Aus W, Eng W share Ashes series at 8-8 points , Eng W win ODI series

 

The women's ashes finally ended with Australia retaining the Ashes after the multi format series was drawn at 8-8 points . This series produced many sparkling performance and some real epic excitement.  

The Women's Ashes 2023 in England started with the Test match followed by the 3 match T20I series and then the 3 match ODI series . The 5 day Test carried 4 points for the winner and 2 points each for a draw whereas each T20I and ODI carried 2 points for the winner and 1 point each in case of a match not completed or no result . 

In the test played at Trent Bridge , Australia won the toss and batted first . After a decent start by the openers it was Ellyse Perry (99) and Tahlia McGrath (61) who played sparkling shots to put Australia ahead before few wickets went cheaply . Finally it was Annabel Sutherland who batted at number eight and played an outstanding knock scoring a fabulous hundred.  She was supported by Gardner (40) , King (21) and Garth(22) as she played imperious strokes to reach 137 as Australia piled on a formidable 473 while Ecclestone took 5 wickets . England however replied strongly with Tammy Beaumont scoring  a magnificent double century.  She made 208 with 50s from Knight (57) and Nat Sciver (78) . Later Wyatt (44) batted well as England reached 463 and were only  10 runs behind .

Australia however lost cheap wickets in the second innings after a great start  by Litchfield (46) and Mooney (85) who put on 99 . With Australia in danger of getting bowled out for around 200, skipper Alyssa Healy played a sparkling knock of 50 to pull Australia towards 257 , thus setting 268  for England to win . England openers started well in their chase with a 55 run stand but once the first wicket fell they slumped to 73/4 with both Knight (9) and Sciver (0) getting out cheaply as Gardner started to get purchase from the pitch.  It was difficult for England from that position and despite a fighting 54 from Danny Wyatt ,the lower order failed and England were 178 all out , losing the test by 89 runs with Ash Gardner getting 8/66 in the second innings and 12 for the match to became the player of the match . 

So with 4 points in their kitty  Australia next faced the hosts in 3 match T20I series . Aussies won the first T20I at Birmingham by 4 wickets to take a 6-0 points lead . Dunkley (56) and Jones (40) helped England to get 153/7 but Mooney (61*) led the chase with positive contributions from McGrath (40) and Gardner(31) as Australia won a close game  .

The 2nd T20I was played at the Oval , London and turned out to be a thriller. The english fightback in the series  started from this game .  Danny Wyatt scored a blistering 46 ball 76 to power England to 186/9. Australia chased the score aggressively with Healy (37), Perry (51) , Sutherland (20) & Wareham (19) playing blistering knocks but Australia fell 3 runs short in an epic finish as England got their first 2 points .

The 3rd T20I was played at Lords and Australia posted a subdued 155 on the board with 30s from Perry, Gardner and Mooney . Due to rains England got a DLS target of 119 in 14 overs which they achieved with ease with Capsey smashing 23 ball 46 not out . England now 4-6 on points vs Australia and had also won the T20 series ,the first that Australia lost after several years .

With Australia leading 6-4 on points the 3 match  ODIs started at Bristol and Australia batting first scored 263/8 with Mooney (81*) , Perry (41) , Litchfield (36) , Johansson (30) being main scorers . England replied strongly with Beaumont (47) , Capsey (40) batting well but it was Heather Knight (75*)  who won the epic game for England with Kate Cross (19*) by 2 wickets and England were level 6-6 on points , thus keeping the Ashes alive . 

The 2nd ODI at Southampton was another gripping thriller . Perry (91), Mooney (33) , Gardner (33) , Sutherland (50) made big contributions but it was Wareham's blazing 37 that took Australia to a formidable 282 in 50 overs.  England was helped immensely by Beaumont (60) but it was Nat Sciver Brunt's brilliance that took the hosts very close to a win but at the end they fell agonizingly short by 3 runs with Sciver finishing at 111 not out , a stellar 100 . That narrow thrilling win enabled Australia to take a 8-6 point lead and retain back the Ashes with one game to play . 

Finally England outplayed Australia in the 3rd ODI at Taunton  as Nat Sciver scored another century.  Sciver hit a gorgeous  129 with support from Knight (67) after England were 12/2 at start . Later Wyatt hit a blistering 43 to take England to a formidable 285/9 . Australia lost regular wickets in the chase as rains reduced the target to 269 in 44 overs under DLS method . Perry (53) and McGrath (26) looked dangerous but once they were dismissed,  Australia lost their way despite a blazing 24 ball 41 by Ashley Gardner who was run out to cut short a promising innings . Finally Australia ended at  199 runs to lose convincingly by 69 runs and also lost the ODI series 2-1 , their first time since 2013 . With this win England levelled Australia on points tally 8-8 and the Ashes series is drawn though Australia retain the Ashes by virtue of their last Ashes series  win in 2022 .   In this Ashes series England after trailing by 6-0 points ,won 4 of the last five games to script a glorious comeback in the series that ended on level terms . 

Nat Sciver was the player of the series for ODIs as well as whole Ashes while Wyatt was the player of the T20I series . Ash Gardner was nominated the  Australian player of the series for the  whole Ashes series .

Amongst the individual performances,  Nat Sciver, Sophie Ecclestone,  Tammy Beaumont,  Heather Knight & Danielle Wyatt were the most prolific performers for England in this contest while for Australia,  Elysse Perry, Beth Mooney, Ash Gardner & Annabel Sutherland were the most consistent . Australia definitely missed the services of their regular captain Meg Lanning who could have lend more stability to the top order of Australia batting which struggled due to the poor form of Healy and inexperience of Litchfield. Also the captaincy skills of Lanning was missed at various times. 

This certainly turned out into a great Ashes contest with points ultimately shared which showed that England women have managed to close the gap a great deal on world beaters Australia.  With a great mixture of youth and experienced,  England have outplayed Australia for much of the series in white ball formats .