England are keen to capitalise on the feelgood factor in women’s sport when the 21st Ashes starts in Taunton on Tuesday. Australia may be favourites but England have triumphed in both series since the format was overhauled two years ago, winning by eight points in 2013 and two points in 2013-14.
It will be an intriguing contest. The top two ranked teams in the world invest more money and energy into developing the women’s game than anyone else, and this will be the first time that England have played an Ashes series since turning fully professional. Eighteen players, led by the captain, Charlotte Edwards, were given full-time playing contracts in 2014 and it is unlikely we will see any player outside that group feature in the series, although there are a number in the academy who would be ready to step in should injuries or loss of form require England to find reinforcements.
After a year of being able to fully focus on cricket rather than having to balance the game, as many of the players did, with working or studying, the squad assembling in Taunton is physically and mentally fitter and we should start to see the difference.
For Edwards, who made her England debut a staggering 20 years ago and will be playing in her 13th Ashes series, life as an England cricketer could not be more different to when she first started. Back then she even had to buy her own England blazer and warm-up shirt; now she and her team-mates all have top-of-the-range sponsored cars, kit and equipment, someone to organise all their travel, hotels and engagements and they are in ever increasing demand for media interviews.
Both Edwards and her Australian counterpart, Meg Lanning, have said that we will see attacking cricket from their teams. They want to entertain spectators and viewers – every ball of this series will be broadcast live on Sky for the first time – and understand the role they and their team-mates have to play in inspiring future players and further developing the profile of women’s cricket.
The Women’s Ashes, first played down under in the winter of 1934-35, took on a new look in 2013, turning the previously unsatisfactory contest of a solitary Test match into a multi-format battle. This time there will be two points on offer for each of the three ODIs and Twenty20 matches and, in a slight tweak to the system, only four points rather than six will be on offer for the four-day Test in Canterbury next month.
Australia are favourites because of their recent form in limited-overs cricket. They comprehensively beat West Indies and Pakistan in the past year and also won two of the last three World Cups and three of the last four World Twenty20 tournaments. That included a six-wicket win over England in the final of last year’s tournament in Bangladesh, when Lanning’s 30-ball 44 took them to the verge of a victory they wrapped up with nearly five overs to spare.
But sustained Ashes success eludes Australia. They have won only once in six attempts and have not won it in England for 14 years, though in the 2013-14 series it was only their loss in the Test, which put them 6-0 down on points after one match, which really cost them the series.
England, on the other hand, endured a disappointing series in New Zealand in the winter, where they lost two of the three Women’s Championship ODIs. But they are the holders and the squad has a huge amount of experience, with more than 800 caps in their 14-player selection for the three ODIs that kick off the series.
They have the world’s top two ranked ODI batsman in Edwards and the wicketkeeper Sarah Taylor, with fellow batsmen Lydia Greenway and Heather Knight also ranked in the top 20. Katherine Brunt, who is the third highest ranked bowler in the ODI rankings, will spearhead the seam attack along with Jenny Gunn – the fifth-highest ranked bowler in the world. England have included the left-arm spinner Rebecca Grundy in the squad. Grundy has not played in an Ashes series before but was one of England’s more successful bowlers on the recent tour of New Zealand.
Ellyse Perry, the 24-year-old all-rounder, is perhaps the best known of the tourists’ players. She is something of a household name in Australia and in 64 ODIs she averages almost 40 with the bat and just over 20 with the ball. The 19-year-old seam bowler Holly Ferling has been included in the party after a layoff with injury and is reputed to have gained more pace and accuracy since her return. Lanning is No3 in the ODI batting rankings and can be hugely destructive on her day. As a captain she may not have the experience of her English counterpart but she has led Australia to success on the world stage very recently.
