Alana King and Beth Mooney celebrate retaining the Women's Ashes

Australia retain Women’s Ashes in dominant fashion as sloppy England continue poor performances

Australia claimed a 57-run victory in the opening T20I to take an unassailable lead in The Women’s Ashes, leaving England rueing their missed chances.

A Beth Mooney masterclass with the bat carried the home side to 198-7 after being sent in to bat. England’s fielding continued to let them down with miss-fields, missed chances and miscommunication featuring front and centre.

Despite this, England put on a fantastic show while batting, led by recently recalled Sophia Dunkley, who smashed 59 from 30. However, once she was bowled by Tahlia McGrath, England collapsed, losing their final seven wickets for 45 runs.

Beth Mooney led the charge with the bat

Australia got off to a flyer in the first innings. On debut, Georgia Voll lit up the SCG, smashing 21 at the top of the order before Pheobe Litchfield continued the barrage with a gorgeous array of switch-hits.

However, it was Mooney who was the conductor during Australia’s symphony of striking. She scored 75 off 51, including 11 boundaries, leading her side to a monumental total.

A direct hit from Heather Knight sent Litchfield packing just after the drinks break and she was soon followed by Ellyse Perry and Annabel Sutherland. This brought McGrath to the crease and the stand-in skipper did not hold back, smoking England’s attack to all parts of the ground in a brutal takedown that saw her 26 runs come at a strike rate of 288.

Her short but sweet innings electrified the stadium until she was felled by the pick of England’s bowlers, Sophie Ecclestone. The left-arm spinner took 2-26 and was the sole positive among England’s first-innings troubles, most notably their fielding.

Over 20 runs were gifted to the home side from sloppy mistakes and overthrows, plus fifteen extras. The worst moment came when Litchfield chipped what should have been a simple catch towards wide mid-off, only for Nat Sciver-Brunt and Charlie Dean to both call “yours”. The ball dropped embarrassingly between the two of them.

Australia strode to an impressive 198-7, leaving England requiring the joint second-highest successful chase in Women’s T20I history if they wanted to keep the series alive. The home side looked firm favourites at the halfway stage and it went from bad to worse early into the second innings.

Sophia Dunkley gave the Australians a fright

Neither England opener troubled the scorers, with Maia Boucher falling second ball and Danni Wyatt-Hodge being dismissed for a golden duck an over later.

Bouchier picked out Georgia Wareham on the mid-wicket boundary off the bowling of Megan Schutt. An inaudible groan seemed to echo around the stadium from the England following, already knowing what was to come. England did not settle and three balls later Dunkley almost replicated her predecessor’s wicket but instead found the fence.

Dunkley and Nat Sciver-Brunt started to rebuild but the all-rounder was replaced by Knight after falling for 20. Dunkley batted beautifully on her return to the England side, having been left out of the ODI series and alongside her skipper they carried England to 96-3 after ten overs – a more than handy position.

However, England’s collapse struck after the drinks break, losing their final three top-order batters in three consecutive overs for 20 runs.

From here Ecclestone and Freya Kemp managed to rally another 20 but Wareham mopped up the tail leaving England all out for 141. Yet another collapse to mar England’s series.

Sophia Dunkley reacts to loss

After the game, Dunkley reflected on England’s troubles, saying, “We’re obviously very disappointed with the result today.

“We came here with a really open mind of a fresh format, a new format and we couldn’t put them under pressure for long enough today.

“We’ve come away fallen short but there’s still eight points out there to get so we’re going to go into that doing everything we can to come away with those eight points. There’s still a lot for us to play for going into the next few games.”

Dunkley also commented on the poor fielding performance, remarking, “The girls did really well in the ODIs and I think we just let a few things go today.

“Sometimes T20 cricket is a bit frantic and there’s a lot going on, a big crowd, a bit quick, but it’s something we’ll look at and want to come back stronger with.”

The England batter was also asked about the possibility of a change in leadership within the England camp. She revealed that she and the rest of the team back Knight and want her to continue leading. However, she didn’t mention Jon Lewis in her answer.

Broadcast Schedule

India v England White ball series
IND v ENG 2nd ODI, Cuttack
9th February
Start time: 8:00 am GMT
IND v ENG 3rd ODI, Ahmedebad
12th February
Start time: 8:00 am GMT