England captain Heather Knight has hailed her side's T20 and ODI series victories over Australia as "really special", while Alyssa Healy admitted a "bittersweet" feeling as the tourists retained the Ashes after a thrilling draw.
England won the third ODI at Taunton on Tuesday to take a 2-1 series victory, having triumphed by the same scoreline in a three-match T20 contest played earlier this month.
Australia's victory in the June Test match, worth four points, combined with their two limited-overs wins, was enough for the T20 and 50-over world champions to retain The Ashes as the series finished 8-8.
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The T20 series defeat was Australia's first since 2017, while the 50-over series loss was their first since 2013, with those records highlighting the scale of England's achievement.
"I'm hugely pleased, it's a draw isn't it," Knight said, referring to the 8-8 overall series score. "And we've got two trophies against the world champions, which is really special."
England appeared to be heading for a potentially heavy defeat after going 6-0 down after losing the Test and first T20 match, but fought back to win four of the remaining five matches.
"I think the fact that we'd gone so close and gone toe-to-toe with Australia, in the Test and that first T20, I think it actually built more belief - even though we didn't get the results," Knight said.
"I think it was just staying very level, obviously accepting we were in the situation, but that we could do a lot about it. We felt like we were really close, and we had the players to compete with this really good side.
"So credit to the girls for still believing, and I think the staff as well deserve a huge amount of credit for being able to keep us believing."
The result raises question marks over the scoring system for the three-format series, which saw Australia's Test victory prove somewhat defining.
Knight hinted towards a possible change to the system that would see the Test altered to odd points.
"It's tricky, isn't it? The same has happened to us in Australia where we lost both white-ball series but won the Test and won The Ashes," she said. "That led to a change of points. I'm not too sure, I'm sure the boffins will have a little play around. It is a little bit harder to win them when you are going in not having The Ashes.
"It is maybe about right, but maybe there could be an odd number of points for something so there couldn't be a draw, I'm not too sure."
Cross: It feels unfair
Kate Cross was in positive spirits as she expressed her pride in England's ability to draw level in the series having trailed by such a significant margin.
"I think the T20 series win was the start of it," Cross said. "We couldn't regain The Ashes after the last game, but we knew there was still a series on the line. It was our goal to come here today and win, take the series 2-1 so I'm really proud of the girls.
"I think the fact that we're at eight-all at the end of it, it doesn't really quite feel like it's fair that it's going back to Australia. We've played some really good cricket, we've gone toe-to-toe with the best team in the world for five weeks now.
"So, yeah, there's a lot of really happy faces over there and I think it's really deserved."
Healy: It feels a little bit dirty | Gardner questions Australia's 'fighting spirit'
Australia were left with a "bittersweet" feeling as they lifted the Ashes trophy after defeat at Taunton, with captain Alyssa Healy admitting the situation felt "a little bit dirty".
"We can tuck that little one away in the changing room, but it is a little bit bittersweet," Healy said.
"And it feels a little bit dirty in a way, but in saying that, we got the result we were after."
Australia player-of-the-Ashes Ash Gardner, who threatened to take the game away from England with a brilliant 41 before being run out, questioned whether the tourists had shown enough "fighting spirit" throughout the series.
"It sucks. Of course we came over here to win The Ashes," Gardner said. "Retaining it's great, but I guess that's probably a little bit negative, we wanted to come over here and win it. And of course, we were in positions to win The Ashes, and we probably didn't show enough fight where we needed to.
"I think there's plenty of things to work on and plenty of things to improve on for the next series. Just little things, and probably finding that fighting spirit again, which we probably lacked throughout the series.
"We showed glimpses of it. I think England have outplayed us, they've played a pretty fearless brand of cricket and something that we should look at for our team as well, is making sure we keep on striving forward and taking the game on when it's necessary."
Sciver-Brunt: Limited-overs wins cement England belief
England were led to victory in the final ODI by their player-of-the-Ashes Nat Sciver-Brunt, who struck a second successive century to set up the 69-run victory.
The all-rounder says England's limited-overs victories over Australia have "cemented belief" among the home side that they are up there with the world champions.
"Being able to win the T20 and ODI series has really, I guess, cemented that belief," Sciver-Brunt said.
"It was probably there but not quite in the pressure moments probably, and that's where we've really made a shift.
"We're probably not at the top of where we want to be, but we've certainly made big strides, and to have so many competitive games in this series shows that, I reckon."
'Extraordinary England have made enormous strides'
Sky Sports Cricket's Charles Dagnall described England's Ashes performance as "extraordinary", citing both the achievement of securing multiple wins against a dominant Australian side, and doing it from 6-0 down.
"It really is extraordinary, when you consider that for a decade Australia have been unbeaten in ODI cricket in bilateral series, this is the ICC 50-over world champs, this is the ICC T20 world champs, and England have beaten them in both series," Dagnall said.
"Now, 8-8 - they don't regain The Ashes, do England, but I think they can look back on this with an enormous sense of satisfaction and achievement.
"Ok, they wanted to win The Ashes - it's not easy. At 6-0, after the Test match and first T20 defeat at Edgbaston, all of us thought this could be a complete walkover.
"But the way that they've managed to come back. Ok, the last game, albeit by three runs, they were defeated in the second ODI, but goodness me, what a series we've seen.
"And I think England will feel that they've made enormous strides in levelling that gap between themselves and Australia."
Women's Ashes results (2 pts for white-ball win, 4 for Test)
- Test match (Trent Bridge) - Australia won by 89 runs
- First T20 international (Edgbaston) - Australia won by four wickets
- Second T20 international (The Kia Oval) - England won by three runs
- Third T20 international (Lord's) - England won by five wickets
- First one-day international (Unique Stadium, Bristol) - England won by two wickets
- Second one-day international (The Ageas Bowl) - Australia win by three runs
- Third one-day international (Taunton) - England won by 69 runs (DLS)
Watch the fourth men's Ashes Test from Old Trafford, live on Sky Sports Cricket. You can stream the men's Ashes series on NOW.