Women's Ashes 2017

Suprised there's no thread for this already....Aussies took the first ODI so first honours to them

Morning Wisden,

Yes, I caught some of it yesterday. It's televised free-to-air here which is quite good for us. It really feels like summer is on the way now.

Two very evenly matched teams... they certainly enjoy these contests. I'm quite impressed at the level of skill shown. Some decent catches and aggressive hitting is good to watch.

Just wish Healy hadn't made the "b*itch" comment. Like Warner's one... it's just so unnecessary to make these kind of statements in the lead up; not to mention hard on the ear!

I'm sure uncle Ian wouldn't have advised her to say such things. I bloody hope not anyway.

Not going well for England so far - Aussies look well on top and thats even without Meg Lanning as we know.

Wonder what the odds are on both the English men and women failing to win a game across their tours.....

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:Not going well for England so far - Aussies look well on top and thats even without Meg Lanning as we know.

Wonder what the odds are on both the English men and women failing to win a game across their tours.....

I dunno Olly. Ask Duty... he would know that sort of thing.

Our women are off to a good start but your gals can fight back for sure.
As for the blokes... apparently Maxwell harmed his chances today in the Shield match for what that's worth.

England hit back to win an entertaining game on Sunday. Watched most of it until channel nine cut off with a few overs to go - though by then it was essentially over.

2-1 to Australia after the ODIs. About what you'd expect really : two pretty evenly matched sides - hard for either to win repeatedly. But the home team , as Ashes holders , will be the happier at this stage as they only require four more points to retain the trophy : even a draw in the Test now would leave them just one t20 win away... England really need to win the Test so a bit more pressure on them...

Not much interest on here ?   Come on chaps the women are getting better and better and their game deserves some attention , surely ?

The Test is fairly evenly poised after two days : England a slightly under par 280 ; Knight and Beaumont the standout performers . I'd say they did rather throw away a few wickets ; although they could also claim to be just a little unfortunate to lose two set bats to rather marginal lbw calls ( no drs) and one to a totally freak ( basically accidental !) catch.  Australia after a good start steadily lost wickets and are heavily indebted to Ellyse Perry for a recovery to 177/5 at the close.  A lot depends on how long she bats tomorrow as they will want to both close in on the England score and also minimize the time England are able to bat before the lights come on again...
Spinners effective today so England will fancy this as long as they can set a challenging last day target. Question is whether they'll have time to do so : hence the importance of dismissing Australia early. Important morning session tomorrow.

Alfie - i don't think BT Sport are broadcasting this game on their channels, only their youtube, thus the dwindling interest

Ah well this match wasn't shown on TV here either - though they are going to show the t20s.
Which will - at least for a start - be somewhat interesting because the drawn Test leaves England with at least the chance of winning the series : though they would need to win all three matches. (Or two if the other one gets washed out )

I think it was something of a pity that the one Test played was spoiled by a pitch which apparently was designed to give absolutely nothing to any type of bowler : just 21 wickets fell in four days and quite a few of them were thrown away by bats frustrated by the slow surface... The women all say they like playing the four day game but they rarely get the chance - and a nothing match like this does little for the chances of more frequent such games. Perry's performance was outstanding but will end up as just a statistical freak rather than the career highlight it might have been...

BT sport are showing all of the games, watched the test match on BT

2 early wickets in the first T20. Australia won the toss and sent England into bat.

A bit of controversy with both wickets.

For the first one; I thought Healy took the catch in front of the stumps and knocked the bails off just prior... given not-out, then out.
The 2nd one could have been going over the top of the stumps... also tending down leg. Umpire influenced by Schutt's appeal I reckon.

Now 2 more quick wickets. 18/4

Still 15 overs to go. Someone will need to dig in and steady the ship for England.

Didn't see those early wickets...must admit I was a bit shocked to see England top order collapsed like that - despite the Wyatt effort they made nowhere near enough runs and with Mooney playing superbly from the start Australia cruised home easily...

Well done the Aussie girls

Wrapped up the series with two to play - I had been hoping the interest would have gone down to the end , but the home side have deserved to finish on top : there really isn't much between the two teams but they've been more consistent and did the job well tonight.

Ashes are gone but England will still be hoping to level the points - and win the t20 segment - by winning these last two matches.

Looking good for this as Australia have slumped to 90/6 in pursuit of 152 with seven overs to go. Tall order to get ten per over with the top six gone.
Make that top seven as Ecclestone bowls Kimmince...think we can call this.

Much better batting from England today with Taylor , Sciver and Blunt all playing with skill and intent. And the bowling/fielding has been generally sharp.

As I said the other day , there really isn't much between these teams. Even though they hold the trophy regardless , Australia will be keen to win the last match to actually win the points race - and England equally so to go home with at least a shared series.

Comfortable win for England. Tuesday's final match will at least be a live one.

Raises a question re mixed-format points (remember Strauss looking to promote a similar deal for the men - though not for the Ashes !)
Does having the total points decide the (women's) Ashes rather take away from the significance of the individual segments ? Under the old system the drawn Test would see Australia continue to hold the trophy anyway - and you could have another argument over only playing one Test Match - but Australia would already have an ODI win and either side could take the t20 ...as it is the overall result seems to have in a way left this as an afterthought...

Remarkable finish to this...

Australia a whopping 179 and had England 30/3 after five overs ...but a tremendous partnership between Danni Wyatt and Heather Knight means they now need just eight off the last two overs with six in hand...

Wyatt not out 100

Aussies won't lie down (don't want to let Beth Mooney's wonderful 117 be in vain!)

Kimmince bowls Wyatt ...five down...

The Aussie's fielding in that innings was probably the worst at any standard of cricket I've seen this year - but nonetheless, amazing from Wyatt!

Yeah they had a shocker in the field ! But Wyatt was amazing...think that was a record chase for women's t20 : and executed with an over to spare

So Australia win the ODI 2-1 , England the t20 by the same score ; and the one Test is drawn. Australia hold on to the "Ashes" ; but it is clear that there is nothing between these two teams - depends who fires on a day.

Pity the Test was essentially "killed" by a road that would have been frowned at in Faisalabad.

Great Ashes series, both teams neck and neck. 8-8 is the fairest result.
It's just a pity they couldn't ensure a result either way through the number of games played and redistribution of scoring system so that one team prevails by a narrow margin... and a tie is avoided. Very entertaining cricket from the ladies... I'm much impressed.

The Loaded Dog wrote:Great Ashes series, both teams neck and neck. 8-8 is the fairest result.
It's just a pity they couldn't ensure a result either way through the number of games played and redistribution of scoring system so that one team prevails by a narrow margin... and a tie is avoided. Very entertaining cricket from the ladies... I'm much impressed.

Trouble is with three game ODI and t20 (natural mini-series length , no ?) a tied result between two well-matched teams is always quite likely.
The Test should be the tie breaker . But Tests can be drawn...

Could have saved the "consolidated points" deal and just left the Ashes dependent on the Test ...same result.

As you say , probably a fair outcome.

Maybe three Tests next time ?