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Convincing victories in Sydney, Melbourne and Hobart have given the hosts a commanding lead, with England needing to win the upcoming T20 series to give themselves a chance of an unlikely victory.
England will be rueing missed opportunities with them having plenty of chances to get points on the board.
Despite glimpses of promise in their opening game at the North Sydney Oval, and alongside sloppiness in the field, it was ultimately a sub-par total of 204 that gave their bowlers too much to do.
Moving onto the Junction Oval in Melbourne, England had a chance to get one back, having dismissed Australia for a very reachable 180.
But yet more missed opportunities and moments of misfortune left England all out and considerably short of the total that many thought they would reach.
The side then made the short trip to Tasmania where they hoped a third ODI in Hobart would be the start of their resurrection.
England’s bowlers started well, dismissing key top-order batters capable of devastation.
However, it was the heroics of Ash Gardener for the hosts who struck a classy century as Australia set a total of 308 – a step too far for England who could only muster 222.
Here are five things we’ve learnt from Australia’s 3-0 sweep…
England needs to convert their starts at the top of the order.
Only two players have scored a half-century for England in the Women’s Ashes so far with Tammy Beaumont and Nat Sciver-Brunt reaching the mark in the third ODI.
The visitors have nine individual scores of 30+ in the Ashes so far but with just the two half centuries it’s evident that England needs to kick on and convert their starts into bigger scores if they want to trouble Australia.
Australia’s strength is in their depth.
England’s bowlers have started their matches well often taking the top-order wickets cheaply, removing Alyssa Healy, Phoebe Litchfield and all-time great, Ellyse Perry who has the most Women’s Ashes runs and wickets in history.
Vital runs from Beth Mooney, Ash Gardener and Tahlia McGrath have highlighted Australia’s depth in the middle order and that breaking them down is a taller task than just removing the top three cheaply.
The visitors need to take their chances in the field.
You’ve heard it before that catches win matches and taking their chances would have given England a fighting chance in the Women’s Ashes opener.
England have made good starts in the series with bat and ball and looked to be ahead in the game at points however lapses of concentration and mistakes will need to be filtered out if they want to gather some momentum before the series finale back in Melbourne.
England must approach the T20 series on the front foot.
England holds two of the top five T20 bowlers in the world in their ranks and if Sophie Ecclestone and Sarah Glenn can get the ball ripping they have the chance to pin the Australian side back.
The away side won the T20 series 2-1 in 2023 and will likely feel that the shorter format is their best chance of success against the Australians.
Despite being 6-0 behind, England have a chance to get on a roll at the Sydney Cricket Ground and will be on the hunt for all six available points – they’ll go out all guns blazing.
People can’t get enough of the Women’s Ashes!
The opener at the North Sydney Oval was a sell-out with families and cricket fans alike enjoying the spectacle and sunshine while creating a jubilant cricket atmosphere just over the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
Near sellouts in Melbourne and Hobart followed with more record numbers expected in the T20 series.
The Women’s Ashes finale will unfold at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, a stage that holds 100,000 people will play host to a day/night Test. Could we see the record attendance for a women’s Test match broken?
READ MORE: The 7 highest run-scorers in Women’s Ashes history – who tops the list?
The post Five things we learnt from Australia’s 3-0 sweep in the Women’s Ashes ODI series appeared first on Cricket365.
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