Australia currently holds both the Men’s and Women’s Ashes after successful campaigns in England in 2019. Tim Paine and his side were able to claim a 2-2 draw to avoid a defeat on the road for the first time since 2001. Meg Lanning and her side were dominant against the Three Lions, claiming a 12-4 victory via the points system. The Baggy Greens won both the ODI and T20I series by 2-1 margins while claiming a draw in the only Test.
Heather Knight and her team have just a bigger mountain to climb than her counterpart in the men’s ranks Joe Root. Australia will be favored to retain the urn in the women’s series. Paine and his team are backed in the cricket betting odds at 8/15 to beat England’s men’s side for the third time in a row in Australia. The Three Lions have seemingly had no answer for the Aussies in their own backyard since their 3-1 triumph in the 2010/11 series. The England women have been more successful than the men of late, but that does mean it will translate into a victory come to the end of the series in early 2022. It will take a special effort for Knight to return home with the urn in hand, although the blueprint is out there and England can take confidence from that fact perhaps more so than their counterparts in the men’s game.
In the 2013/14 campaign, England were on form from the off and defeated the Aussies by 61 runs in the only Test, claiming six valuable points in the process. In their victory on home soil in 2013, England drew the only Test before winning the ODI and T20I series, securing a dominant 12-4 victory. Their win in the Test, courtesy of outstanding bowling performances from Anya Shrubsole and Kate Cross, gave them a massive advantage for the rest of the Ashes. Not even the brilliance of Elyse Perry could swing the match back into the favor of the Aussies.
It was then the turn of Lydia Greenway to fire England to victory in the first ODI, presenting England with another two points. From that point onwards, the Three Lions were in complete command, although brilliance from Perry denied England victory in the ODI series and kept the Ashes alive. Charlotte Edwards ended Australia’s resistance with a top knock in the opening T20I, scoring an unbeaten 92 to win the Ashes for the visitors.
England are going to require a team effort in Australia in the 2021/22 series, as their victory in 2014 proved. Time after time individuals stepped forward when the side needed someone to perform at an elite level to take the game away from the Aussies. Tammy Beaumont, Nat Sciver, and Knight are going to have to have excellent series with the bat. Shrubsole, Cross, Katherine Brunt, and the rising star of Sophie Ecclestone, have either proved it before down under or have outstanding potential in the case of the latter, to put the home side under pressure.
It will not be an easy task, but it will be the only way to overcome Australia’s incredible individual talents led by Perry and Lanning.
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