Outbatted, outfielded, outsmarted, outperformed.
That could be a brutal however absolutely truthful evaluation of England’s torrid Ashes marketing campaign as they turned the first aspect to be whitewashed 16-0 for the reason that multi-format collection was established in 2013.
They arrived in Australia with goals of regaining the trophy however the tour has was an entire nightmare.
For all England’s speak – weird speak lots of the time – of the hole between themselves and the very best girls’s workforce on the planet having closed, the large scoreline and the performances they put in all through proved it has widened, not shrunk.
Maybe, as under-fire head coach Jon Lewis mentioned, England “poked the bear” by combating again from 6-0 down to attract 8-8 at house to Australia in 2023 as a result of the Southern Stars have been ruthless in extending their unbeaten run in Ashes collection to 6.
England discovered themselves 6-0 down in 2025, too, however this time there was no rally. Australia adopted a clear sweep within the one-day worldwide leg with one other within the T20 internationals earlier than occurring to win the series-concluding Take a look at match by an innings.
After a defeat of such magnitude, adjustments should absolutely be on the way in which for England in some type. Can Lewis and captain Heather Knight actually proceed? Deep down, have they got the urge for food to?
As soon as the Ashes thumping turns into rather less uncooked and a evaluation is carried out, selections should be made.
Australia higher however England made loads of errors
Australia away is the largest problem in girls’s cricket – simply behind Australia wherever else – and even when England had performed the whole lot proper, they might nonetheless have ended up being overwhelmed.
Their opponents are higher than they’re. It is that is easy. However England have performed a lot fallacious on the sector and arguably off it.
England head coach Jon Lewis says he needs to remain within the position
Phrases from gamers about not being far off Australia have come throughout as delusional at instances, whereas Sophie Ecclestone’s obvious refusal to talk to Alex Hartley for a broadcast interview after the latter questioned England’s health final yr smacks of a aspect unable to take care of criticism, a minimum of in some quarters.
Lewis’ feedback about Australia being superior athletically as a consequence of their outside way of life and sunnier climate might maintain a component of reality however it was an odd factor to say out loud, significantly when he added that was not the explanation England misplaced the collection.
In actual fact, it was most likely one in all many causes they misplaced the collection, with misfields, dropped possibilities and failed boundary saves prevalent, in comparison with the electrical efforts seen from Australia, resembling Ash Gardner’s exceptional seize on the rope within the third ODI and Georgia Voll’s leaping take at backward level within the remaining T20.
England slumped to defeat within the Ashes Take a look at inside three days
England’s shoddy fielding plumbed new depths on day two of the pink-ball Take a look at match on the iconic MCG as seven largely routine catches went down. It made for painful viewing.
Australia’s supremacy in power and trade was additionally displayed by Beth Mooney whereas batting because the indefatigable opener ran 11 twos within the remaining T20. Busyness on the crease England haven’t replicated.
They’ve additionally been unable to match Australia’s capability to ship in key moments, a worrying trait that – maybe exacerbated by their gamers not that includes in home cricket typically sufficient – has blighted Knight’s fees in latest Ashes collection and World Cups.
They had been on the verge of reaching the 2023 T20 World Cup remaining however then succumbed to South Africa.
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Highlights from Dubai as England had been eradicated from the Girls’s T20 World Cup after falling to a six-wicket loss by the hands of West Indies amid a bunch of dropped catches
They then seemed on track for the knockout levels of the 2024 model earlier than wilting towards West Indies, dropping catches and showing rudderless with Knight off the sector injured.
England discovered wanting in Ashes however there’s hope
England had their possibilities within the Girls’s Ashes as nicely.
Within the first ODI, they had been 91-2 batting first just for Knight and Nat Sciver-Brunt to gap out at deep midwicket within the house of two overs. Amy Jones was then caught and bowled after a rebuild to 145-4 with the away aspect ultimately rolled for 204.
Within the second ODI, England performed out too many dot balls and gifted wickets once more, whereas a frazzled Jones did not take a single off the ultimate ball of the forty eighth over with 22 runs required, resulting in No 11 Lauren Bell being dismissed subsequent supply. Sport gone.
England’s cricket smarts haven’t been there. That was evident once more on day one of many Take a look at match with Danni Wyatt-Hodge and Sophia Dunkley out to unfastened strokes after stepping into the 20s, falling to Alana King’s high-quality leg-spin.
England faltered in key moments throughout the Girls’s Ashes
The ultimate T20 was maybe the toughest watch of all, although, as England subsided to 90 all out. The woeful dismissals smacked of a workforce devoid of confidence and concepts towards spin. The vacationers’ taking part in of Australia’s gradual bowlers has been stunning all through, with 40 wickets falling to that type of bowling.
All of that has left Lewis in a precarious place. Terrible Ashes collection, for women and men, not often finish and not using a teaching change. Chris Silverwood was given the boot after the boys’s drubbing in 2021/2022, whereas Mark Robinson left his position with England’s girls after a 12-4 shellacking at house to Australia in 2019.
Lewis needs to proceed – “I haven’t finished the job I came here to do. I feel I am the right guy to do it” – and Robinson thinks he ought to maybe be given the possibility, telling TNT Sports activities: “Sometimes we cheat people of the chance to improve and grow.”
Regardless of this Ashes humbling, the England Girls job stays a lovely one.
Ecclestone, Dunkley, Bell, Freya Kemp, Alice Capsey, Charlie Dean, Sarah Glenn, Ryana MacDonald-Homosexual and Lauren Filer ought to type the nucleus of that aspect for the subsequent 5 years a minimum of.
Lauren Bell bowled nicely in Australia and presents hope for the longer term
The home recreation can be creating and that new construction ought to enhance participant depth. With extra cricketers on full-time contracts pressuring these already within the England XI, it should hopefully take away any ingredient of complacency that will have crept in.
That’s one thing Australia don’t undergo with, such is the bulging expertise pool at their disposal after heavy funding into the set-up.
What subsequent if Lewis and Knight depart?
So if Lewis is just not given the possibility to “finish the job”, then who will?
May Charlotte Edwards be England’s subsequent head coach?
Charlotte Edwards, an Ashes and World Cup winner as England captain, has collected a haul of trophies at home stage: The Hundred with Southern Courageous, Girls’s Premier League with Mumbai Indians, oodles of silverware with the now-defunct Southern Vipers.
Edwards has performed a task within the development of Kemp, Bell, Dean, Dunkley and Maia Bouchier at Vipers and/or Courageous, though she has lately been appointed as head coach of Hampshire Girls so extricating her from that contract might be difficult.
If Edwards is an apparent contender as coach, the choices for captain – ought to Knight stroll away or get the chop from a job she has held since taking on from Edwards in 2016 – will not be overflowing.
Sciver-Brunt is England’s greatest participant however didn’t flourish as captain on the 2022 Commonwealth Video games or in that West Indies abomination eventually yr’s T20 World Cup.
England’s Sophie Ecclestone is a possible captaincy candidate
Ecclestone and Dean are regulars and, nonetheless solely of their mid-20s, may tackle the position for a substantial size of time.
They each have expertise main in The Hundred – Dean at London Spirit when Knight was injured and Ecclestone at Manchester Originals – however it might nonetheless be a leap of religion.
Hollie Armitage, who performed three ODIs and as many T20s towards Eire final September, could also be an out of doors guess after impressing in captaincy roles domestically, together with for Northern Superchargers in The Hundred.
A house T20 World Cup in 2026 is a cause for Knight to increase her tenure as captain and it might be fallacious to say England’s Ashes defeat was all the way down to the job she did as skipper. There have been far greater elements at play.
However one have a look at how Joe Root – one other England stalwart by no means fairly capable of win an Ashes collection as chief – has loved his cricket since handing over the captaincy may tempt Knight into doing the identical.
No matter England do, whether or not coaches and captains stand down or are sacked, the mission assertion, delivered by Knight after the drubbing within the third T20, is obvious.
“We need to learn, be better and remember these moments to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”
