England closing the gap but ‘ruthless’ Aussies out for blood

Star bowler Megan Schutt says Australia wants to dominate the rest of the Ashes after two close scrapes with an improving England.

Veteran swing bowler Megan Schutt concedes England has started to bridge the gap between the two Ashes nations but says Australia is striving for an “emphatic” series result.

The world-beating Australians were challenged until the last day in the opening Test match at Trent Bridge before falling over the line in a final-over epic first T20 on Sunday, with Schutt saying the side will be “ruthless” as it looks to crush England’s resistance.

Schutt said the Aussies would push hard to reopen the gap on their rivals despite acknowledging the home side’s significant improvement since they failed to win a match during the 2021-22 series in Australia.

“It was a pretty close game the other day, and I think the Test was a really good ebb and flow of true Test cricket, but this is the true test playing the Ashes – we go across three formats – and we’ll see if they can keep pushing us throughout all three formats really,” she said.

Megan Schutt removed both England openers to claim 2-33 in an impressive T20 return after being overlooked for the series opening Test match. Picture: Gareth Copley / Getty Images

“There’s going to be games when they’re going to get closer than others and that gap is no doubt closing in some games, but at the same time we’re still looking to evolve and play better cricket, so it really doesn’t concern us.”

Schutt said Australia had to capitalise on its strong start and put the series beyond doubt, reflecting on the disappointment of the 2017-18 home Ashes when the Aussies had the upper hand but coughed up the final two T20s to draw the series on points and merely retain the urn.

A win in Thursday morning’s second T20 at The Oval would secure the Ashes, but Schutt said the Aussies wanted to leave a bigger mark from their visit.

“The Test set us in a pretty good position there but we still know we’ve got a lot of work to do,” Schutt said.

Former Ireland cricketer Kim Garth has fought her way into the Australian side, which may have cost Schutt a Test spot, but the veteran was happy to focus on the white-ball portion of the series. Picture: Stu Forster / Getty Images

“We had that series where we retained them and then followed on to lose and ended up technically drawing the series, so that’s something we don’t want to do this time.

“I think that’s a strength of ours, it is something you have to mentally work towards doing … learning how to win is really one thing that’s something we try to be ruthless and try and identify those key moments and be really calm under pressure.”

Schutt said she was “absolutely amped” to be back in the side for the T20 series after she was left out of the Test team, with no qualms over her role in the squad.

“I knew ahead of time I wasn’t going to play in the Test and that was fine, but it was a long time sitting on the bench,” she said.

“(I was) super nervous, I hate watching cricket, it’s not what I’m good at, so coming back out into the rush of T20 cricket was really cool in front of 20-odd thousand out there at Edgbaston.”