The England Women’s Ashes hopes are alive with their victory over Australia with a thrilling three-run victory on Wednesday evening.
Ashes 2023 Hopes Remains Alive For England
It was the first defeat for the Women’s Australian team in any format since September 2021. England had posted 186-9, as Danni Wyatt’s innings of 76, as they folded Australia with 183-8 resulting in Triumph, at Kia Oval of the second T20I.
After sharing the opening score of 57 with Sophia Dunkley, she was in the position of making a standby as the wickets kept falling until the middle order, losing 5 wickets for 19 runs. Heather Knight, captain of the England team was duked-out on the first ball on her 100th T20I appearance.
By the end of their innings, the home-ground side was able to score 186 losing 9 wickets in total.
On their bowling, Sarah Glenn and Sophie Ecclestone take two wickets each giving 27 and 35 runs respectively which paid off in the team’s advancement to victory.
Danielle Wyatt was awarded the player of the match for her best batting performance in the match. With this victory, England trails Australia 6-2 in the multi-format Ashes series, as they await the third T20I series in Ashes 2023 which is scheduled on Saturday.
Women’s Ashes 2023 Second T20I Overview
Dunkely started strongly, taking two boundaries off Darcie Brown and Wyatt joining the party, which brought up a 50 runs partnership in the powerplay. Dunkey lost her wicket after Tahlia’s pace, departing for 23 from 19 balls.
Nat Sciver punched the ball of Gardner to the mid-wicker boundary which was taken by Sutherland. Then Alice Capsey left the ground due to a slow bouncer from Sutherland through which they lost three wickets.
Then Knight’s stump out on the first ball in the 100th appearance in the T20I and Gibson’s departure with a single run had made trouble for England with 119 runs losing six wickets.
By the end of the 20 overs, England scored 186 runs with still Lauren Bell to bat losing 9 wickets to Australian bowlers.
The Australian team had a good start, as Alyssa Healy scored 37 runs out of 19 balls, losing her wicket to England bowler Sarah Glenn. Beth Mooney had scored 22 runs out of 25 balls making partnership with Alyssa.
Then the efforts of the Ellyse Perry who scored 51 runs out of 27 balls bought Australia back into the race, putting pressure on England’s bowlers.
Other players like Sutherland and Georgia tried to keep up with Perry but eventually fell for England bowlers. It was a tough competition almost giving heart rise to the Home side.
At the end of the 20 overs, Australia was able to score 183 runs losing to the home side with three runs. They Lost eight wickets against England bowlers, with Darcie Brown yet to bat.
Ecclestone said, “We said we need keep the dream alive and we have. We knew what we needed to do, that was to go out and win – and we play better when we enjoy ourselves. I love being under pressure in the last over and I’m absolutely buzzing to get over the line.
The crowd were all behind us, which is great and we go again on Saturday. It’s going to be unbelievable, to play at Lord’s is the dream so it’ll be really exciting to get there.”
Heather Knight on post-match interview
Heather Knight was energetic when she witnessed the match and said, “What a game! A pretty-much-packed house at The Oval… I took a look around at the end and soaked it all up.
“It was probably always going to be a close one, but we got over the line and I’m really proud of how the girls played.
“We’ve still got more in the tank and areas where we can definitely get better. To win at only 80 percent is a very good effort.
“One game at a time. The equation is very simple and hopefully, we can have the crowd on our side and another good one at Lord’s.”
Alyssa Healy on post-match interview
On the shocking defeat, Alyssa Healy said, “A little bit of everything [went wrong]. I’m not sure we were that great in all three facets, so to get three runs shy was a pretty good effort.
“A bit to tidy up. At the back end with the ball again, we bowled a heap of extras, and we let ourselves down in the chase a little bit.
“We’re allowed to lose games of cricket. We just didn’t execute as much as we’d have liked. Fair play to England, they came out swinging.”
The 3rd T20I of the Ashes 2023 will be played on July 8 in Lord’s, London.
