Jolted Australia are on the tear again – England have their work cut out
Healy’s side have reacted strongly to World Cup pain and the tourists need to keep the series live until the TestIf you’re playing against the Australian women’s cricket team, there are points where the only option is to brace yourself.Because they lose so very rarely, in any format, they tend to respond to those anomalies by proving how unusual they are.For England’s women, visiting Australia for a Women’s Ashes series of three one-day internationals, three Twenty20s and a day-night Test, this is now the position they are in.Skip back two places on the list of major failures to the 50-over World Cup semi-final of 2017, when Australia got ambushed by Harmanpreet Kaur in one of the all-time batting assaults.Outraged at watching England subsequently knock over India in the final, Australia went on a tear: unbeaten in series terms across four Women’s Ashes, three T20 World Cups, three T20 tri-series, 14 bilateral T20 series, 14 bilateral ODI series, the Commonwealth Games and the next 50-over World Cup, on the way notching a world record ODI winning streak of 26.
It was seven years before their next major defeat anywhere, but eventually one had to arrive.Last October in another World Cup semi-final, this time in the T20 version, Australia got downed by South Africa.Again, their conquerors spent their energy on the upset and capitulated in the final, and again, the Australians were not happy.If you thought that having won that trophy six times already would mollify any of the current players, you would, it appears, be wrong.And now it’s England’s turn to face this team soon after that irritation.
We don’t yet know if the response will be as potent: Australia have only played a couple of one-day series, having easily beaten India and New Zealand across six fixtures,The multi-format Women’s Ashes is a different animal, and there are plenty of questions about the role of the Test match, coming as it does at the end of the series,But history suggests it will take a vast amount for England to catch Australia off any of their styles of game,It does not help that the series starts with ODIs, Australia’s strongest format, before moving on to T20s, England’s strongest format,Australia’s depth is the key.
Take the example of the left-arm spinner Jess Jonassen.She is 10th in the world for international white-ball wickets, goes at fewer than four an over in one-dayers and a run a ball in T20s, striking with a wicket every five overs and three overs respectively, plus she can bat – and she can’t even make the squad.Even without her, Australia’s squad has 14 players who all look like walk-up starts for 11 spots.If the captain, Alyssa Healy, is hampered keeping wicket with a knee problem, she throws the gloves to another specialist, Beth Mooney.Phoebe Litchfield and Georgia Voll are 21 years old and already have one-day hundreds.
Ash Gardner could play as a specialist spinner or a specialist six-hitter.Grace Harris is one of the longest launchers of the ball in the world.Alana King and Georgia Wareham bowl contrasting styles of leg-spin and can both smash the ball, and more power comes from Tahlia McGrath, while Annabel Sutherland and Ellyse Perry are the innings builders.Plus the latter three all bowl seam, rounding out the more specialised quicks: Kim Garth’s accuracy, Darcie Brown’s pace and bounce, and Megan Schutt’s UFO swing.It’s a frankly unfair array of ability, with Sutherland having just made consecutive one-day tons, and a champion of Perry’s calibre sometimes benched for the shortest format.
The potential configurations are endless.Opponents can plan for anything and still be surprised.Sign up to The SpinSubscribe to our cricket newsletter for our writers' thoughts on the biggest stories and a review of the week’s actionafter newsletter promotionThis, then, is the task facing England, a team far more reliant on a couple of main batters in Nat Sciver-Brunt and Heather Knight, with other contributions around the edges.They cannot set out as against most teams to spike the big guns.They have to get past every permutation of a team that might field 10 capable batters and eight who can bowl.
With the three one-dayers in quick time, a bad week could mean 6-0 down on the points tally, needing to sweep the T20s to stay in touch.The final fixture will be an occasion no matter what, the first women’s Test at the MCG since 1949, played under lights with hopes of a big crowd.But with the win worth four points and the white-ball games worth two, England’s first job is ensuring that by then, the Test still counts toward the result.
ECB urges cricket’s leaders to take action over ‘gender apartheid’ in Afghanistan
The England and Wales Cricket Board has called on cricket’s governing body to show leadership by taking coordinated action to stop “the gender apartheid facing the 14 million women in Afghanistan”.In a letter to the International Cricket Council on Friday, the ECB’s chief executive, Richard Gould, also urged it “to find a solution that provides hope that the rights of women and girls in Afghanistan can be restored”.“What is taking place in Afghanistan is the worst violation of women’s rights anywhere on earth,” Gould wrote. “If we do not take the actions that are within our power to take – whilst recognising that much is not in our power – we are all complicit and have failed the privilege that comes with holding a global leadership position in our sport.”However Gould stopped short of calling for a boycott of Afghanistan matches when they play in the Champions Trophy in Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates next month
Women’s Ashes excitement tempered by concerns over congested schedule
England’s last Women’s Ashes win was so long ago – 11 years, in fact – that, when asked about it last week, Danni Wyatt-Hodge struggled to remember many details. Her main recollection was of the raucous night out in Hobart afterwards – a celebration that the then-captain, Charlotte Edwards, said resulted in her “worst ever hangover”. Somewhere out there is a photograph of Edwards and her successor, Heather Knight, staggering back to the team hotel, looking distinctly worse for wear. Unsurprisingly, it has never found its way into the public domain.Of course, that was all in the pre-professional era (January 2014)
Bill Sweeney’s RFU fate to be decided after Six Nations following U-turn
Bill Sweeney’s fate as the Rugby Football Union’s chief executive will be decided shortly after the Six Nations following an embarrassing U-turn from the governing body which has now relented to a grassroots rebellion and agreed to a special general meeting.Sweeney has two weeks to set a date for the SGM, which is expected to be held in either late March or early April, after the RFU confirmed that it is “validating the additional information” sent in a letter by the 152 members – a combination of clubs and constituent bodies – calling for the chief executive’s removal.The rebels had called for the SGM to be held no later than 28 February but there must be a 45-day grace period and it will not take place before the Six Nations has concluded.The RFU’s U-turn comes after Friday’s council meeting in which Sir Bill Beaumont was ratified as interim chair before issuing a call for unity in an open letter to all member clubs. The former World Rugby chair has taken over from Tom Ilube, who stood down shortly before Christmas, and will spend the leadup to the SGM to “debate and agree a united way forward”
‘Imagine if Messi coached Ronaldo’: how Murray 2.0 will need to adapt to flourish with Djokovic
Five months after retiring, the Scot is throwing himself into his work with the most successful men’s player of all timeAt the height of the Covid-19 lockdowns almost five years ago, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray logged on to Instagram Live for a casual conversation from their homes. As some of their viewers began to send through questions, they were asked to list the first three things they do when they wake up. Djokovic went first: “Gratitude and prayer,” he said. “A couple of long, deep breaths. Hugging my wife if she’s still in bed and running to my children
Jolted Australia are on the tear again – England have their work cut out
Healy’s side have reacted strongly to World Cup pain and the tourists need to keep the series live until the TestIf you’re playing against the Australian women’s cricket team, there are points where the only option is to brace yourself. Because they lose so very rarely, in any format, they tend to respond to those anomalies by proving how unusual they are. For England’s women, visiting Australia for a Women’s Ashes series of three one-day internationals, three Twenty20s and a day-night Test, this is now the position they are in.Skip back two places on the list of major failures to the 50-over World Cup semi-final of 2017, when Australia got ambushed by Harmanpreet Kaur in one of the all-time batting assaults. Outraged at watching England subsequently knock over India in the final, Australia went on a tear: unbeaten in series terms across four Women’s Ashes, three T20 World Cups, three T20 tri-series, 14 bilateral T20 series, 14 bilateral ODI series, the Commonwealth Games and the next 50-over World Cup, on the way notching a world record ODI winning streak of 26
Jimmy Anderson plans to play on for Lancashire in 2025 county season
Batters in Division Two of the County Championship have been put on notice with the news that Jimmy Anderson is planning to make a return for Lancashire this year.Anderson has not played a competitive match since his farewell Test, against West Indies at Lord’s last July, but, despite turning 43 this summer and having already moved into coaching, England’s record wicket-taker has made no secret of his desire to continue.Anderson went unsold in the auction for this year’s Indian Premier League but it was not the end of the line, with Lancashire set to be the beneficiaries as they try to bounce back to Division One after last year’s relegation. Talks over a deal are understood to be in progress, 25 years on from his professional debut for the club.Relegation may have been avoided had Anderson turned out for the Red Rose last summer but England softened the blow of forcing him into international retirement with a role as the Test team’s bowling coach
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