After the disastrous men’s Ashes series, England fans are hoping for a better performance from their women’s side. To be fair there’s not a great deal to beat, some decent batting and reasonable bowling would do the job. Above all, England must start this series strongly and not be playing catch-up.
Australia are the current holders of the Women’s Ashes and have home advantage. The series is very different from that played by their male counterparts. It begins on January 20 as the first of three T20 matches are played in Adelaide. They were due to be played later in the series, so no first-class matches will be played before the one test match that’s being played in Canberra.
That four-day game is then followed by three one-day internationals. It seems limited overs cricket continues to be more important than test matches. The first is a day/night affair in Canberra and then two final one-day internationals in Melbourne.
The test match is worth four points to the winner, the limited over games see the victors receiving two points. It’s an interesting format and one that if adopted in the men’s game might give England’s team more chance of winning.
An exciting series looks on the cards. Betting on the games will see plenty of markets available. It is important you register with the best online bookmakers. The betting sites that are listed SportyTrader are ones that we recommend you joining.
One problem the men’s team had was the amount of preparation prior to the Ashes series. It’s not been an easy time for captain Heather Knight and her squad. There have of course been problems caused by Covid-19. The whole series was brought forward by a week as the two sides will need to quarantine for 10 days before travelling to New Zealand for the World Cup.
Such have been the precautions that need to be taken, players families have been helping the squad practice. “It’s pretty comical,” said Knight but more seriously she added that it’s “not ideal preparation for a series of this magnitude.”
England haven’t won an Ashes series since 2013/14. Heather Knight is only too aware how difficult it will be to win the series. Her view is that England will have to “fight fire with fire” to win the series. Knight believes England are good enough to come home with the Ashes but to do so, they’ll have to “play to their full potential.”
It’s not going to be easy right from the start as Australia are the T20 world champions. England are the one-day international (50 overs a side) world champions. They’d won 26 matches in a row before losing to India last year.
However, the Ashes might be out of their reach before those matches are played. If Australia were to win two of the T20s, then success in the test match would see them retaining the Ashes. England just must get off to a strong start if they want the Ashes back, then the bid to regain the Ashes might just become a winning one.
Loves all things female cricket
