Australia captain Alyssa Healy said before Sunday’s first ODI in North Sydney that she wanted her team to “throw the first punch” of the women’s Ashes – and her bowlers duly obliged, throwing a combination of powerful haymakers that left England stunned before landing an uppercut of her own with a dominant 70 that steered her side home for a four-wicket victory.
Allrounder Ash Gardner was named player of the match after taking three wickets and making 42 with the bat in an outstanding performance in front of her home crowd. Gardner enjoyed some luck, being dropped on 31 by Sophie Ecclestone, but said she had been impressed by her side’s ability to deal with a difficult batting wicket.
Allrounder Ash Gardner was named player of the match after taking three wickets and scoring 42 with the bat.Credit: Getty Images
“We’re really trying to strive for the biggest score we can in ODI cricket, and to be able to chase down 200 in that amount of time on a pretty tricky wicket, we can probably be pretty happy with that,” Gardner said.
“Healy did really well. She got a start, and then kicked on to 70 and then for me, it was just trying to stay out there until the end and not play any silly shots, which I obviously got some luck with. But that’s just the game of cricket sometimes.”
Australia won the toss and put England in to bat on a seam-friendly pitch. Gardner made the most of the conditions, with her dismissal of England’s Lauren Bell the 100th of her career in the ODI format. Gardner was aided by a brilliant supporting cast of Alana King, Kim Garth and Annabel Sutherland, who bagged two wickets each.
England’s batting was poor, with captain Heather Knight holding her side’s innings together with a courageous 39 runs. The North Sydney wicket offered plenty of movement off the seam and the Australian attack took full advantage, changing up their deliveries to keep the visitors guessing and eventually dispatching them for a disappointing total of just 204.
Australia celebrates victory in the first game of the women’s AshesCredit: Getty Images
A key difference between these two sides is depth. While England have world-class talents at their disposal like spin bowler Ecclestone and allrounder Nat Sciver-Brunt, they do not possess the strength across the board that Australia can call upon to suit the changing rhythm of the game.
The sell-out crowd sensed a straightforward run-chase, but the wicket that had caused England so much trouble gave the hosts plenty of headaches of their own. The early wicket of Phoebe Litchfield, who managed just four runs, in the second over gave the tourists a glimmer of hope.
Matters got worse for Australia when they lost Ellyse Perry after just eight overs. The star allrounder had been living dangerously in an uncharacteristically nervy batting performance, surviving a dropped catch from Alice Capsey before perishing lbw to Lauren Bell.
Ultimately, the performances of Gardner and Healy proved the difference between the sides, but a compelling series awaits on the evidence of the opening match. Gardner insists this England team is more than capable of fighting its way back into the series and hopes Australian fans turn up in numbers to follow the team all the way to the MCG for the Test match at the end of January.
“I think that’s what Cricket Australia is really striving for, off the back of what the men were able to do this summer,” Gardner said.
“I guess our success throughout the last five or six years, off the back of the Australian Open, hopefully, people are buzzing for Australian sport by the time that [Test] comes around and – fingers crossed – the Ashes is in the balance with Australia just ahead, and then they can come and watch a really good Test match.”
