England fall to four-wicket defeat as Australia draw first blood in Women’s Ashes
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Alyssa Healy’s stated ambition on the eve of this Women’s Ashes was to “throw the first punch”. Mission very much accomplished. England limped away from North Sydney on Sunday evening with a bloody nose, whimpering to 204 all out in 43.1 overs – a total that despite their best efforts proved impossible to defend.
![[Sophie Ecclestone drops Ash Gardner at North Sydney Oval.]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/01e457e3041ed815d800e2368f7ee05a3fe59f33/0_0_3000_2000/master/3000.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
England undoubtedly missed the parsimonious bowling of Kate Cross, whose back injury continues to plague her; her fitness for the remainder of the series remains in doubt. But the real blame lay with the England batters, who played in classic “Jonball” fashion (the aggressive style to which coach Jon Lewis lends his name), lacking the patience required to see off Australia’s world-class attack. The hosts’ eventual margin of victory was just four wickets. Imagine what alternative outcome we might now be contemplating had England scored even 30 more runs.
Heather Knight and Danni Wyatt-Hodge tried their best, with scores of 39 and 38 respectively, but picked out fielders in the deep before turning their starts into anything substantial. So did England’s Great Ashes Hope Nat Sciver-Brunt, who mindlessly holed out to deep midwicket for 19, handing Ash Gardner a second wicket in as many overs. Alice Capsey smacked one straight to point; Amy Jones batted beautifully for 29 balls and then drove one back to Alana King as if she’d only just arrived at the crease. Stop me if you’ve heard this one before.
