As England prepares to welcome Australia for the Women’s Ashes of 2019, there’s a powerful sense of déjà vu. These teams play each other a lot. They’re stable in personnel. Half of the opponents spend their respective off-seasons as domestic teammates. They know each other back to front.
Predictability, though, doesn’t mean there won’t be fireworks. The individual rivalries run deep. Insider intel means there will be subplots galore. They may not be surprised by one another, but there will be strenuous competition as to who can nail their own game on the day. One thing is certain though: this England team is sick of losing to Australia.
Over the last four years these have been the countries at the forefront of developing women’s cricket. Investment has been substantial and progress rapid. But even though England turned pro first, the prizes have gone the other way.
Australia won the 2015 Ashes away from home, knocked England out of the 2016 World T20, retained the Ashes on home soil, then beat England last November in the World T20 final. England’s only boast was winning a group match in the 2017 World Cup, but India mugged Australia in the semi-final to spare England a rematch.
With captain Meg Lanning back in charge after a shoulder injury during the last Ashes, Australia look formidable. The series is played across all three formats, with two points each for six limited-overs games and four points for the solitary Test match. It starts with the 50-over variant where Lanning excels most. A dozen one-day centuries in 72 starts at nearly a run a ball? It’s so far beyond any other player that there’s no comparison.
One-dayers are also the preferred form for Ellyse Perry, who gets most of the team’s airtime but keeps being so good that there’s no alternative. In the years since she was pushed up the batting order in 2013, she’s made a half-century or better 26 times out of 45, at an average of 77. She made a double-century in her last Test, and opened the batting in the most recent Big Bash for a season worth 777 runs. It showed an embarrassment of riches for Australia that just before this season Perry was at number seven in the World T20.
Ash Gardner is the best range-hitter in the women’s game. Alyssa Healy has flourished in the past couple of years and can get an innings flying. Nicole Bolton may partner her as an opener in 50 overs, but Beth Mooney has mastered that role across T20s, carving through the field for prolific Big Bash seasons and an Ashes-sealing performance in 2017. Rachael Haynes was given a second lease on cricketing life when she deputised for Lanning in 2017, and has reinvented herself as a batting enforcer.
England also have quality on display. Captain Heather Knight is the rock. Sarah Taylor has the most class with the bat and behind the stumps, and has close to a thousand one-day runs against Australia. Nat Sciver brings power and creativity, Fran Wilson has adaptability, Tammy Beaumont has grown hugely as a player across a couple of years, and Danni Wyatt had a sudden T20 reincarnation. Amy Jones has stepped out from Taylor’s shadow as a back-up keeper, establishing herself as one of the side’s most important bats.
That’s quality on paper, but Australia’s bowlers have had the best of them on grass. Megan Schutt has immaculate swing and the ability to make herself unhittable, as can Jess Jonassen with her left-arm spin. Gardner’s off-breaks and Perry’s pace offer quality overs from the top order. Young quick Tayla Vlaeminck is the most rapid, while Delissa Kimmince and Nicola Carey offer seam options as all-rounders. Georgia Wareham impressed at the World T20 with her leg-breaks.
For England, much relies on Katherine Brunt in the closing stages of her career. For years Brunt has provided drive and competitiveness for her side, and now has to lead the line again with Anya Shrubsole’s accuracy and swing. The seamer Kate Cross is pushing back into contention, while the slower Jenny Gunn is there as backup. Tall left-armer Sophie Ecclestone has developed into England’s number one spinner, with Laura Marsh’s off-spin in support.
The one-day games in this Women’s Ashes will have issues with visibility, overlapping with the end of the Men’s World Cup. The Test match three days after the World Cup final should have clearer air. Both sides are thrown into the Test with nothing in the way of meaningful preparation. Which is not to say the players have any trepidation: they want more long-form cricket, not less.
At some point administrators will have to at least concede that the multi-format series should be the norm for all touring opponents. The absurdity that these players had their most recent Test two years ago speaks for itself. For now, they can only make the best of what they have. Those battles are longer term. All that matters for England right now is to finally beat those Australians.