England moved a step closer to regaining the Ashes on Wednesday in a nerve-shredding two-wicket win at Bristol, brought up with 11 balls to spare.
Heather Knight somehow shepherded her team across the line in their chase of 264, hitting the winning boundary through cover-point and finishing unbeaten on 75, after England had stuttered nervously to 235 for eight.
The home team now sit level with Australia at six points each, and still need to come out on top in the remaining two one-day internationals to secure the series, though this result – which broke an ODI winning sequence for Australia dating back to September 2021 – puts that goal tantalisingly within reach.
“Going into this, we were the underdogs,” Alice Capsey said. “To get over the line, especially in pressure moments like that where previously maybe we would have crumbled a bit, we really held strong. It’s been brilliant to fight back and put pressure on the Aussies.”
England had begun their chase with a flurry of boundaries from Tammy Beaumont and Capsey, reaching 84 in the opening 10 overs – their highest powerplay total. Darcie Brown and Ellyse Perry both sent down nine-ball overs up top (a no-ball and two wides apiece), as Australia gave away 19 extras in the powerplay alone, while their boundary riding was distinctly half hearted.
“We’ve probably left our best cricket on the sideline at the moment,” Beth Mooney said after the match. “We know we’ve let ourselves down.”
Beaumont struck the ball so cleanly that she made the decision to omit her from the Twenty20 squad look laughable, while Capsey followed up her audacious 46 at Lord’s on Saturday by taking 16 runs off Perry’s fourth over. Megan Schutt, demoted from opening the bowling in what is proving a difficult series for the 30-year-old, did not escape from the onslaught, smashed over long-on by Capsey for six.
But the belated introduction of spin led to a double breakthrough – Beaumont pulling Georgia Wareham to midwicket for 47, before Capsey sent the ball down the throat of long‑on three overs later, 10 runs short of a half-century.
England were already so far ahead that all they needed from there was game management, typified by the slow, studious 42-run partnership between Knight and Nat Sciver‑Brunt for the fourth wicket, during which Knight crawled along at a strike rate of under 50.
But after Sciver-Brunt reverse swept Jess Jonassen into the hands of short third for 31, England’s middle order imploded, sinking them from 163 for three to 207 for six.
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Ash Gardner (three for 42) then had Sophie Ecclestone and Sarah Glenn caught in successive overs, and teetering on the brink. In the end, it required a partnership of 32 in 28 balls for the ninth wicket between Knight and the No 10 Kate Cross – who pulled and drove back-to-back boundaries against Jonassen, before bravely ramping Schutt for another four – to see England home.
Earlier, Australia had reached 263 for eight after Mooney’s unbeaten 81 was supported by bits‑and‑pieces contributions from Perry (41), Phoebe Litchfield (34) and Jonassen (30). Capsey’s first outing with the ball in ODIs was key in helping to restrict Australia’s scoring in the middle overs, as England leant heavily on spin. Capsey has sent down a mere eight overs in her 18-match T20 career, yet on Wednesday she was unexpectedly entrusted with a nine-over spell, during which she snuck one past the bat of Tahlia McGrath and cost just 37 runs. Her new bionic shoulder (reconstructed after she broke her collarbone in the Caribbean last year) appears to be working just fine.
England’s fielding provided a masterclass in dropping easy catches and hanging on to difficult ones: McGrath, Perry, Mooney and Jonassen were all provided with early let‑offs, accompanied by loud groans from the crowd; but Ecclestone saw off Litchfield in the 13th over by plucking the ball out of the air at mid-off, dropping to the ground in disbelief when she realised it had stuck. Sciver-Brunt, meanwhile, ran backwards from midwicket and flung out her arms to somehow snaffle Gardner’s attempted pull.
The magic inswinger from Lauren Bell two balls later put Australia at 185 for six in the 37th and needing a big finish, but though Mooney and Jonassen ensured 67 runs were hit off the final 10, it proved not quite big enough.
