Outbatted, outfielded, outsmarted, outperformed.
That may be a brutal however absolutely truthful evaluation of England’s torrid Ashes marketing campaign as they grew to become the first aspect to be whitewashed 16-0 because the multi-format sequence was established in 2013.
They arrived in Australia with goals of regaining the trophy however the tour has was a whole nightmare.
For all England’s discuss – weird discuss loads of the time – of the hole between themselves and the most effective ladies’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 preventing again from 6-0 down to attract 8-8 at residence to Australia in 2023 as a result of the Southern Stars have been ruthless in extending their unbeaten run in Ashes sequence 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 happening to win the series-concluding Check match by an innings.
After a defeat of such magnitude, modifications should absolutely be on the way in which for England in some kind. 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 evaluate is performed, selections must be made.
Australia higher however England made loads of errors
Australia away is the most important problem in ladies’s cricket – simply behind Australia anyplace else – and even when England had carried out every thing proper, they could nonetheless have ended up being crushed.
Their opponents are higher than they’re. It is that is easy. However England have carried out a lot incorrect on the sector and arguably off it.
England head coach Jon Lewis says he needs to remain within the function
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 12 months smacks of a aspect unable to take care of criticism, a minimum of in some quarters.
Lewis’ feedback about Australia being superior athletically resulting from their outside way of life and sunnier climate might maintain a component of reality but it surely was an odd factor to say out loud, significantly when he added that was not the rationale England misplaced the sequence.
In truth, it was most likely one in all many causes they misplaced the sequence, with misfields, dropped possibilities and failed boundary saves prevalent, in comparison with the electrical efforts seen from Australia, corresponding to Ash Gardner’s exceptional seize on the rope within the third ODI and Georgia Voll’s leaping take at backward level within the closing T20.
England slumped to defeat within the Ashes Check inside three days
England’s shoddy fielding plumbed new depths on day two of the pink-ball Check match on the iconic MCG as seven largely routine catches went down. It made for painful viewing.
Australia’s supremacy in power and business was additionally displayed by Beth Mooney whereas batting because the indefatigable opener ran 11 twos within the closing T20. Busyness on the crease England haven’t replicated.
They’ve additionally been unable to match Australia’s skill to ship in key moments, a worrying trait that – maybe exacerbated by their gamers not that includes in home cricket usually sufficient – has blighted Knight’s prices in latest Ashes sequence and World Cups.
They have been on the verge of reaching the 2023 T20 World Cup closing however then succumbed to South Africa.
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Highlights from Dubai as England have been eradicated from the Girls’s T20 World Cup after falling to a six-wicket loss by the hands of West Indies amid a number of dropped catches
They then appeared on track for the knockout levels of the 2024 model earlier than wilting in opposition to West Indies, dropping catches and showing rudderless with Knight off the sector injured.
England discovered wanting in Ashes however there may be hope
England had their possibilities within the Girls’s Ashes as properly.
Within the first ODI, they have been 91-2 batting first just for Knight and Nat Sciver-Brunt to gap out at deep midwicket within the area 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 didn’t 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 Check match with Danni Wyatt-Hodge and Sophia Dunkley out to free strokes after moving 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 in opposition to spin. The vacationers’ enjoying of Australia’s gradual bowlers has been stunning all through, with 40 wickets falling to that fashion of bowling.
All of that has left Lewis in a precarious place. Terrible Ashes sequence, for women and men, hardly ever finish with out a teaching change. Chris Silverwood was given the boot after the lads’s drubbing in 2021/2022, whereas Mark Robinson left his function with England’s ladies after a 12-4 shellacking at residence 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 kind the nucleus of that aspect for the subsequent 5 years a minimum of.
Lauren Bell bowled properly in Australia and provides hope for the long run
The home sport can also be growing 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 endure 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?
Might 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 could possibly 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 – should not 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 12 months’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, might tackle the function 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 in opposition to Eire final September, could also be an out of doors wager after impressing in captaincy roles domestically, together with for Northern Superchargers in The Hundred.
A house T20 World Cup in 2026 is a purpose for Knight to increase her tenure as captain and it might be incorrect to say England’s Ashes defeat was all the way down to the job she did as skipper. There have been far larger components at play.
However one take a look at how Joe Root – one other England stalwart by no means fairly in a position to win an Ashes sequence as chief – has loved his cricket since handing over the captaincy might 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.”
