‘Different England taught harsh and familiar lesson by Australia’

Same outcome, different day.

There is a glimmer of hope, a slightly sluggish door, a creeping sense of “what if” lingering through the audience and the commentary box, but ultimately Australia triumph.

England’s long-awaited Ashes reunion was held at this venue since the team’s disastrous 16-0 defeat.

Given that both teams had already secured a spot in the Women’s World Cup semi-final, in some ways, this was a free hit.

England have shown throughout the tournament that this is not the same irate nation that left Melbourne Cricket Ground in February, hardly letting their rivals down, let alone a single punch, despite being far from perfect on numerous occasions.

At the beginning of the year, they engaged in something that was nothing more than a pipe dream: they once again competed against their formidable rivals in Indore.

The Australian seamers bowled too wide and lacked control in the opening eight overs, leading only Amy Jones and Tammy Beaumont to win.

England were in unfamiliar territory when Alice Capsey made an inventive comeo to bring England to 244, which always felt below par, and when Lauren Bell removed Phoebe Litchfield’s off-spin with a beauty and Georgia Voll and Ellyse Perry were dismissed shortly after, they were faced with a strange situation.

They won over everyone.

You can’t and won’t win a game in the face of a team of this greatness, a lineup full of stars from one to eleven and three bench members.

In Indore, England took home a valuable lesson. They appear more physically fit, appear more energetic, and appear to be a more cohesive unit willing to fight and sacrifice for everything.

You can still be outplayed despite all of that. With almost 10 overs left, you can convert a wobble into a crushing victory by taking four top-order wickets for 68 runs. Then, with the next two, you can add a chanceless 180.

Between England and Ashes vengeance, Annabel Sutherland’s main character energy ultimately stood in the way.

After collecting three single-figure scores to start the tournament, she finally decided to join the run-scoring party after taking her tally to 15 with the wickets of England’s openers and Emma Lamb.

Australia’s ruthlessness and what England need to learn from if they are to defeat their greatest rivals were the themes of the innings, which started with 112 balls and reached the middle at 24.

There is no such thing as a trend for Australia, despite England’s reliance on Nat Sciver-Brunt and Heather Knight’s recent promising returns from Jones and Beaumont.

Sutherland came up two short of a magnificent century, but Ash Gardner, her match-winning partner, delivered a brutal, counter-attacking 69-ball knock, earning her second appearance of the tournament.

Alyssa Healy, who was sidelined with a calf injury against England, has made two of her own while Beth Mooney saved them from 76-7 with a century against Pakistan.

Additionally, Alana King and Kim Garth have made significant cameos from the bottom of the scale.

Someone always rescues the player in charge, even though the lead role may change. It almost seems like they trick teams into thinking the plan will come unstuck and make them feel secure.

The middle order in England, in contrast, is much less trustworthy.

Without their contributions, the difference is stark, even though Sciver-Brunt and Knight have long been England’s glue and have long been world leaders.

Given the contradictions in her position at number seven, Capsey’s performances with the bat have been better than the numbers suggest. She has had to either try to save England from a top-order collapse or launch a first-team attack, but at Indore she showed signs of her destructive prowess with a crucial 38 that extended their lead over 240.

Charlie Dean again had the calmness to add 61 for the eighth wicket along with Capsey, but Sophia Dunkley and Lamb’s struggles are concerning.

As she nudged her way to a boundaryless 22 from 48 balls, Dunkley’s lack of intention caused Beaumont to play a careless shot off Sutherland to try to ease the pressure, which was brilliantly caught by a juggling Voll at long-off.

Lamb, who has already scored all of her runs in domestic cricket as an opener and has 36 runs in five innings, is being asked to play an unfamiliar role. She has just started playing the six-series role professionally and is out of her depth.

England got themselves stuck in the crease and looked utterly perplexed as King weaved a web of magic with her leg-spin, conceding 20 runs from her 10 overs. There was a sharp turn and she kept her grip on her control, but England never looked back and she was the catalyst of the 10-over period that set the tone of the game.

Between overs 21-30, England added 26 runs. Sutherland and Gardner crashed 77 at the same time as Australia.