Phoebe Graham reflects on the drawn Women's Ashes series as England won two white-ball trophies but Australia retained the most-important one; Phoebe says the future is bright for England under head coach Jon Lewis as they prove Australia are 'human'
Friday 21 July 2023 14:58, UK
England may not have won the Women's Ashes but they proved that their future is bright and Australia are not invincible, says Phoebe Graham...
What a remarkable Women's Ashes!
Record-breaking crowds, nail-biting finishes and, despite England winning four out of the seven games and claiming victory in two white-ball series, Australia retain the Ashes.
England drawing the series was no mean feat. The Aussies are prolific trophy winners. They are T20 and ODI World Cup winners, Ashes winners and Commonwealth Games winners. They had not lost an ODI series in over a decade.
England approached the Ashes with an 'all or nothing' mindset. They were positive, powerful and focused on impact players. That was clear with the selection of Lauren Filer for the Test match.
Filer's raw pace took the Aussies by surprise and exposed some vulnerabilities - she took Ellyse Perry's wicket in both innings. England coach Jon Lewis also gave Danni Wyatt her first Test cap at the age of 32.
Wyatt is renowned for her aggressive style and he granted her the freedom to take Australia on. Lewis wasn't afraid to try something different to rattle what was deemed an 'invincible' Australian attack.
Australia, on the other hand, were entering the Ashes without the captaincy of Meg Lanning and without Matthew Mott as head coach. Alyssa Healy had big shoes to fill and had a more relaxed style of captaincy.
That perhaps showed as Australia lacked discipline, dropped catches and bowled lots of extras. In the first ODI they bowled 17 wides which was so un-Australian.
Throughout the series Australia slowly lost their aura and exposed vulnerabilities in new talents. Phoebe Litchfield averaged 13 in the ODI series and Tahlia McGrath averaged 18. England were able to pounce on the Aussies' nerves and well and truly rattled them.
England losing the Test and first T20 meant they went 6-0 down on points. Usually, the nation would be filled with sighs of "another English summer". But this felt different. They had lost to the Australians but by fine margins. The fire, the positivity, the aggression, was working and inspiring a nation.
Lewis empowered his players to really maximise their potential and now they needed to do it in must-win moments. With tenacity and belief, their luck turned in front of a record-breaking 21,6000 fans at The Kia Oval. It was the first time a women's T20 series had been played at prestigious Test venues in Edgbaston, The Oval and Lord's.
England had looked threatening but this time their spin attack with Sarah Glenn, Charlie Dean and Sophie Ecclestone, alongside their batting firepower, was unstoppable. Wyatt, who was named Player of the T20 series, struck a phenomenal 76 off 46 balls in the second game.
England managed to get into a position where if they won all three ODIs they would win the Ashes. The nation was well and truly behind them and the Aussies looked rattled.
We had two nail-biting games of cricket. The first was an unbelievable win for England with Kate Cross scoring an unbeaten 19 from No 10 including a ramp off Megan Schutt for four. Together with Heather Knight's 75 it got them over the line.
Nat Sciver-Brunt was phenomenal in this series, scoring consecutive hundreds in the last two ODIs, but in the second game England needed seven from two balls and sadly fell short. A dominating win to finish in Taunton meant the series was drawn 8-8.
Australia received the Ashes with Healy saying, "this is more a grimace, than a smile". Australia had not earned this urn and they felt quite embarrassed to be lifting it after such valiant England efforts.
This is a huge turning point for English cricket. England have broken the myth - the Aussies are human and they do make mistakes.
The Ashes cricket was remarkable, the fans were fantastic. We saw sell-out crowds, record-breaking viewing figures, 110,000 fans attending across the series with a third of all ticket buyers being women.
This is a really exciting time for English cricket. We have unearthed more new talent and under the leadership of Lewis we have started to see what England are really capable of.
Watch England's women's team back in action on Sky Sports in late August and September as they play Sri Lanka in three T20 internationals and as many one-day internationals.
