Key events
WICKET! Capsey run-out Brown 3 (England 26-2)
What a brilliant piece of fielding! But so unlucky for Capsey. A full ball is bunted back to Brown who gathers on the follow through, pirouettes and shies at the stumps. Capsey turns round to ground her bat in her crease but her blade bounces up off the hard pitch as she does so. When the ball makes contact with the wickets her bat is in the air so she has to go. Australia well on top here.
5th over: England 26-1 (Dunkley 15, Capsey 3) A change of ends for Brown who has some extra zip and whizzes a bouncer past Dunkley’s helmet. She then goes for the yorker and Dunkley reads her, shifting across her stumps as she ramps to fine leg. It’s only worth one but looked good. Brown goes back of a length to Capsey and keeps her quiet. Now then, is that a run out….?
4th over: England 24-1 (Dunkley 14, Capsey 2) Ash Gardner – fresh from a 12 wicket haul in the one-off Test – is into the attack. She’s on the money immediately as you’d expect. Lovely mix of one tossed up and another pushed through. Four from that set.
3rd over: England 20-1 (Dunkley 12, Capsey 0) Wyatt goes from the final ball. A top over from Schutt who had Healy up to the stumps.
WICKET! Wyatt b Schutt 7 (England 20-1)
Schutt goes cross-seam and Wyatt goes for a booming drive. But it kicks on off the deck and takes the off-stump. Looks a loose shot, and maybe it was, but that’s some lovely areas from the Aussie who gets the breakthrough.
2nd over: England 16-0 (Dunkley 10, Wyatt 6) Darcie Brown from the other end and she bowls Wyatt with her first ball! Rather, she clipped Wyatt’s off-stump but the bail stayed put. A remarkable moment that had the Aussies appealing for a caught behind. Some great shape away and handy pace to the right hander so there’s a slip in place. Wyatt flashes at a wider one and gets four up and over backward point. Some sharp running means they steal another four so that’s eight off that over as well.
Wicketkeeper debate? No that is familiar:
“Is there no other option in the whole of England for the wicket keeper position. Amy Jones is a good keeper but her batting is so hit and miss. She rarely makes a big score yet is assured of the gloves no matter what her form is. There needs to be competition in this England team so that players don’t feel it’s harder to get out of the team than in the team. Especially for all the young players out there.”
Time will tell David H. Time will tell.
1st over: England 8-0 (Dunkley 7, Wyatt 1) There’s no close catchers to start which is perhaps revealing of Australia’s tactics. They’re out to contain the free flowing England run getters. Dunkley gets off the mark with a bunt to mid-on and Wyatt does the same with a scampered single short of backward point. Some swing for Schutt but it’s from the hand so Dunkley can trust her drive and gets two through the covers before finding the boundary with the final ball. Eight from it. Good start for England.
England need to win five of the six white ball games to win the Ashes. Wyatt and Dunkley walk to the middle flanked by flamethrowers. A ring field for Schutt. Here we go!
Five minutes to go. Looks like the men’s game is meandering to the close of play. Tell your mates to park that for the night and come join us here.
Pitch looks good on the telly. Australia have some bowlers with serious wheels. England need a strong start. Big game for the returning Alice Capsey at No 3. She’s such an outrageous talent. If she gets going England could post anything north of 160.
Just been reminded by the Sky feed that this is the venue where Australia claimed gold in the Commonwealth Games last year. They’re also the current holders of the T20 World Cup and the 50 over World Cup. They’re a serious outfit. Certainly a contender for the best cricket side of all time – men or women.
Three changes for Australia from Test side
Grace Harris is one of them. She’s been smoking them in the nets and will also offer some handy overs. Megan Schutt provides genuine pace and Georgia Wareham will give it a tweak.
Australia: Mooney, Healy (c, wk), McGrath, Gardner, Perry, Harris, Sutherland, Wareham, Jonassen, Schutt, Brown.
Gibson makes her debut
What a moment for the 22-year-old. She slots into the lower order of a strong batting unit. Still no Issy Wong though.
England: Dunkley, Wyatt, Capsey, Sciver-Brunt, Knight (c), Jones (wk), Gibson, Ecclestone, Glenn, Davies, Bell
Australia win toss, bowl first
England need to win this one if they have any hope of securing the Ashes. It’s handy batting first here where the average score is 151. Anything north of that should be defendable.
Of course, cricket in England does have a problem with diversity and Heather Knight, the champion captain of the women’s team, has called for a swift recalibration.
Raf Nicholson reports:
And they said cricket in England has a problem with equality?
Really kind of the men’s team to try to be all out in time for the start of the women’s T20. You’ve got about 40 minutes remaining lads 👍
— Raf Nicholson (@RafNicholson) July 1, 2023
Yup….
Word on the street (Cricinfo) is that Gibson will make her debut.
Tanya Aldred was on hand to hear from coach Jon Lewis who had some complimentary words for the 22-year-old:
We should get a sight of Issy Wong steaming in. She missed out on the Test in place of Lauren Flier, who will take a breather today. Dannielle Gibson could feature after being called up to the T20 squad for England. The double-centurion, Tammy Beaumont, isn’t part of the group.
Oh, before I forget, you can email me or drop me a line on Twitter. But apparently Twitter is a mess today. Anyone else get the ‘Rate limit exceeded’ message? What’s up with that? Tell you what. Anyone manage to make a cricket joke connecting to the two (over rates, I dunno), wins a prize.
Preamble
Daniel Gallan
Howdy cricket folk and welcome to the second match of this multi-format Ashes series. The Aussies wrapped up the one-off Test with an 89-run win on the fifth and final day to claim four points. From here on out, each of the three T20s and ODIs will be worth two points (or a point each for a draw or tie). That means England are playing catch up.
We’re expecting a good crowd at Edgbaston this evening but we’re also expecting another victory for these all-conquering Australians. Their win probability is hovering just under 70%.
But that’s a result of maths and number crunching. This is elite sport. This is national pride. This is the Ashes. Anything could happen and I’ll be your guide throughout.
Play starts at 6:35pm BST/3:35am AEST. Toss and teams to come.
