Women’s Ashes: England in good shape ahead of Australia with Lauren Filer’s pace and ‘best in world’ Nat Sciver-Brunt | Cricket News

England’s quest to regain the Women’s Ashes will soon resume.

Not since 2014 have they beaten Australia, with the five series since seeing three wins for the Southern Stars and two draws.

England were annihilated 12-4 on points in 2019 and 2022 but there was a closing of the gap on home turf in 2023. In fact, there was no gap at all, with the teams ending up locked at 8-8.

The tourists won the Test match at Trent Bridge but England then triumphed in four of the six white-ball matches, with two T20 wins and as many ODI victories, leading to a stalemate.

That meant Australia retained the trophy but left England believing they were closing in on getting it back at some point, with their next chance coming away from home in January.

Heather Knight’s side warmed up for the toughest assignment in women’s cricket with a successful tour of South Africa, sweeping the T20 series 3-0, winning the ODI portion 2-1 and then routing the Proteas for just 64 to clinch a resounding victory in the one-off Test.

So here are some things to note ahead of that Ashes bid…

Filer brings the fire

Fast bowler Lauren Filer did not play in the white-ball games against Australia in 2023 but did sizzle on international debut in the Test, taking two wickets in each innings, including Ellyse Perry twice.

When we call Filer a fast bowler we mean it.

She is rapid at well over 70mph and is such a dangerous weapon for England, as South Africa’s batters found out recently when she smashed them on the body and helmet, had them flapping at short balls and detonated their stumps.

With Filer bowling rockets, the hooping in-swing of Lauren Bell, the consistency of Kate Cross (if fit after a back spam) and Nat Sciver-Brunt and the spin threats of Sophie Ecclestone, Charlie Dean and Sarah Glenn, England look to have an attack that can continually test Australia across the three formats.

Knight back in form – but what if she is not there?

Knight has been around for a long time now so a few low scores were not going to unduly worry her, but rounding off the South Africa trip with a Test-match 90 was a nice coda after she only made double figures twice in three innings in the white-ball matches.

There were no lingering effects of the calf injury that forced her to hobble out of England’s tournament-ending T20 World Cup defeat to West Indies in October but coach Jon Lewis would perhaps be wise to think about what he would do should his captain be absent.

As when she was not there for West Indies’ run chase in the World Cup, the wheels came off. England looked rudderless without their leader as five catches were dropped in Dubai.

Lewis, who even came onto the field at drinks to try and restore order, spoke afterwards about players “drifting off” and “looking deflated” as his side slumped to a dispiriting group-stage exit.

He backed vice-captain Sciver-Brunt to do a “really good job” if she had to stand in again, but you can imagine Australia licking their lips if England had to field a team without Knight in it.

Should Beaumont be in Ashes T20 squad?

The chances of Tammy Beaumont disrupting the Danni Wyatt-Hodge-Maia Bouchier opening combo in T20Is look remote after the 3-0 sweep of South Africa, albeit that Bouchier was unable to push on past 35 in that series as Wyatt-Hodge tonked two fifties.

But perhaps she deserves at least a place in the wider squad, after taking on board England’s request for her to bump up her strike-rate in T20s after initially being dropped from that format in 2022. In her five T20I innings since, she has gone at well over a run a ball.

Beaumont, 33, was not included in the T20 party in South Africa but played in a virtual T20 in the series-deciding third ODI after rain and lightning trimmed England’s run chase to 23 overs.

She struck 65 not out from 46 balls, hitting 10 fours and displaying her customary slick footwork that unsettles bowlers, helping England reached a revised target of 152 with four overs to spare.

Sciver-Brunt the best in the world?

As debate rages over which of Joe Root and Harry Brook is the premier men’s Test batter in the world – and New Zealand’s Kane Williamson thinks ‘don’t forget about me’ – England’s Sciver-Brunt has been called the best all-rounder across all formats in the women’s game by team-mate Ecclestone. It is hard to argue.

Her batting, as it so often does, came to the fore in South Africa, with successive T20 half-centuries against the Proteas taking her to three fifties in a row in the format after also passing that milestone against West Indies in the World Cup in the UAE.

She was quiet in the ODI series as two ducks sandwiched a knock of 20 but returned to form in the Test match with a 96-ball century, the fastest ever seen in women’s Test cricket, hitting her first ball down the ground for four and adding 17 further boundaries before she was unluckily run out at the non-striker’s end backing up.

How Sciver-Brunt bats against Australia could go a long way to determining whether England regain The Ashes or not.

She averages over 62 versus the Southern Stars in ODIs and has scored four centuries in her last five 50-over innings against them – two in the 2022 World Cup and two in the 2023 Ashes – although it has been 10 knocks since she last passed 50 against Alyssa Healy’s side in T20 internationals.

A Test ton at the MCG in the series conclusion would also not go amiss, with Sciver-Brunt posting three red-ball half-centuries against Australia in six games but yet to notch three figures.