Women'S Ashes

After breaking Betty Snowball’s 88-year record for the highest score by an England woman in going past 189, Beaumont became her nation’s first double centurion and just the eighth female overall in Tests.

Her epic knock – which helped England to 463 and a 10-run deficit before Australia got their noses in front by closing on 82 without loss to lead by 92 at Trent Bridge – raised the question as to whether Beaumont can slot back into the T20 side after being dropped ahead of the 2022 Commonwealth Games.

While Beaumont was coy at the suggestion, the England opener, who has featured in 99 T20 internationals, admitted being discarded led to her working hard to seek advancements in her batting.

“It’s certainly not been on my mind in the last three or four days, Test match cricket is very different to T20 cricket – even though the England men try to make it look pretty similar,” she joked.

“How I’ve worked this winter on my game, that probably has had an impact on me trying to find that motivation to get better and improve.

“I’ve worked on trying to not get hit on the front pad so much and get out lbw. That came about from trying to be more aggressive in the T20 game and access midwicket and because of that, I’m defending the ball better.

“In an indirect way, it’s definitely played a part but it’s also reminded me that I’ve got a lot of cricket left that I want to play for England. Whether that’s in T20 cricket or not, who knows?”

Beaumont, who batted for more than eight hours across two days and struck 27 fours, revealed she was unaware she had eclipsed Snowball’s innings against New Zealand in Christchurch in February 1935.

“No, not at all,” she said. “I think when I hit the ball, it was announced and Sophie Ecclestone was desperate to give me a hug. But I was like ‘no, no, the job’s not done here’, so I just sent her away.

“I guess I was in the zone and I wasn’t thinking about records. I’d been really calm and tried to not show any emotion for two days but when I hit that run (to get to 200), it all came out.

“If you’re going to score 200 for England, you might as well celebrate it properly.”

England’s seamers were leggy and wayward at the outset of Australia’s second innings, with Beth Mooney and Phoebe Litchfield putting on a 50-stand in just 55 balls as boundaries proved easy to come by.

With an enviable pool of batting talent to come – Annabel Sutherland scored a century from number eight first time around – Australia are already flying in a Test that is effectively a one-innings shootout.

Beaumont, though, feels England will be seeking to disrupt their progress on what remains a flat pitch at the start of the penultimate day.

“We’ve got to come out fighting and knock a few over,” she said. “Whoever comes out and seizes the moment in the morning and early afternoon session will be the one in charge.”

One prospect is Australia trying to bat England out of the game then declare ahead of or early into day five but Beaumont insisted that scenario would not be followed by the hosts just going for a draw, with captain Heather Knight and head coach Jon Lewis having emphasised an attacking approach this summer.

“It’s still a good track to bat on,” she said. “There are plenty of runs out there to get and we want to push ourselves and we want to try and get a result, no one came here for a draw.

“If they set us a target I have a feeling we’ll be giving it a good old crack.”

Off-spinner Ashleigh Gardner, who was the pick of the Australia bowling attack with four for 99, was adamant the tourists do not have a total in mind before declaring.

“I would certainly say there’s probably going to be a result and that’s what we’re going to be pushing for,” she said. “But I don’t think there’s a real target in mind that we’ve spoken about as a group.”

Beaumont advanced her overnight 100 to 144 not out as England went to lunch on 308 for three to trail by 165, although Sciver-Brunt was unable to join her team-mate into three figures as she nicked off.

However, the pair’s stand was worth 137 in just 187 balls as Australia struggled to make inroads on a flat pitch despite rotating their options – having used eight bowlers in this England innings.

They resolutely stuck with seam for more than the first hour of the day before off-spinner Ashleigh Gardner made Australia’s sole breakthrough of the session after drawing a mistake from Sciver-Brunt.

She might have been dismissed without adding to her overnight 41 after missing a flick and being rapped on the front pad by Darcie Brown but England’s star all-rounder reviewed the lbw decision and was vindicated as Hawk-Eye showed the ball would have gone on to drift past leg stump.

It was a chancy start from Sciver-Brunt, who also edged Kim Garth just out of the reach of the slips on 42 after England had added just one run to their overnight 218 for two in the first three overs.

In the next over, Beaumont settled by driving, steering then pulling Brown for three fours in an over while Sciver-Brunt was soon into her stride with three successive fours off Annabel Sutherland.

Beaumont and Sciver-Brunt were rarely troubled by Australia’s seamers so it was a surprise the tourists waited 75 minutes to turn to spin – and their folly was exposed as Gardner struck with her ninth ball.

Backing away for an attempted cut, Sciver-Brunt, who showed no sign of a minor knee injury which restricted her to bowling just fiver overs in Australia’s innings, got a thick edge to a flatter delivery and Alyssa Healy held on.

Seamer Tahlia McGrath offered some control with her tight lines, conceding just 13 runs in seven overs, while in the over before lunch leg-spinner Alana King found prodigious turn with one delivery, which may offer Australia some cheer heading into the next session.

Here, the PA news agency assesses some of the burning issues ahead of the curtain-raising one-off Test at Trent Bridge.

The greatest show

Heather Knight recently harked back to making her England debut in Mumbai in 2010 “in front of one man and his dog” and, as a student, having to explain to her tutor why she would be absent for a month. Thankfully those days are over. The England captain was given equal billing alongside men’s counterpart Ben Stokes on a Tower Bridge projection earlier this month and ticket sales for the ‘WAshes’ sit at a combined 80,000 for the seven matches. Even if there is still just a solitary Test, it will span five days in a break from the traditional four-day affair – giving both teams a chance to claim a first Ashes win in whites since 2015. Barriers continue to be breached for Knight’s side as they will also play T20s at Edgbaston, the Kia Oval and Lord’s for the first time.

Lanning absence evens the odds?

Australia are the double world champions and have held the urn for the last eight years, beating England on their own patch twice in that time. But Rachael Haynes retired last year and totemic captain Meg Lanning withdrew from the tour due to medical issues. Are Australia more vulnerable now? Unquestionably. Lanning is an exceptional captain and batter who was in red-hot form. But her temporary successor Alyssa Healy is also a quality player, as are Ellyse Perry, Tahlia McGrath, Beth Mooney, Ashleigh Gardner and Jess Jonassen. Australia are therefore red-hot favourites to continue their stranglehold over England.

Spotlight on England’s bowlers

While Australia brought over a couple of unproven talents, England also have a few inexperienced players in their line-up. Katherine Sciver-Brunt may have had a peripheral role given her scaling back of commitments but the seamer’s retirement robs England of some wisdom. Kate Cross is likely to lead the attack after insisting this week she is fit and ready following a battle with a parasitic illness that has cut into her playing time domestically. The uncapped Lauren Filer might be the ace in the hole, though, after being named in the Test XI with Knight telling the PA news agency: “She’s raw but she bowls wicket-taking deliveries, which is why we’ve picked her because we want to take 20 wickets.”

‘Jonball’ faces its acid test

Since succeeding Lisa Keightley as England head coach late last year, Jon Lewis has attempted to instil a more attacking mindset into his charges. Lewis has taken his cues from working briefly as a bowling coach for the England men’s side in the early stages of the Brendon McCullum-Ben Stokes axis last summer, sensing this is the best way to break Australia’s grip on women’s cricket. ‘Jonball’ – the term coined by star all-rounder Nat Sciver-Brunt – has had modest returns so far with a semi-final exit at the 2023 T20 World Cup but England will keep ploughing the same furrow.

Pressure on Heather?

The decision to jettison Charlotte Edwards and promote Knight as England captain a little over seven years ago was controversial at the time. But barely 12 months into the role, Knight justified her ascension by leading England to a seminal World Cup triumph. She remains the natural leader of this England team and her authoritative presence was missed at the sharp end of last year’s Commonwealth Games, a tournament she sat out because of injury. But she has been unable to land a telling blow in the Ashes, with one drawn series and two heavy points defeats. A third this summer might draw scrutiny on her position even if Australia are one of the greatest sides of all time in women’s sport.

The tourists’ Test win meant an overall 8-8 draw on points but against the reigning 50-over and T20 world champions, and a side with a legitimate claim as the world’s most dominant in any sport, Heather Knight’s team acquitted themselves impressively throughout – capped by a 69-run win in Tuesday’s final ODI at Taunton.

Here, the PA news agency looks at Australia’s record in recent years.

One-day internationals

Australia had not lost a bilateral ODI series since 2013, also against England, and went into the Ashes on a run of 15 straight wins in the format and 41 in their last 42 matches dating back to the start of 2018.

Even their one loss in that time came in a dead rubber, India winning the third game of a 2-1 series loss in September 2021 by two wickets with three balls to spare.

England immediately ended that run by taking the ODI series opener at Bristol by two wickets, continuing their unlikely bid to keep the Ashes alive after back-to-back Twenty20 wins. Australia snuffed out that dream with a tense three-run win at the Ageas Bowl before Nat Sciver-Brunt’s second successive century set England up for a thumping DLS victory at Taunton.

Such was Australia’s dominance in recent years, tail-ender Megan Schutt had faced just three balls in her last 30 ODIs. England ensured she matched that at Bristol alone, and again at Taunton.

Twenty20

Over the same period since 2018, Australia’s record in the shortest format read 56 wins, seven losses and two ties ahead of the England series, with seven matches abandoned without a result.

They had won 22 of their previous 23 T20s – and tied the other before losing to India in a super over – ahead of arriving at Edgbaston for the series opener.

Victory there extended the run by one and left England needing to win all five remaining matches to take the Ashes, though the hosts showed the ability to test their all-conquering opposition who needed 19.5 of their 20 overs and a superb Beth Mooney half-century to chase down 154.

England then won thrillers by three runs at the Oval and by five wickets on DLS, with just four balls remaining, on the back of Alice Capsey’s blistering 46 at Lord’s.

Test

Of course, all that English success counted for little after Australia won the one-off Test by 89 runs. Tammy Beaumont’s first-innings double hundred was in vain as Ashleigh Gardner took eight for 66 in the second.

The relative rarity of women’s Test cricket, and still more so over five days, means a comparable record to the white-ball formats is not available but Australia have not lost a Test since 2014, when England won by 61 runs in Perth.

That run extends to only six games, four of them drawn in between beating England at Canterbury in 2015 and Trent Bridge this time around. All bar one of those have been against England – indeed since 1998 Australia have played England in 19 of their 21 Tests and India in the other two.

One of those draws came in the 2021-22 Ashes, a series in marked contrast to this summer’s as Australia won 12-4 – that four-day match accounted for two of England’s points, with the others coming from a pair of T20 washouts in Adelaide.

Knight said after the draw this time around: “We felt like we were really close and had the players to compete with this very good side. Really pleased with how we’ve done, it’s been hugely impressive.”

In both the lone Test at Trent Bridge and the first of three T20s at Edgbaston, England had their moments but it was all-conquering Australia who prevailed in both to establish a 6-0 lead on points.

There is now no more margin for error if England are to win this multi-format series for the first time since 2013/14 – with two T20s and three ODIs still to play against the double world champions.

Heather Knight’s side have not defeated Australia in any format since February 2020 but leg-spinner Glenn is keeping the faith and asserted there is no psychological hurdle for England to clear.

Glenn told the PA news agency: “I feel like we already believe we can beat them. If you look at the T20 the other night, it was so close so I don’t think if we win we’ll go ‘oh wait, we can beat them’.

“We know we can beat them, we’ve got the potential to but we also know they are a top-class side and they’ve been winning for a long time. When you have that momentum, it can be very hard to break.

“The momentum shift can work in crazy ways so we’re still really hopeful. But a win or loss doesn’t define us. It’s about how we play our cricket.

“We were naturally disappointed and coming so close you do have that frustrating ‘what if’ feeling. But it’s still quite a positive camp and we’re just taking it day-by-day and enjoying the journey.”

The message from Knight and head coach Jon Lewis has been to entertain and inspire this summer and was repeated by Glenn, whose two wickets threatened an unlikely England comeback in Birmingham on Saturday.

Australia were cruising on 130 for two in pursuit of 154 but Glenn snared Ashleigh Gardner and the dangerous Grace Harris with her last two deliveries before the match built towards a grandstand finish.

Australia were always in pole position but it was not until the penultimate ball that Georgia Wareham punched spinner Sophie Ecclestone into the covers and scampered a nervy single to get them home.

Glenn added: “The battle is part of the fun. When it doesn’t go your way, it might be a bit less fun but you’ve just got to stick to your guns and not go into your shell.

“Me and Sophie thrive off that, trying to be really positive and take wickets.

“We really put up a fight as well, there were lots of little battles that were so close to going our way. We’re getting that feeling of ‘that was so close’ much more often. The gap is definitely closing.”

The second and third T20s will take place at the Kia Oval and Lord’s respectively and it is hoped there will be a high turnout as there was at Edgbaston – where a lively 19,527 crowd was in attendance.

It came at the end of a bruising week for the sport, with the Independent Commission for Equity in Cricket finding racism, sexism, classism and elitism is entrenched in cricket in England and Wales.

But Glenn can sense the changing attitudes towards women’s cricket as she and her England team-mates spoke to the supporters after Saturday’s T20, signing pictures and taking pictures with them.

She added: “It was so nice to see everyone after and a lot of the discussions were just about how inspired they were. It’s amazing to see the support.

“Those little conversations make the world of difference. I remember when I was younger and I was the one with a hat to be signed, and the odd conversation I had with a cricketer really sticks with you.”