Australian Women Make History with ODI Series Victory

Shilpa Rajan January 18, 2025

Australian women have started the women’s Ashes with an ODI series win. Alyssa Healy and her team are on a 2-0 lead following their win in the second ODI. This was a low-scoring contest that saw the bowlers come on top of the batsmen.

Australian women: Decent start

England women won the toss and elected to bowl. The Aussie batters made a decent start and had 43 runs on the board before Healy was sent to the pavilion. She made a quickfire 29 of 19 balls. Ellyse Perry joined Phoebe Litchfield in the middle. Both players created a 49-run stand. Sophie Ecclestone took Litchfield’s wicket and Australia were 92 for two in 17.2 overs. The experienced Beth Mooney joined Perry in the middle. They tried to build a partnership and added 39 runs to the team. Mooney was the third player to get dismissed. Australia was 131-3 in 23.5 overs.

Ecclestone & Co. restrict Aussie batters

Australian women were going at a decent pace and had some batters in store. However, the pitch was not easy to bat. They needed to settle first. English bowlers didn’t allow them to score easily. Mooney’s departure was followed by four more wickets for just 22 runs.

Sophie Ecclestone already had two wickets in her bag. She took out both lefties by trapping them in front of the stumps. Alice Capsey joined the party in the middle overs. She took Sutherland’s wicket and followed it with Perry’s dismissal. Ashleigh Gardener was Capsey’s third and final wicket of the night. Tahlia McGrath also failed to score and was dismissed on one run.

Australia lost the last seven wickets for just 49 runs. Ecclestone took four wickets on the night. Lauren Bell added two and Lauren Filer added one more. The home team just managed to add 180 runs to the team total.

Early blows for the visitors

Kim Garth was all over the English batters. She broke the opening stand in her first over. Tammy Beaumont had added just three runs before losing her wicket. Soon, Garth took her second of the night and England was 27 for two in 5.2 overs.

Heather Knight and Nat Sciver-Brunt added 41 runs for the third wicket. Ashleigh Gardner got the English captain on 18 runs. Danni Wyatt-Hodge was unable to add any runs to the team’s total. Sciver-Brunt also lost her wicket and left her side in a spot of bother. England were 84 for five in 22.2 overs.

Alana King was clever with her variations and ended the night with four wickets. Kim Garth added one more wicket to her two early dismissals. Amy Jones tried to score some runs but wickets were falling at the other end.

England were restricted to just 159 runs in 48.1 overs. This was a statement win for the Australian women. They were dominant with the bat and the ball in both games. England will be eyeing to win the next match and build some momentum for the remaining series.