Australia loses final ODI to England but retains Ashes

Australia only won three matches to England’s four, including a final thrashing, but retained the Ashes without their star skipper.

The aura around Australia‘s one-time all-conquering team has been diminished after a drawn Ashes series that ended with a massive ODI defeat.

Even skipper Alyssa Healy, filling in for absent Meg Lanning for the entire tour, called it a “bit dirty” to retain the Ashes without winning the series as the absence of the talismanic leader stood out.

For the second match in a row, English run machine Nat Sciver-Brunt blasted a century as she guided her team to 9-285, a target reduced for the Australians by rain to 269 but still one the tourists fell well short of.

All out for 199 in just 35 overs, the 69-run loss was the biggest of any of the ODI series, with Australia’s lone victory coming in a last-ball thriller having also lost two of the three T20s.

The multi-format series ended 8-8, Australia’s four-point haul in the opening Test match proving the difference after England dominated both the T20s and ODIs, winning four of the six games.

Australia may still hold the ODI and T20 World Cups, and now the Ashes for a fourth-straight series, but Healy had to concede the landscape of women’s cricket had changed.

“We know that we got it done, even though it feels a bit dirty. But we got the result, so yippie!” she said after the final game at Taunton.

Alyssa Healy and Australian player of the series Ash Gardner. Picture: Steve Bardens/Getty Images

“I have actually never been a believer in the gap. The gap’s not necessarily been. It is no surprise to see the way England have played in this series. They are going to beat any side in the world.

“Sri Lanka are beating New Zealand, Bangladesh are beating India, lots of exciting things happening in the world.”

Australian all-rounder Ash Gardner, named player of the series for her team, suggested the Aussies “didn’t show fight where we needed to” in the face of a serious assault from England’s batters especially.

“Of course we came here to win the Ashes, retaining it is great. We were in positions to win but didn’t show fight where we needed to. Plenty of things to work on,” she said.

“We need to find the fighting spirit which we lacked this series. We need to make sure that we are striding forward and taking the game on.”

Healy conceded the result would demand a “mini re-set” for a team which had won 26 straight ODIs and only lost one T20 in three years before the series.

“We‘ve lost two of our most senior players, top-order bats in particular in the space of 12 months (Rachel Haynes and Meg Lanning) and we’re not sure if and when one of those might be coming back,” she said.

“The positive side is that we‘re giving some experience to some young players that we’ve always (thought would get) the opportunity to play for Australia at some point, but they’re getting the opportunity probably a little sooner than anticipated.

“For us it‘s a great opportunity to reflect and almost have a little mini reset moment of what this group is and what we look like now and what we want to achieve over the next four or five years in particular.”

England players celebrate their ODI series victory. Picture: Steve Bardens/Getty Images

The tour is not yet over for the Australians who will now have to front up for three more ODIs against Ireland.

“It‘s a good opportunity for people to reflect and work on things that they want to,” Healy said.

“I think it‘s a great opportunity for us to go out there and show everyone just how we can play and hopefully the shackles will come off a little bit and we can do that.”

Originally published as Australia loses final ODI to England but retains Ashes