When you're feeling down, circumstances may conspire to knock you out. In the first four games of the Women's Ashes, England had no one to blame but Australia being better than them. Poor total in the first ODI, chasing even smaller batsmen in the second ODI, then conceding huge runs in the third ODI and losing the chase in the first T20 opportunity. England could have shaken their fists to the sky as they chased another high total in the second T20, only to lose on rain calculations when they were hauled off with five balls remaining. Contest.
Realistically, England are unlikely to take 18 runs from the last five games to reach 186. Annabel Sutherland was bowling and Heather Knight had just bowled her for four, taking Knight's own tally from 19 to 43. Was banned from the attack earlier in the tour because two high full pitches were considered illegal. A six, a four-ball drop, a set of five-balls: there are a lot of things that can add pressure in the space of a ball.
So when the umpire ordered Knight to leave the field, verbally protest and throw away the bat, she had every reason to be visibly frustrated. It was raining heavily but then no one else could play on the pitch and of course the bowlers could hold on to a wet ball for a minute. Safety concerns will be raised by the authorities, but to pretend that a player cannot safely complete a few deliveries to complete an international match is an exaggeration.
Given that previous delays had consumed all extra-time and Australia were ahead in Duckworth Lewis-Stern's calculation, setting off also meant deciding the game. In the same over, Australia were punished with a fielding restriction for attacking too slowly. The home side must therefore avoid the risk of losing the game in the final five goals and avoid the consequences of a penalty that could have given Knight a better chance of going home.
It means England are yet to win a match on the tour and they won't be able to take off the fig leaf in a belated series as they did in 2023. and four tested. Australia already has ten. England's result cannot be entirely blamed on the rain as some of the catches their fielders ran in from deep were simple. Annabel Sutherland and Tahlia McGrath Rebuilding the previous one was particularly expensive.
The repairs have laid the foundation and for Australia there is always someone ready to step up. Any other team in the world would have left Grace Harris open as a regular six-batsman with centuries in the Big Bash. Australia beat her at seven because screw you, that's why. In what looks like a fulfilling T20 career, she has played 50 international matches today, but in 16 of them she has watched but not batted. She faced fewer than 10 balls 21 times and more than 20 balls only five times. A devastating hit rate of 157 makes her almost impossible to hit.
This match was not one of them: Harris needed just 17 balls to get England's spinners to hit three sixes before breaking through cover and scooping out four more. McGrath looked wooden and stiff at the start of the series but found her groove and aggressiveness in her final three games. Taking four boundaries from Sophie Ecclestone was a feat, even late in the innings, aided by horrendous fielding.
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Beyond them were the usual suspects: Beth Mooney opened with a blistering 44 and Megan Schutt opened with four in the first round. It was a crucial denial in the chase as Danny Wyatt-Hodge and Sophia Dunkley then started scoring profusely. Finally, Schutte hit them both in the 13th over, denying Wyatt Hodge the space to go over cover and hit Dunkley on top of the stumps.
That was a turning point, and the next Sutherland only cost three dollars. Knight was able to do his part in the recovery process, while Nat Seaver-Brent was not. As it stands, England can refer to luck, to chance, to injustice. Australia are still a team that defies luck; a team that just shows up and wins.
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