Ashes 2023: England though went on to win both the Limited over series with a 2-1 victory and thus levelling the multi-format Ashes with 8-8, Australia once again successfully retained the Ashes, by virtue of winning it in 2022 on their home soil by 12-4. Without their legendary captain Meg Lanning, Australia started the Ashes 2023 by winning the test match by 89 runs and securing the first t20 convincingly by 4 wickets to take a 6-0 lead in the series. England needed to win all five matches to win back the Ashes, for the first time since 2013.
Australia’s victory in the test matches was based on the batting display of Ellyse Perry and Annabel Sutherland who paved the way for bowlers with their 99 and 137 in the first innings of Ashes 2023. Annabell Sutherland who scored 29 and 116 in the Warm-up against England A came to bat at no 8, when Australia was 236/6 in the first innings. They had lost 4wickets for 36 runs and were verge of a collapse. Along with Ash Gardner, she first added 77 runs for the 7th wicket and then along with the lower order bat took the total beyond the 450 runs mark.
Her unbeaten 137 in 184 balls with 16 sinclalating boundaries which is her maiden Test Hundred was also the highest individual score in a women’s test innings at no 8, surpassing Chamari Senavirathne’s 105. Besides it was Australia’s highest individual score in a test innings, coming out to bat at lower than no 7. Sutherland became the 3rd youngest Australian to hit a test ton and the third fastest in the Women’s Ashes 2023 one-off Test. The rest was taken care of by Ash Gardner. In the 2nd innings, she came to bowl when England was in more of a commanding position.
Ashleigh Gardner bowled 9 overs from one end and her figure was 9-1-33-3 at the end of 4th day. She was brought into the attack from the very first over with a spread-out field. It took her 11 more overs to claim all five wickets to earn Australia an 89-run victory. England’s pair of Hope, Amy Jones was stumped while Wyatt fell as the 10th wicket.
Her figure of 20-1-66-8 is the best by an Australian Woman in test innings. She is the 2nd after Neetu David to pick up 8 wickets in test innings. Her figure of 12/ 165 is the best by an Australian bowler while 2nd best after Shaiza Khan’s 13 wicket haul. Australia won by 98 runs, despite Tammy Beaumont’s record-breaking double hundred or Sophie Ecclestone’s ten-wicket haul in the Ashes 2023.
Australia convincingly went on to win the first T20I as well by 4 wickets based on Beth Mooney’s classic unbeaten 61 from 47 balls. Australia took a huge lead of 6-0. But the England players backed themselves, despite their defeat in the First T20I, Amy Jones said that despite losing the first two matches, the side, with each passing match, found confidence and the gap between the formidable Australian side and them was closing.
The same words were echoed by Sophie Ecclestone, who had taken 10 wickets in the test match, and said that her side was not far from catching up with Australia in the Ashes 2023 and they had the confidence to make a comeback as they have seen the weirdest things to happen in Cricket.
Ashes 2023: England dominated Australia throughout the series
Their words reflected in the field as well as Danny Wyatt scored 76 from 46 while opening the batting. Despite the collapse in the middle order, England piled up 186 due to, Sophie Ecclestone’s 22 from 12 balls. Australia, despite Perry’s unbeaten 51 from 27 balls fell short by 3 runs. Australia unfazed by that defeat in the Ashes 2023, as their captain said that they were allowed to lose, faced hi-flying England for the decider at Lords. Batting first Australia piled up 155 runs as all of their batters contributed handsomely.
Rain affecting the match means England was given a revised target of 119 runs from 14 overs. The star of the last match, Wyatt chipped in with 15 balls 26 and Alice Capsey batted with a strike rate of 200. With 4 boundaries and 2 sixes, she scored 46 from 23 balls to lead England the victory by 5 wickets. It also led to Australia’s first-ever bilateral series defeat in 6 years, the last time being the 2017 Ashes.
Australia, hurt, now asked for fearless cricket in the One Day formats, where they are not only dominating but also a crushing power. While India was the only side to beat Australia in ODI since 2017, England had not beaten Australia since 2017. In both the 2019 and 2022 Ashes, Australia defeated England by 3-0. But going against expectation, England overcame the Australian bowling attack to earn a 2-wicket victory. Engald’s batting was spearheaded by skipper Heather Knight who scored an unbeaten 76 from 86, her first against Australia since 2017, the last time they beat Australia. It was also England’s first-ever ODI victory against Australia since 2017.
From 6-0, England were now on 6-6 in the Ashes 2023. This turnaround showed how fearless cricket was played by England, as Tammy Beaumont said that they don’t want to be the pushovers anymore. Though Australia went on to win the next match by mere 3 runs Natalie Sciver’s century once again failed to earn England a series-defining victory. After the test match, Perry once again felt short of her hundred as she got outEcclestone on 91. Both Ash Gardner and Alana King took three wickets each. Australia retained the Ashes.
The New Look England as termed by Amy, scored 285 runs in the 3rd ODI. Nat Sciver Brunt, batting first, scored 129 from 149 balls with 15 boundaries. Despite losing wickets in quick succession, Australia was in a quiet commanding position with 103 required from 16 overs. With Ash Gardner batting with a strike rate of 170 for her 41 and the infamous Australian lower middle order coming on the pitch, it was Australia’s match. And in their prime, they have pulled matches like this, but not that day. Ash Gardner got run out while taking a non-existence double, a rare mistake from her and Australia lost their last 5 wickets on a mere 33 runs. Not even closely Australian. England handed Australia their first-ever bilateral ODI series defeat in 10 years as the series ended 8-8.
Australia without their two top-order batters, Haynes and Lanning, became dependent upon Mooney, Perry and TMac in the Ashes 2023. Though Perry did well with the bat, TMac was not in touch while Healy lost her runs due to maybe Captaincy pressure. In the last two Ashes 2023 Series, the Australian fast bowling attack tore apart England’s bowling. Darcie Brown, Perry, Megan Scutt and Annabel Sutherland each stood up and covered the other bowlers. Though Australian spinners were their main weapons, none of the Australian fast bowlers stood up compared to the England fast bowling attack. Result, Australia despite retaining the Ashes 2023, lost two white ball series, which is their fortress.
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