Australia batter Beth Mooney was thrilled after Australia's ODI win against England meant the Women's Ashes had been retained, but now she wants to make sure the series is won outright.
Mooney top-scored with 73 as Australia beat their great rivals by 27 runs in the first one-day international in Canberra to secure an 8-4 lead in the multi-format series.
The hosts gave England a target of 206 to chase, which proved too much for the tourists after 18-year-old Darcie Brown took 4-34 as they were bowled out for 178, confirming the Ashes stay in Australia.
Australia have won seven of their last eight women's ODIs against England, including their last five in a row; the last time they won more in succession against them was a 19-game stretch from December 1997 to August 2005
Speaking after the win, Mooney said: "We came into this series with one job to do: retain the Ashes, and we've done that. We've got another job to do now and win them outright."
Two more ODIs remain in the Ashes series, which take place on Saturday and Monday.
England will have been pleased to restrict Australia to just 205-9 from their 50 overs, with Kate Cross (3-33) and Katherine Brunt (3-40) bowling well.
Mooney's knock was accompanied by notable contributions from Alyssa Healy (27), Tahlia McGrath (29) and captain Meg Lanning (28), who became the 11th player to score 4,000 runs in women's ODIs and the third Australian to do so.
However, England's chase got off to a bad start when Tammy Beaumont was caught at slip for just three off the bowling of Brown, who then trapped England skipper Heather Knight lbw first ball.
Amy Jones (16) somehow hit a full toss from McGrath straight to Ellyse Perry, though Nat Sciver managed a solid 45 before being sensationally caught and bowled by Brown.
Brunt (32 not out) showed some resilience along with Cross (17) for a last wicket partnership of 24, but the match and England's hopes of winning the series came to an end when the latter was caught and bowled by Jess Jonassen.
A disappointed Knight praised the performance of Australia's bowlers after the game but was still determined to continue fighting to salvage a draw.
"We're still in with a chance of drawing the series and that's got to be our focus now," she said. "We didn't get a partnership together... We lost wickets at regular moments and they bowled well. They kept the stumps in the game and that made it hard to score on that wicket."
Manchester rivals suffer three o'clock woe
Manchester City and Manchester United both lost on Saturday, breaking a decade-old wait for the two rivals to fall to a defeat in a 3pm kick-off.
It is rare for both United and City to play in the traditional Saturday slot, but that was the case as Erik ten Hag's side hosted Crystal Palace and Pep Guardiola's Premier League champions headed to Wolves.
Yet neither team will be in a rush to remember this particular afternoon in a hurry, as they both lost in a 3pm Saturday kick-off for the first time since September 28, 2013.
United lost 1-0, with Joachim Andersen's goal making Roy Hodgson the first manager to go unbeaten in five successive Premier League trips to Old Trafford. City, meanwhile, went down 2-1 at Molineux, with Hwang Hee-chan getting the winner for Wolves.
No Rodri, big problems
City lost to Newcastle United in the EFL Cup on Wednesday and, without star midfielder Rodri – who was serving the second of a three-match suspension for the red card he received against Nottingham Forest – they found themselves on the end of a defeat again at Wolves.
Since Rodri made his Premier League debut in August 2019, City have lost five of 15 matches without the Spaniard in the competition (W9 D1); by contrast, they have lost just five of their last 67 league games when Rodri has featured (W53 D9).
Bucks confident of returning to the top after Lillard trade
Damian Lillard will be tasked with helping the Milwaukee Bucks return to the top of the NBA after his trade from the Portland Trail Blazers.
Star guard Lillard signed for the Bucks on Wednesday in a three-way trade – which also included the Phoenix Suns – that saw Jrue Holiday, Deandre Ayton and Toumani Camara on the move too.
Lillard leaves Portland after 11 years with the Trail Blazers. He is a seven-time All-Star and enjoyed a career-best season in 2022-23, averaging 32.2 points and 7.3 assists, though he did sit out the final month of the season due to injury.
Now, the Bucks – the 2021 NBA Champions – will be hoping that Lillard can combine with two-time league MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo to push them towards another title, following a disappointing first-round exit at the hands of the Miami Heat in last season's playoffs.
Fast Fact
Despite missing the last 10 games of the season, Lillard (1,866) was Portland's highest points scorer last term by over 500, with Anfernee Simons next best for the Trail Blazers with 1,306.
Lillard a difference-maker
"His character, competitiveness, talent and experience complement our group and gives us the best chance to win at the very highest level as we create new memories together," Bucks general manager Jon Horst said of Lillard.
So, does Lillard have what it takes to make the difference for the Bucks?
Lillard leaves Portland as a franchise great. He ranks first in team history in points and three-pointers and second in assists. Including the playoffs, he had 17 games with 50+ points for the Blazers. All other players in franchise history have only combined for seven 50-point games. He is a big-game player, and he should help ease the burden on Antetokounmpo.
England’s summer ends in soggy fashion and prompts a call for innovation
Gloucestershire chief executive Will Brown has called for more innovation to combat the elements after England’s summer ended in soggy fashion with an abandoned one-day international against Ireland at Bristol.
Ben Duckett’s maiden century in this format underpinned England’s 280 for four off 31 overs but their innings in the final match of this Metro Bank series was interrupted by brief but torrential rain.
The players walked off the field at 2:48pm but the umpires’ decision to announce there would no further play at 3:21pm caught England captain Zak Crawley and Ireland counterpart Paul Stirling by surprise.
Several puddles formed on the outfield within minutes while the ground staff’s attempts to get the covers on were delayed – by umpires Mike Burns and Paul Reiffel hesitating before ushering the teams off – then hindered by gusts of wind, which meant a significant amount of water got on to the square.
Gloucestershire brought in more ground staff for the game but this was a fourth abandonment in a row in a men’s ODI at this venue, which has more basic protections to guard against the weather in contrast to its Test-hosting equivalents.
While the match extending past 30 overs meant no refunds for the paying public, Brown, who revealed rain the previous night had already left the ground with a high water table, believes more needs to be done to avoid a repeat of this situation at a venue which will host a men’s ODI on September 29, 2024.
“In some respects we were lucky to start when we did on time,” Brown said. “We always had the sense that if we had something similar to (Monday) night, 20-30 minutes of rain could be what killed it off.
“It is just gutting. We’ve had our fair share of rain offs such as in World Cups and you wonder if we give it a bit longer maybe it can dry out, but it is what it is.
“It worries me greatly that this is a sign of things to come. We’ve got a lot of cricket being played in September next year and with climate change we’ve seen heavy rain in June and July.
“I think the game needs to be thinking innovatively about how we get games on or prepare pitches and surfaces using different things to get cricket away.”
England celebrated a 1-0 win but the recriminations at a hasty and unsatisfactory conclusion continued, with the wisdom of holding international matches in the UK in September only increasing.
Just one of the three matches in this series – England prevailing by 48 runs at Trent Bridge on Saturday – reached a conclusion and Crawley confessed he was startled by the swift ending.
“It caught everybody by surprise,” Crawley said. “I was in the lunch room when the (umpires) said it was abandoned, I didn’t know. It caught us all by surprise when they came in to shake our hands.
“The ground was already a bit wet after the rain (the night before). It didn’t need a lot more to get abandoned. A lot of rain fell in not a long space of time. There was nothing anyone could do about it.”
Duckett’s unbeaten 107 from 78 deliveries came after Phil Salt had laid the foundations with an astonishing blitz, thumping seven fours and four sixes in his pyrotechnical 61 off 28 balls.
Crawley also contributed 51 off 42 balls and even though Craig Young was able to stifle England, taking three for 31 from seven impressive overs, Stirling was relieved that Ireland were saved by the weather.
“We were all pretty happy that the rain came but we weren’t expecting it to end the game,” he said.
“We thought we might get a bit of a rest and regroup, try to get out there and change it up a little bit. We weren’t expecting the game to be called off.”
Crawley took charge of a second-string side for this series as England’s World Cup stars are resting ahead of the defence of their crown getting under way in India next week.
“I’ve enjoyed it,” he added. “It was only really the one game I had to do anything but I enjoyed it and it made the fielding go quicker. It was a great honour.”
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
