[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

Terrific performance from the women's side to beat West Indies today and reach the semis of the T20 World Cup in Australia.

[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

England's semi-final abandoned due to a storm that was forecast a week ago, with no reserve day allocated to play it. India advance to the final on superior group placing, England eliminated without a ball being bowled. What a ridiculous state of affairs in a major ICC tournament.

[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

June

Thursday 22nd - 1st Test vs Australia, Trent Bridge (Australia win by 89 runs)


July

Saturday 1st - 1st T20I vs Australia, Edgbaston (Australia win by 4 wickets)
Wednesday 5th - 2nd T20I vs Australia, The Oval (England win by 3 runs)
Saturday 8th - 3rd T20I vs Australia, Lord's (England win by 5 wickets - D/L)
Wednesday 12th - 1st ODI vs Australia, Bristol (England win by 2 wickets)
Sunday 16th - 2nd ODI vs Australia, Southampton (Australia win by 3 runs)
Tuesday 18th - 3rd ODI vs Australia, Taunton (England win by 69 runs - D/L)

[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

Can't believe I last updated this thread pre-Covid, the ladies have played some brilliant matches since then. The Test in the 2021-22 Ashes down under was a classic, Australia making an aggressive declaration that nearly backfired on them as England steamed in on the target, only to collapse in the last half-hour and cling on for a draw; the 2022 World Cup was also a memorable one, England losing their first three matches in the group stage only to roar back and win the remaining four, including a final-wicket squeaker of a chase versus New Zealand. Katherine Sciver-Brunt has bowed out, but young Alice Capsey is already being touted as a future captain, and the growth of professionalism promises a conveyor belt of talent coming up in Capsey's wake.

In the here and now, third day of this Ashes Test, Tammy Beaumont scores a first English female double-century in the process of setting a new record Test score for an Englishwoman, her 208 surpassing the 189 scored by Betty Snowball in 1935. Alas, the bowlers spent the evening dishing up pies for the Aussies, and they close almost a hundred ahead with two days remaining. I understand the pull of Trent Bridge as a venue, but it was always liable to be a flat deck there, and I'm not sure that helps England's cause in this one.

[Lord Snooty]

Betty Snowball. She held that record since 1935. The best cricketer ever to come from Burnley.

[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

Highs and lows on the fourth day, two phenomenal bursts with the ball from Lauren Filer and Sophie Ecclestone (claiming 10 wickets in the match, the first to do so in this fixture since Lucy Pearson in 2003, and the fourth-best match figures of all time for an England bowler) skittling Australia and setting a steep target of 268 to win, but despite a solid start with the bat, an evening collapse has pretty much pulled the rug out from under England's chase. There were a couple of desperately unlucky LBW decisions, the finger getting raised on visibly marginal calls that most umpires would be reluctant to give, but 116-5 at stumps is the result.

Nothing much to lose by going for it tomorrow, the forecast's good and they're not going to block out the day with just five wickets. Danni Wyatt and Sophie Ecclestone can both swing the bat, and they might just give Australia something to think about.

[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

Fantastic comeback week in both Ashes, the ladies reducing the deficit to 6-4 with back-to-back T20 wins - Australia's first series defeat since 2017 - just as the men gain a foothold at Headingley. Alice Capsey's looked a bit ropey to me in internationals since the Commonwealth Games last summer, but she roared back into form on Saturday night, and the bowling was strong too. Catching at the death left a bit to be desired, and there was an alarming wobble at the back end of the chase, but the Aussies aren't looking as invincible as they used to.

[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

A nailbiter with a happy ending down at Nevil Road as England complete their largest-ever ODI chase of 264, despite a middle-order collapse, to level the series 6-6. Going into this match Australia had won 41 of their last 42 ODIs, and they looked shellshocked by the end. England still need to win one and remain unbeaten in the other (a tie or abandonment would suffice) to regain the Ashes, and it remains a massive ask, but they've got all the momentum right now.

[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

Last-ball thriller on the south coast, but sadly a bridge too far for England as Australia cling on to win by 3 runs and retain the Ashes. Nat Sciver-Brunt played an innings worthy of Nelson for her 111 not out, but couldn't quite find the boundary off the last couple of deliveries; some crucial drops in the first innings and an abysmal final over when Georgia Wareham tonked Lauren Bell around the park for 26 made all the difference in the end. A titanic effort from the lasses though, and dead rubber or not, it would be nice to see them hit back and tie the series in Taunton.

[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

Absolutely steamrollered the Aussie chase in Taunton this evening after a rain delay and another NSB century. An ODI series win (the first Australia have lost in a decade) to add to the T20 series win, and with England claiming four victories to Australia's three across the course of the Ashes, there's inevitable chatter now about whether the points system is truly fair. As this series demonstrated, a Test win for the current champions effectively means the challengers must win five of the six white-ball games to take the trophy; a huge amount of weight to put on the format which, though undoubtedly the most skilful and traditional, is also the one least played by women, and offers only one chance (bearing in mind the fickle vagaries of the toss, the pitch and the weather conditions) to get it right. Would 3 points for a Test win be enough, perhaps with a bonus point for an innings victory? Could future series feature more than one Test to remove or mitigate the all-or-nothing element?

Either way, it's been a fantastic month for the game and a moral victory for the England ladies.