Wasteful England beaten in Women’s Ashes opener

Women’s Ashes, first ODI: North Sydney Oval

England 203 (43.1 overs): Knight 39 (48), Gardner 3-19

Australia 206-6 (38.5 overs): Healy 70 (78), Ecclestone 2-38

Australia won by four wickets, lead the series 2-0

England lost by four wickets in the Women’s Ashes’ opening one-day international in Sydney thanks to Ash Gardner’s excellent all-round performance.

With 11.1 overs left, Gardner led Australia to victory after being bowled out for 203 before scoring an unbeaten 42 in the process.

England lost their sixth wicket, but Heather Knight’s side paid the price for a wasteful batting display and sloppiness in the field, which included Sophie Ecclestone dropping Gardner on 31.

After a batting inning that was riddled with soft dismissals, the visitors were rarely under pressure from the scoreboard after a finely executed attack from Lauren Bell and Ecclestone.

Although captain Knight top-scored with 39, Danni Wyatt-Hodge made a tough 38, and Amy Jones had 31, all three failed to capitalize on their successful openings, scoring all three in 43.1 overs.

England were already in a good position at 91-2 when Australia delivered the hammer by removing Knight and star all-rounder Nat Sciver-Brunt in consecutive Gardner-overs, both of whom were slog-swept by Ellyse Perry.

With Wyatt-Hodge, Jones and her replacement, Wyatt-Hodge, whose knock was an outlier in a tame middle-to-lower order effort, with the final five wickets falling for 47 runs, finished in good form.

The hosts did not deliver a faultless bowling performance, which included a no-ball and 24 extras that gave Maia Bouchier a reprieve in the opening over, but England lacked the ruthlessness to punish them.

Similarly in the second innings, Annabel Sutherland’s dismissal for 10 in the 24th over offered another opening at 124-4, but Gardner showed the steel and discipline which England’s batters lacked.

England have little time to improve as a result of the series’ relentless schedule, with the second ODI taking place on January 13 (23:05 GMT) at the Junction Oval in Melbourne.

Australia delivered a decent bowling effort, with Gardner’s spell and Kim Garth’s economical opening burst the highlights, but the frustration for England was that they softly handed them their wickets.

The first ball was bowled by Megan Schutt, but the seamer overstepped, causing the world champions to lose. At the end of the fourth over, the opener was caught behind.

After Tammy Beaumont’s stuttering 13 from 31 balls, Knight and Sciver-Brunt’s illogical concentration issues gave Australia the lead just as they appeared to be settled.

Before returning one back to leg-spinner Alana King with a four from 20 balls, Alice Capsey’s four from the start of a difficult day, where she later dropped a sitter with Perry on seven.

Although the wickets all appeared in good shape, starts are never going to be enough against a team as clinical as Australia. However, Wyatt-Hodge countered her usual aggression.

Her new-ball partner Lauren Filer bowled with lively pace and troubled the Australian top order (she had Phoebe Litchfield caught behind with a stunning lifting delivery in the second over), but at times lacked the control England needed to defend a subpar total.

England’s fielding and catching woes which haunted them in the autumn’s T20 World Cup remain a concern and those mistakes were even more glaring when compared with Australia’s brilliance.

Capsey’s drop of Perry, which was straight to her at a deep square leg, did not cause any runs, but it did cause a somewhat flat feel among the fielders, and smaller errors like overthrows started to creep in more frequently.

The result may have been inevitable because Australia only needed 22 more runs when Gardner was dropped, but they must be taken against a team with so few chances.

The way the bowlers handled the situation pleased me. Lauren Bell was outstanding. It’s the best I have seen her bowl. We just need to improve a few things before the next game, it seemed like we were really close.

Australia captain Alyssa Healy:” I’m pretty happy. Although there are always areas to improve, it’s nice to incorporate those two points into the Junction Oval. At the end, I wished we had been more patient with the bat because it was the kind of wicket you never felt in, so we did well to try to chase that down.

Ebony Rainford-Brent, an ex-england batter, said on TNT Sports, “Alice Capsey dropping Ellyse Perry wasn’t that costly in runs but it set the tone. When Capsey holds the catch that Lauren Filer gets from Phoebe Litchfield and Lauren Filer gets it back, you think, “hey, we are leading the game and moving forward.”