Tammy Beaumont shows she still has a role to play in T20 series with magnificent double-hundred; Sophie Ecclestone takes 10-for in Women's Ashes Test; watch first T20 international in multi-format Ashes series, live on Sky Sports Cricket on Saturday evening (6.35pm start)
Wednesday 28 June 2023 08:00, UK
The Women's Ashes Test at Trent Bridge saw records tumble, spin dominate and a new, fiery, fast bowling star emerge, but it was also a tale of missed opportunities for England as they fell behind in the multi-format series.
Australia earned four points towards retaining the Ashes as Heather Knight's charges stumbled to an 89-run defeat on the final day in Nottingham. England now need to win five of the six white-ball games to follow to claim the series.
A monstrous task against an Australian side that has not only won three of the last four Ashes series, drawing the other, but also holds the Women's 50-over World Cup title and are three-time defending T20 World Cup champs.
Yet, this youthful, positive, mentally-tougher England team more than held their own over the five days of the Test match, suggesting the gap between them and this all-conquering Australian side isn't perhaps as great as we all feared it might be.
"England can look back at this and though they'll be incredibly disappointed - nothing hurts worse than losing a Test match - they can think 'we really gave these guys a run for their money,'" Sky Sports' Mark Butcher said after the game.
"Player for player and skill-wise, England matched up with them fine and can hold their heads high. If they have to win five out of six white-ball games to win the Ashes, so be it, they'll give it a red-hot go."
The coach was also in a positive mood post-match, Jon Lewis telling Sky Sports: "What I was really pleased about is how we didn't back down. We showed a lot of fight and a lot of courage all the way through.
"What this game has shown us the most is that we are not far away. A couple of the girls reflected on that with me, saying 'we can beat these guys.'"
That confidence is born out of the fact that, on more than one occasion, England had Australia on the ropes in the Test match - most notably when reducing the visitors to 238-6 on day one, when trailing by only 83 runs on first innings with six wickets still remaining, when taking four for 20 to spark an Australia second-innings collapse, and when starting their pursuit of 268 with a 55-run partnership.
Sadly, though, the knockout blow never quite came. "When you go back over the five days, it was just a bit of coolness under fire. Australia had it and England didn't," Butcher added.
Our girls went toe to toe with them [Australia] for a long time and that was really impressive. I don't want them to be too down. We played entertaining, inspiring cricket and should be very proud of that.
Of England's standout performers, there can be no doubt that 22-year-old fast bowler Lauren Filer was the biggest surprise of them all.
Not many will have known the name prior to this week. Even the coach referred to the risk of picking her for her debut Test, with Lewis saying: "We weren't sure what she was going to do; I think that was her first ever game of multi-day cricket."
Well, Filer more than stood up to the task, taking two wickets in both innings to finish with match figures of 4-148, undoubtedly the pick of the pacers on show - and on a pitch that offered very little in the way of assistance to the seamers. "She came through really well," Lewis added. "I couldn't be more happy for her."
Filer claimed the key wickets of Beth Mooney and Ellyse Perry - one short of a century - in the first innings, but it was her fiery spell prior to lunch on the fourth morning that really showcased her crowd-capturing brilliance.
With the fourth ball of her spell, she got Perry to chop one back onto her stumps before nearly cleaning up Tahlia McGrath with a yorker two balls later, only to eventually do so with another fast, fuller delivery in her next over.
She was a massive crowd favourite, everyone got behind her, and my favourite moment of the Test match was that spell before lunch on day four. It was really exciting to watch and you felt like something was going to happen every time she had the ball in her hand.
One of Filer's deliveries in that tide-turning spell - the catalyst for the hosts to take four for 20 after lunch - was clocked at 76.1 mph, the second-fastest ball bowled by an England woman ever.
It certainly won't be the last time we see the 22-year-old terrorising Australian batters, maybe not even this summer. The prospect of her teaming up with fellow young quick Issy Wong in the white-ball series is a mouth-watering one.
Another of England's players who hopes to have firmly thrown her name into the hat for selection, specifically for the three T20 internationals that form part of the series, is Tammy Beaumont.
It seems ridiculous to say, given Beaumont's sublime first-innings 208 was the first-ever double-hundred scored by an England women - breaking Betty Snowball's 88-year-old record Test score of 189 - but the opener's spot is far from assured in the shortest format of the game.
Beaumont, who has 99 T20I caps to her name, was dropped from England's squad last summer, missing out too on a place on the plane for their T20 World Cup campaign in South Africa earlier this year.
Speaking to Sky Sports after her double-hundred dominance on day three, Beaumont said the omission "made me go away and look at whether I even wanted to play anymore, whether it was time, whether I was past it.
"I decided I wasn't. I went away and worked hard, decided there was life in the old girl yet."
That there is. Beaumont's innings contained a stonking 27 boundaries, scoring at a strike-rate of 62.84. With the first T20 scheduled for Saturday at Edgbaston, England surely cannot be considering again overlooking the in-form 32-year-old - especially with their hopes in the series so precariously placed.
It is going to take something special to break into that [T20] team. I am desperate to be part of it. If I get another go it would be amazing, it would be my 100th cap. But I have made peace with the fact that if I never play another T20 for England I have gone out my way.
Sophie Ecclestone will, unquestionably, be at the forefront of England's bowling attack in both white-ball codes - ranked as the number one bowler in both T20 and ODI cricket - but this week was when she truly announced herself in the Test format and in Ashes cricket.
Despite being placed on such a pedestal among her peers, Ecclestone had yet to reserve her best for the world's best team, with just two three-wicket hauls (one in Tests and one in ODIs) her previous best showings from 27 internationals against Australia in all formats.
The 24-year-old stepped up massively in Nottingham, claiming a first Test five-for as she reeled off a massive 46.2 overs in the first innings. Then, far from fatigued by her efforts, she swiftly followed that up with five more second time round to earn stunning match figures of 10-192.
"She is a captain's dream, every time you chuck the ball to her," the England captain said, with Knight adding: "I wondered if I was over-bowling her but she came back again and again and hardly bowled a bad ball all match."
Year on year, Sophie just seems to grow and grow as a player - last summer, she was given a bit of a leadership role within the group. She's played a lot of cricket under a lot of pressure, you get quite immune to it and she relishes in it, which is what all the best players generally do.
Piggy-backing on Filer's double-wicket burst before lunch on day four, Ecclestone ripped through Australia's lineup after the interval, bowling Jess Jonassen and Mooney, and then adding Annabel Sutherland after Kate Cross picked up Ashleigh Gardner.
It was a spell that suddenly had England firmly back in the contest, Australia seven wickets down and leading by only 208, but despite Ecclestone wrapping up her second five-for later in the day, it was ultimately a case of 'what could have been' for England.
"Missed opportunities," Butcher told Sky Sports, when asked to sum up England's series-opening defeat in the Women's Ashes Test.
Ultimately, at the end of five days, they were numerous. And I'm not just referring to the number of dropped catches.
England had Australia 238-6 on day one, on a belting batting pitch - and after having lost the toss - but let a Sutherland-century-inspired lower order lift their score to an imposing 473.
Then, even when faced with the daunting task of reeling in such a total, Beaumont's brilliant double-ton had England sitting pretty at 390-4 at one stage and eyeing a sizable first-innings lead. They would end up trailing by 10.
But it was there where the game really got away from the hosts, as Australia increased that advantage to 92 runs by stumps on the third evening, without the loss of a wicket - Filer and Ecclestone having been overlooked in favour of Cross and Lauren Bell with the new ball. The same thing happened early on day four, with it taking till the 25th over of the morning for Filer to be introduced - and strike four balls later.
"I go back to that third evening," Butcher added. "I thought they [England] got that so badly wrong, allowing Australia to get off to a flier.
"England took nine wickets for 108 on the fourth day but, by then, the horse had already bolted. It all amounted to them losing the game by 89 runs, which is about the start they let Australia get on that third night."
England may well have shown they have closed the gap on Australia this week, but that gap is not as fine as the margin between victory and defeat. And those missed opportunities proved costly.
Watch the Women's Ashes series live on Sky Sports. The first of three T20 internationals takes place at Edgbaston on Saturday with a 6.35pm start.
