With the latest instalment of Anglo-Australian cricket rivalry in the men’s World Cup still fresh in our minds, emotions and senses are about to be further heightened next week when the Women’s Ashes series gets underway in Chelmsford. Seven matches, each allocated points, played across three formats and over a month means this great game will be showcased in all its glory.
Starting with three 50-over matches worth two points each and followed by one Test match (four points) and three T20 matches (two), players will have to think on their feet and adapt quickly to the rapid switch between formats.
Australia are the current holders of the coveted trophy; Matthew Mott’s side also claimed the World Twenty20 title late last year. England, meanwhile, are World Cup holders and will be playing in their own backyard. It promises to be a full-bodied series.
A core group of Australian players have again been selected, and confidence continues to build the more time this group spends together. And unlike the last series in 2017, Australia will be boosted by being able to call on the services of Meg Lanning.
Having missed the entire series in Australia due to shoulder surgery, the captain’s passion has been further fuelled and left her wanting to make a huge impact on the next series, especially in the one-off Test that she is yet to leave her mark on.
This squad is a well-oiled machine that has enjoyed a solid preparation in a bid to repeat their achievements on English soil in 2015. The difference this time is that they don’t need to win it, just retain it. But that is something the team would rather ignore.
“It has been a huge factor in our minds and one of the themes here is unfinished business. It was good to hold on to the Ashes but we want to come over here and win the Ashes this time,” Mott said.
Whilst the usual suspects Ellyse Perry and Alyssa Healy will no doubt have an important role to play, so too will players such Megan Schutt, Rachael Haynes, Ashleigh Gardner and, potentially, Ashes debutant Georgia Wareham.
Those at the first ever day-night Test match at North Sydney Oval witnessed Perry’s first 100 for Australia. One of the few players built for Tests ensured that it was a memorable milestone, which then turned into a double century and an unbeaten 213. One can expect she isn’t going to waste another opportunity to spend more time out in the middle.
The shortest format of the game, long seen as a weakness for Perry, is an area that she has been working hard on. And in last year’s Women’s Big Bash League she excelled, hitting a whopping 777 runs at an unbelievable average of 86. Even more impressively, he racked up her runs at a strike rate of 121.
Last year also heralded the maturing of one of the most talented and exciting cricketers in the world: Alyssa Healy. She enjoyed a clean sweep at the Australian Cricket Awards earlier this year, as well as being named the ICC’s player of the World T20 and T20 player of the year. With such a stellar 12 months behind her, it will be important for Healy to get off to a good start in England and if she does, her confidence should filter into the rest of the Australian dugout.
If she is to taste success again, Healy will, however, have to overcome a huge hurdle: the inclusion for England of Katherine Brunt. Having returned from another back injury, Brunt will have the new ball up front and this particular match-up shapes as one that could define this series.
As someone who has played a lot of cricket against Brunt, I know the threat she poses, but you get a sense that this Australia side want to play and prove themselves against the strongest English team possible. With Brunt front and centre, it certainly gives the English an edge they miss when she isn’t in the playing XI.
Apart from Brunt and her captain, Heather Knight, the Australians will need to keep an eye on Amy Jones. Having taken over the gloves in the absence of Sarah Taylor, who is also back in the squad, Jones got the chance to bat up the order and has enjoyed an extended opportunity to find her feet in international cricket.
Talented players, key individual match-ups, high stakes and two cricket nations desperate to get one over the other – this Ashes series promises to deliver for women’s cricket once again.
