There is a striking difference between England’s and Australia’s XI – and that difference told as the hosts were the first to put points on the board in the 2025 Women’s Ashes when winning the opening one-day international by four wickets in Sydney.
Australia have immense depth while the reliability of England’s batters down the order does not match up. Annabel Sutherland – who has three ODI centuries to her name in a four-year career – comes in at five for Australia. Below Sutherland are Ash Gardner and Tahlia McGrath, two of the most recognised all-rounders in women’s cricket.
In comparison, England’s number five, Danni Wyatt-Hodge, has scored two ODI centuries in a 14-year career. Beneath Wyatt-Hodge are Amy Jones and Alice Capsey, respectively a player who averages 29 and a 20-year-old whose ODI top score is 44.
To add to this, although the rankings are not all-defining, Ellyse Perry, Beth Mooney and Alyssa Healy sit in the top 10 for batting in women’s ODI cricket. England have only Nat Sciver-Brunt in that exclusive club.
Healy’s performance was a prime example of the quality the Australians have within their ranks. The 34-year-old led from the front, scoring 70 from 78 balls and built the foundation for the innings early on.
“I think you just look at our top order, look at Healy and [Phoebe] Litchfield, they’re going to take the game on,” Gardner said.
“For someone like Midge [Healy] to take the power play on, when the ball is in her zone to actually back herself. I think sometimes you can kind of get caught in chasing a low total rather than actually just trying to bat properly.
“I think today scoring 70-odd in front of a home crowd as well, I guess that probably spurs you on as captain and she’s leading from the front.”
The predominantly Australian crowd gathered on the grassy bank at a sold-out North Sydney Oval were entertained by seeing their XI dismiss England’s line-up one by one, bowling the visitors out for just 203.
Gardner, who took three for 19, aided her side in restricting the visitors’ total, and it was Gardner who once again played a crucial role alongside Healy when batting, finishing on an unbeaten 42.
While there may not have been a huge disparity between the totals throughout the innings – for example, England being 45-1 and Australia 53-2 after the power play, the security in the hosts’ depth put them on the front foot automatically.
One of England’s other weaknesses, which was particularly highlighted during the recent T20 World Cup, was catching. Floodlights were used as the answer to quell questions about the poor fielding after England’s shock exit from the tournament in Dubai. On a sunny afternoon in Sydney, that get-out-of-jail-free card cannot be pulled.
A crowd catch off Amy Jones’s powerful six in the first innings demonstrated the cool, calm and collected nature that England’s fielders would have liked to have displayed, the one-handed diving catch proving even more impressive as the spectator in question did not spill the drink in his other hand.
Instead, Capsey dropped Perry on seven, a catch which should have been taken and one which the England player simply fumbled. Ultimately, Perry was dismissed for 14, unable to cause too much damage. However, the early dent would have been a statement of intent from England and could have pressurised a usually comfortable batting line-up.
Wyatt-Hodge’s dynamic fielding and confident catches to dismiss Mooney and Sutherland redeemed, to some extent, the quality of England’s fielding. However, Sophie Ecclestone, having got hold of the ball, dropped a lofted shot from Gardner on 31. Australia were on the home stretch but a wicket at that stage could have given England a flicker of hope.
“Sophie doesn’t drop many catches, it’s very rare to see a Sophie Ecclestone drop,” Lauren Bell said. “I think she had it, I don’t think she could do that again if she tried, she hit her elbows and it popped out. I was celebrating but people drop catches.
“There are a few things that we could definitely work on and moving forward, obviously Australia caught very well and we dropped a few at important moments, but I think as a whole we take a fair amount of confidence from the game.”
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