So Perry goes shot, and Knight under-edges into her stomach, very hard. Knocks the wind out of her, and she takes a minute on her haunches and gets a physio check. Alyssa Healy wanders up and suggests that the problem is Knight is too fit - needs more stomach for protection, says Healy while patting her own tummy. When the game resumes, Perry beats the outside edge twice.
7th over: England 12-1 (Beaumont 7, Knight 5) Dicey second run! Beaumont flicks behind square again, the field is more stacked in that area now and there’s no second run to Gardner, I think it was, charging around. But Beaumont goes anyway, and gets lucky with Gardner throwing wide of the stumps. Knight going to the other end hesitated, and might have been in strife had the throw gone that way too. Beaumont calms down, and follows with a single wide of mid on.
6th over: England 8-1 (Beaumont 4, Knight 4) Beaumont again goes drive and run, this time more safely to the left of Jonassen, and that’s the first run from Perry’s bowling. Knight follows it with four, leaning over a straight ball to drive through midwicket. She’s always the classiest strokeplayer in this England team. Gets beaten on the outside edge by Perry to follow.
5th over: England 3-1 (Beaumont 3, Knight 0) Beaumont remains pinned down by Schutt, but at least is looking for a way off the corkboard. Walks at the bowler to try to make room on the leg side, then shifts away to hit to mid off and run. That was a desperation single, could have been strife had Jonassen picked up cleanly, but she rolls her ankle a bit and ends up hobbling. Says she’s fine to carry on.
4th over: England 2-1 (Beaumont 2, Knight 0) If the idea of England batting first here was to learn from mistakes, they’re not so far. Knight faces out an over from Perry, defending. Three overs in a row without a run. You can’t just let Australia bowl at you like this, same as England did last time around.
3rd over: England 2-1 (Beaumont 2, Knight 0) Six dot balls from Schutt to Beaumont, the batter just blocking her way through to make sure nothing further goes wrong.
2nd over: England 2-1 (Beaumont 2, Knight 0) Captain to the middle early, Knight with a job to do as ever. Made a first-baller in the first ODI in Canberra. No Darcie Brown to face here though. She gets through four balls from Perry, including a good one that just sneaks past the edge.
WICKET! Lamb b Perry 0, England 2-1
Oh dear. Emma Lamb’s first ball in ODIs is a comfortable one, able to leave on width from Perry. Her second ball comes in at the stumps, seams away just a touch, and Lamb exacerbates that movement by playing too much across the ball. Misses it, bowled off stump.
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1st over: England 2-0 (Beaumont 2, Lamb 0) Tammy Beaumont takes the first ball, Megan Schutt as ever piloting it like a remote-controlled aeroplane from a wide line in towards the stumps. Falls over a bit trying to work the first three balls to leg, straight to the field, but finds that shot from the fourth to clip two runs behind square.
Play is about to start at the Junction. Lamb and Beaumont to the middle.
News in: Hannah Darlington has pulled out of the World Cup squad, “citing mental health and wellbeing reasons.” She’s only 20 years old, captained the Thunder in the Big Bash this year, and is highly rated. She was the travelling reserve in that squad though, so spending two months in intense biosecure environments while almost certainly not playing might not be as appealing as a tour might usually be. Heather Graham is replacing Darlington in that spot.
Teams
Three changes for England - and why not? The series is gone. Emma Lamb comes in at the top for Lauren Winfield-Hill (no jokes about where lambs are proverbially led, please). Tash Farrant and Freya Davies come in to bowl seam. Katherine Brunt was already out, seamer Kate Cross goes out, then they make space for the other bowler by dropping middle-order bat Sophia Dunkley, moving Danni Wyatt up to six, and spinner Sophie Ecclestone to seven. Long tail, but might as well give everyone a shot. Dunkley is firmly in the World Cup plans, Wyatt is still a maybe.
For Australia? No changes. The luxury of winning. Beth Mooney and Darcie Brown played the first ODI but got rested for the second, and stay rested ahead of the World Cup. Seven all-rounders and a keeper who opens the batting. <understatement>Pretty handy team.</understatement>
England
Tammy Beaumont
Emma Lamb
Heather Knight *
Natalie Sciver
Amy Ellen Jones +
Danielle Wyatt
Sophie Ecclestone
Charlotte Dean
Anya Shrubsole
Natasha Farrant
Freya Davies
Australia
Alyssa Healy +
Rachael Haynes
Meg Lanning *
Ellyse Perry
Tahlia McGrath
Ashleigh Gardner
Annabel Sutherland
Nicola Carey
Jess Jonassen
Alana King
Megan Schutt
England win the toss and will bat
This is interesting. Each team won one toss in the first two games, and chose to chase. But England were embarrassed while batting first in the second match, all out for 129 in 45 overs. Against some decent bowling but still a horrible display. Heather Knight is a staunch character: is this her way of saying, we put this right and we do it now? Same venue at Melbourne’s Junction Oval, same start time at 10am locally, as England opt for take two.
Preamble
One game to go! And you might offer forgiveness if someone, just a random imaginary person, were to feel a little bit flat about this given the dominance with which Australia grabbed the series and the corresponding way that England folded in the previous two outings.
That was not consistent with the multiformat series beforehand. England launched into the first T20, getting beaten by a masterful performance but giving a good account. Had the next two T20s rained off, but then produced one of the best women’s Test matches while going all out to win. Ended up with a draw, thanks to a batting collapse. Sign of things to come. In the two one-dayers so far, it has been all batting collapse, no batting.
But the 50-over World Cup is around the corner, so there is still a strong incentive for England to put things right, and for Australia to keep the foot to the floor. Away we go once more.
