Heather Knight has urged England to regroup quickly in the Women’s Ashes but took a crumb of comfort from the entertainment served up in a losing cause in the lone Test at Trent Bridge.
The decision to have this series opener across five days as opposed to the traditional four for women’s Tests backfired on England as Australia sealed an 89-run win inside 90 minutes of the final morning.
Australia therefore took a 4-0 points lead in the multi-format series but with only two on offer for wins in three T20s and three ODIs, England need to prevail in five of the six matches to claim the urn.
While Knight spoke forlornly after England slid from an overnight 116 for five to 178 all out chasing 268, she pointed out the ebbs and flows that occurred was a great advert for the women’s Test cricket.
There is some justification to her argument with an official attendance of 23,207 across the Test – with just over 2,000 on the final day after the Nottingham venue threw open their gates free of charge.
“There is certainly disappointment but I’m really proud of how the girls have gone about these five days, it’s been a very entertaining Test match which has been great,” the England captain said.
“The way we’ve gone toe-to-toe with the Australians and really put them under pressure at times, I’ve been really proud of how the girls have done that. I don’t think we’ve taken a backward step.
“The fact that we’ve had five days has led to the great cricket that we’ve had. Lauren (Filer) bowled before lunch (on Sunday) and I just had a little moment to look around at the crowd getting really engaged. At that moment I was like ‘can I bottle this? This is awesome’.
“That’s what we want to do as a team. We want to get people watching Test cricket, we want to get people excited about women’s cricket. That moment made me realise that actually we’ve done our job.”
England have no time to lick their wounds as the T20 series starts at Edgbaston on Saturday, with Knight acknowledging there will be some aching limbs on both sides.
Asked if she thinks England can still win the Ashes, Knight said: “I think we have to, of course. When you look at (having to win five in six) it is tricky mentally, but you have to look at the first game.
“There will certainly be some tired bodies in both changing rooms. I think being able to decompress and let things go is really important. Obviously, we’ve got quite an uphill battle.
“We have to turn things around quite quickly and it can’t be too much of a momentum shifter.
Knight, who alongside head coach Jon Lewis, has attempted to foster a more attacking mindset similar to that adopted by the men’s team under Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum.
But after Tammy Beaumont’s double century had helped England close to within 10 runs of Australia to effectively set up a one-innings shootout, Knight felt her bowlers strained too hard for wickets as Beth Mooney and Phoebe Litchfield put on 82 in 19 overs to get the tourists’ noses in front.
While Australia were restricted to 257 all out, with Sophie Ecclestone claiming another five-wicket haul to finish with 10 in the match, England slipped from 55 without loss to 73 for four in 29 balls on the penultimate evening and the hosts were unable to recover despite a defiant 54 from Danni Wyatt.
“Day three and four – the evening sessions there probably cost us the game,” Knight added. “Maybe we were a little bit too aggressive (with the ball).
“With the new ball you’re looking to take wickets and probably I’ll take a bit of responsibility for that as well – probably been a little bit too aggressive.”
Australia captain Alyssa Healy, who kept wicket despite nursing fractures to her left index and right ring fingers, was delighted with Australia’s first Ashes Test win since 2015 after three draws.
Victory was set up by Ashleigh Gardner’s eight for 66 on a worn pitch, with the off-spinner’s match haul of 12 for 165 the best ever by an Australian in Tests and the second best figures of all-time.
“It’s really satisfying,” she said. “Five-day Test cricket is pretty tough work. I am just really proud of the group.”
IPL: Du Plessis shines as RCB revival continues against Titans
A rapid 64 from captain Faf du Plessis helped Royal Challengers Bengaluru to a third consecutive Indian Premier League win as they again saw off Gujarat Titans.
RCB comfortably defeated the Titans in an away game six days ago and then comprehensively saw off Shubman Gill’s side once more on Saturday, this time at home.
After the Titans were bowled out for 147, RCB raced to a four-wicket victory with 38 balls to spare to move off the bottom of the IPL table, jumping up to seventh after overcoming a brief scare towards the end of their chase.
Mohammed Siraj, Yash Dayal and Vijaykumar Vyshak took two wickets apiece as the Titans struggled batting first, falling to 19-3 midway through the sixth over. They needed Shahrukh Khan (37), Rahul Tewatia (35) and David Miller (30) to post some kind of total, with Tewatia passing 1,000 career IPL runs.
Any faint hopes of halting RCB’s run of form were ended when Du Plessis fired 64 from just 23 balls with 10 fours and three sixes, ably supported by opening partner Virat Kohli (42).
A brief spell of chaos saw RCB fall from 92-0 to 117-6 with Josh Little taking 4-45, but Dinesh Karthik (21 not out) and Swapnil Singh (15no) steadied the ship and finished off the chase.
Data Debrief: Kohli regains Orange Cap
While Du Plessis top scored in this game, another good knock from Kohli, who hit four maximums, saw the India great regain possession of the Orange Cap. With 542 runs in IPL 2024, Kohli has a narrow lead over CSK skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad (509).
Kohli is averaging 67.75 and striking at 148.08, with four fifties and a century to his name from just 11 innings in a memorable campaign.
He has helped RCB recover from being beaten in seven of their first eight games, while the Titans, finalists in each of the last two editions, have now lost four of their last five.
Windies A end Nepal tour with six wicket defeat; top five-match series 3-2
West Indies A concluded their tour of South Asia on a losing note, as they were handed a six-wicket beating by Nepal in the final encounter of a five-match T20 series at the Tribhuvan University International Cricket Ground in Kirtipur, on Saturday.
Despite the loss, the Caribbean side topped the series 3-2, but had very little to celebrate, as they failed to really put together a dominant collective display. Instead, the series win was lined with individual performances, namely from captain Roston Chase, Johnson Charles, Andre Fletcher, Alick Athanaze, as well as stellar efforts from Gudakesh Motie and Obed McCoy with the ball.
It was more of the same in the curtain call contest, where Athanaze’s unbeaten 29-ball 42 and Chase’s 33 off 23 balls, were the highlight of the West Indies A innings, which ended at 172-7, after they opted to take first strike.
Sagar Dhakal (3-17) and Sompal Kami (3-16) did the damage for Nepal with the ball.
In reply, Nepal, courtesy of half-centuries from Aasif Sheikh (51) and Anil Sah (58), easily got to their target with seven balls to spare.
McCoy led West Indies A bowlers with 3-36.
Scores: West Indies A 172-7 (20 overs); Nepal 173-4 (18.5 overs)
After losing opener Kushal Bhurtel (13) to McCoy in the second over, Nepal had very little trouble fending off West Indies A’s bowling attack, as Sheikh and Sah put together a 96-run second wicket stand, which laid the platform for the victory.
Wicketkeeper Sheikh smashed two fours and five sixes in his 35-ball knock, while Sah had four fours and four sixes in his 58 off 45 balls.
Even when that partnership was eventually broken by McCoy, who removed Sheikh in the 14th over, the host remained in firm control, and the win was inevitably wrapped up by Kushal Malla, who struck three fours and three sixes in a brisk unbeaten 18-ball 37.
Earlier, West Indies A lost their top order in the eighth over with just 60 runs on the board, as Johnson Charles (24), Kadeem Alleyne (11) and Mark Deyal (11), all failed to repel the attack of Dhakal’s slow left-arm orthodox spin.
Chase, who struck five boundaries in his 23-ball 33, and Athanaze, who had one four and three maximums, tried to repair the damage with a 40-run fourth wicket stand, before the former fell in the 14th over.
Matthew Forde, with a 12-ball cameo of 23, including three sixes, added some impetus to the innings, but when he fell to Kami, West Indies A lucked out, as the right had medium fast bowler also removed Fabian Allen (three) and Motie (one) in quick succession.
Athanaze and Hayden Walsh (seven) were left not out.
West Indies win fifth T20I by eight wickets to secure 4-1 series victory
The West Indies Women defeated hosts Pakistan by eight wickets in the fifth and final T20 International at the Karachi National Stadium on Friday to complete a 4-1 series victory.
Pakistan, after being put in to bat by the West Indies, had an excellent start to their innings with Ayesha Zafar and Sidra Ameen putting on 38 for the first wicket before Zafar fell in the fifth over for 22.
Ameen and Muneeba Ali then put on a further 46 before the latter fell for 25 in the 13th over.
That same over saw Pakistan reduced to 86-3 when Nida Dar fell for two.
What proceeded that can only be described as a collapse as the hosts then lost their next five wickets for just 35 runs in five overs.
They eventually ended their 20 overs 134-8. Ameen was the final person out for a top score of 48 as Afy Fletcher was excellent with the ball for the Windies with 3-17 from her four overs.
Qiana Joseph also bowled well with 2-26 from four overs.
The successful chase was then anchored by superstar batter Hayley Matthews.
The skipper faced 59 balls and hit 11 fours on her way to a top score of 78 as the West Indies needed just 18.2 overs to reach 136-2.
Shemaine Campbelle provided good support with 33.
Matthews was named player of the series thanks to her 205 runs and seven wickets.
Full scores: Pakistan 134-8 off 20 overs (Sidra Ameen 48, Muneeba Ali 25, Ayesha Zafar 22, Afy Fletcher 3-17, Qiana Joseph 2-26)
West Indies 136-2 off 18.2 overs (Hayley Matthews 78, Shemaine Campbelle 33)
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
