Australian stalwart, Lanning’s void continues to balloon as the Southern Stars have struggled of late on Britain’s turf. The Australian skipper has gone to curate one of the best batting columns the women’s circuit has ever seen. With unreal numbers of 4602 runs in ODI’s at a mind-boggling average of 53.5 and 3405 runs in T20I’s at an average of 36.6 the standards have skyrocketed.
But this time around, Australia are battling out the Ashes without their X-factor. The 31-year-old who was ruled out of the month-long series had left the team dynamics helter-skelter. Although, team Australia started off their campaign unscathed by claiming the one-off Ashes test and the first T20I. Until then their ship was afloat, after which England skittled back into the competition with back-to-back T20I wins to win the T20 part of the bilateral.
“She’s one of the best players in the world and she’s been in our cycle a long time, so we were definitely going to miss her,” Nitschke said of Lanning. He further added saying “I still felt like we still haven‘t played our best cricket. It’s a tight turnaround now to the ODIs, but we’re still staying alive in the Ashes series, which is what we’ve come here to win’’.
The absence of Meg Lanning is felt, confirms Coach Shelley Nitschke 🥹#CricketTwitter #Ashes2023 📸: Getty pic.twitter.com/Qh8Z5EZufp
— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) July 10, 2023
The Aussies have admitted that England has played some good cricket and have ignited the contest again. While they are now playing the catch-up game, England will look to topple the tables and enforce a complete shift in momentum heading into the final leg of the Ashes.
The Alyssa Healy-led side still looks formidable, who went unchanged through the entire T20I series. Coming into the ODI bit, a considerate amount of mix and match in the team composition is expected. The world cup winners hold the record for winning 15 straight ODIs, which will surely boost the morale in their changing room.
The ODI series is set to begin on the 12th of July when the first game will be played out in Gloucestershire Cricket Stadium. The stage is set, as one team sets out to retain the Ashes, the other will look to play out their skins and end a 4-year-long drought.