Key events
1st over: Australia 1-0 (Healy 1, Litchfield 0) More accurate start for Kate Cross than when she opened the bowling in Bristol. Healy dabs a run behind point but Litchfield isn’t game to play shots against the next five balls, all in the channel across the left-hander.
Players on the ground, we’re set to go.
Teams
No changes for England. Australia drop fast bowler Darcie Brown, who was wayward in Bristol, and bring in Alana King for some more spin. That’s the bowling lineup they needed a few days ago, will it do the job here?
I suspect that Georgia Wareham will float up the order if Australia have wickets in hand in the last ten overs. She’s the purest hitter.
Australia
Alyssa Healy + *
Phoebe Litchfield
Ellyse Perry
Beth Mooney
Tahlia McGrath
Ash Gardner
Annabel Sutherland
Alana King
Jess Jonassen
Georgia Wareham
Megan Schutt
England
Tammy Beaumont
Sophia Dunkley
Alice Capsey
Heather Knight *
Nat Sciver-Brunt
Danni Wyatt
Amy Jones +
Sophie Ecclestone
Sarah Glenn
Kate Cross
Lauren Bell
England win the toss and will bowl
They want to chase again. It worked last time, so why not?
And another important moment in the women’s game, with this ICC announcement during the week.
England’s players are speaking with confidence now.
This was my summing up of the situation, a few seats down from Raf.
And had time to do a match wrap podcast with Melissa Story of TMS.
If you need to revise, here’s Raf Nicholson with the match report from the last dramatic day at Bristol.
Preamble
Geoff Lemon
Here we go again. After Australia won the Test match and the first T20 in this year’s Women’s Ashes series, there was surely no way back for the other team. England weren’t going to beat the world champions for five limited-overs matches in a row to overturn the points deficit.
They won the first of those five. Fine, but not going to win four more, are they?
They won the second. But not three?
Yep, three. Two 20-over matches and one 50-over match, the latter coming with the closest finish as Heather Knight and Kate Cross reached the target in Bristol eight wickets down.
Now, it’s Australia who must win. The equation is simple. Whichever team loses today can no longer win the series, they can only draw it.
And yes, Australia would retain the trophy with a draw, but they would hate that result after holding such a strong early lead.
This is where it really gets interesting. The Australians looked rattled after that third loss in Bristol. Blowing that early advantage is now a real possibility. Will that throw them off, get in their way? Or will the jeopardy concentrate their approach, and see them produce the dominant performance we’ve been expecting?
All to play for today..
