AFP
England will be up against one of the most formidable teams in the history of female sport when they face arch rivals Australia in the women’s Ashes series.
Australia’s women are cricket world champions in both the 50-over and Twenty20 international formats, while they have enjoyed eight years of unbroken Ashes series success.
Their all-round strength is a particular asset in an Ashes which, unlike the men’s equivalent, features all three international formats.
The women will play a lone five-day Test –a change from previous years when a four-day Test was played – at Trent Bridge starting Thursday, as well as three ODIs and three T20s.
The series uses a points system, with a Test victory worth four points, and each ODI and T20 win worth two points.
Australia overwhelmed England 12-4 in the last women’s Ashes in 2022.
But they have arrived in England without captain Meg Lanning after the star batter was ruled out with a “medical issue”.
Experienced wicketkeeper-batter Alyssa Healy, whose husband Mitchell Starc is a member of the Australia squad currently contesting the men’s Ashes, leads the side in Lanning’s absence.
England all-rounder Emma Lamb said last month that Australia were not perfect and that “it is within our reach to beat them”, while fast bowler Issy Wong suggested it was a great time to play their old foes.
But Australia remain a powerful side, with Ellyse Perry, Tahlia McGrath, Beth Mooney, Ashleigh Gardner and Jess Jonassen all proven world-class performers.
“They (Lamb and Wong) made some bold statements coming out here in that last Ashes series and didn’t really follow through on any of it,” Healy told Code Sports.
“So we’ll let them speak and do all the talking.”
Healy added: “We know that everybody wants to beat us. It probably is really frustrating that we keep winning all the time, but we love it.
“We don’t want to be the team that loses or hands the Ashes back or lets a World Cup slip. We know what that feels like. We’re happy being the hunted.”
England captain Heather Knight has called on her side to be “disruptors to upset the odds”.
Tammy Beaumont, one of England’s senior batters, said she had been inspired by the ‘Bazball’ approach to Test cricket of England’s men under skipper Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum
“I’ve played seven Test matches in my career and I haven’t played in a victory,” Beaumont told Britain’s Press Association.
“We’ve got to change something, we’ve got to do something to move the game forward quicker.”
She added: “It’s not reckless, you can compare it to how the England men have gone about things: you watch Harry Brook — there’s no slogging there, Joe Root, there’s a few inventive shots but there isn’t slogging as such by every player.
“We can definitely do it in Test cricket and we have to if we want to force results and try and get ahead in the Ashes.
“Australia have led the way for the last five or six years, everyone is playing catch up. But the way that we are playing and the way we want to play can certainly challenge them.”
