Geoff Lemon's Blog, page 6
January 23, 2025
England can point at luck but Australia are the team that turn up and win | Geoff Lemon
Heather Knight can feel frustrated by the umpires and the rain, but her team have made too many mistakes
When you’re down, circumstances can conspire to make sure you’re out. Across the first four matches of the Women’s Ashes, England had nobody to blame except for Australia for being better than them. A wan total batting first in the first ODI, a botch of chasing an even smaller one in the second, then conceding massive scores in the third ODI and the first T20 to be no chance in the chase. For the second T20, chasing another high total, England could shake a fist at the sky, losing on rain calculation when dragged off the field with five balls to go.
To be realistic, England were unlikely to score 18 from the final five to make 186. But it was possible. Annabel Sutherland was bowling, and Heather Knight had just carved her for four, moving Knight’s own score to a fierce 43 from 19. Sutherland had been banned from the attack earlier in the tour after two high full tosses were called illegal. A six, a fumbled four, a set of five wides: plenty of things can crank up the pressure in the space of one ball.
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January 20, 2025
Australia eye Ashes whitewash as depth leaves England with no answers | Geoff Lemon
Stars such as Alyssa Healy and Ash Gardner not missed as home side close in on cleansweep against overhyped rivals
“England’s best format is T20.” It’s been a mantra through this Women’s Ashes series so far. With Australia the stronger team, and the series starting with the 50-over format in which they dominate, it was repeated by England followers, repeated by media wanting a close series for the story, even flashed up in the television blurb describing the first 20-over match from the SCG. As those one-day internationals were lost one after the other, the insistence has developed a ring of desperation, like “I can quit any time I want” or “I’m fine to drive”.
The problem is, if England’s best style is the short one, they still have to play it against the country who have won six T20 World Cups. In Sydney, England didn’t field a single batter with a career strike rate above 130. Australia fielded Phoebe Litchfield, Annabel Sutherland, Tahlia McGrath, Grace Harris and Georgia Wareham. A team missing their captain, Alyssa Healy, and their matchwinner from the previous outing, Ash Gardner, didn’t miss a beat. If T20 is England’s best format, every format is Australia’s best format.
Continue reading...Australia eye Ashes whitewash as depth leaves England with no answers
Stars such as Alyssa Healy and Ash Gardner not missed as home side close in on cleansweep against overhyped rivals
“England’s best format is T20.” It’s been a mantra through this Women’s Ashes series so far. With Australia the stronger team, and the series starting with the 50-over format in which they dominate, it was repeated by England followers, repeated by media wanting a close series for the story, even flashed up in the television blurb describing the first 20-over match from the SCG. As those ODIs were lost one after the other, the insistence has developed a ring of desperation, like “I can quit any time or want,” or, “I’m fine to drive”.
The problem is, if England’s best style is the short one, they still have to play it against the country that has won six T20 World Cups. In Sydney, England didn’t field a single batter with a career strike rate above 130. Australia fielded Phoebe Litchfield, Annabel Sutherland, Tahlia McGrath, Grace Harris, and Georgia Wareham. A team missing its captain, Alyssa Healy, and its matchwinner from the previous outing, Ash Gardner, didn’t miss a beat. If T20 is England’s best format, every format is Australia’s best format.
The result was another thumping home win, and the Ashes trophy retained in straight sets. Being given the chance to bat first let Australia pile up 198, then bowl out England for 141. Sophia Dunkley provided resistance with the bat but couldn’t do it alone. Australia’s biggest problem right this minute comes from the team’s own success, in terms of how to retain interest in the series ahead of the MCG Test.
While Australia has its big names, another difference between the sides here was the sparkle from the next generation. Glenn Maxwell has produced his reverse smashes in the Big Bash over recent games, but the call is open for suggestions about whether there has been a better example in international women’s cricket than Phoebe Litchfield produced in Sydney.
Advancing down the track and outside her off stump, a left-hander eyeing the wide loop of Sarah Glenn, she swapped those hands on her bat handle, right hand shifting from top to bottom, the full switch hit turning her into a mirror image. Then the cleanest crack of contact on what was now a right-handed slog sweep, and the distance of the ropes was irrelevant as it sailed into the seats of the SCG.
That was after her fellow youngster, Georgia Voll, had smoked three boundaries in a row in making 21 from 11 balls on her T20 debut to fill in as opener, while England again lost the plot, dropping catches and conceding overthrows. Voll’s physical presence implies power, Litchfield’s feet suggest speed, and while both only made scores in the 20s, England were already wilting. Of their own newer players, Maia Bouchier has looked overwhelmed at the top, Charlie Dean has lost the batting half of being an all-rounder, and Freya Kemp got to face six balls before her teammates were all out.
It was only the fresh presence of Dunkley that provided impetus, coming in after being benched for the ODIs, striking pure shots through cover in making 59 off 30. But all of Australia’s moves worked. No Australian team had played without both Healy and Gardner since 2013, and this team didn’t miss them.
McGrath filling in as captain belted 26 off 9 to ice the innings, then took responsibility as a bowler as Dunkley surged, hitting her leg stump. Beth Mooney had to fill in as wicketkeeper and adjust to a new opening partner, but turned from ODI ballast to T20 propeller with 75 from 51. Alana King was recalled after nearly two years out of the side, impossible to ignore after her brilliant ODI series, and resumed the leg-spin axis with Wareham to take five wickets together. Balls turned, balls kept low, and England’s senior players once more had no answer.
Australia so far has had all of those, and England precious little time to regroup ahead of Thursday and Saturday with the next T20 matches. It’s a fickle format, but will still take something individually special to get England on the board. For now, theoretically, they can still come from behind to tie the series on points as they’ve done twice in recent times. But if Australia want to draw a big crowd at the Test match from here, they should be thinking of the lure of a whitewash.
January 16, 2025
Ashleigh Gardner fills one of few gaps on CV with first international century | Geoff Lemon
Australia all-rounder adds catch for the ages to her breakthrough hundred in the third ODI against England while a more prominent role beckons
Not many dimensions away across the multiverse, there is a world where Ashleigh Gardner is already Australian captain across formats. When Meg Lanning surprisingly called time on an international career in 2023 when she might still have had years to play, selectors had the chance to shift the team towards the next generation. It felt regressive to instead put hierarchy first by appointing Alyssa Healy, two years older than Lanning, leaving the team in an era where those two plus Ellyse Perry have been dominant in name, fame and personality for well over a decade.
Gardner was 26 at the time, the right sort of age to launch into something new, and operating at her peak. Earlier that year she had bagged half a million US dollars for a T20 stint in India, 12 wickets in a Test at Trent Bridge, and was not out in the chase to win a T20 World Cup final. She had graduated from useful bowler to genuine spinner to accompany her batting power, and regardless of appointment was already a leader by performance.
Continue reading...January 14, 2025
Australia pull off a great escape as England wilt under pressure of Women’s Ashes | Geoff Lemon
England had the hosts on the ropes on a rare bad day until Australian leg-spinner Alana King helped turn the second ODI in Melbourne
They say that the mark of a champion team is winning on a bad day. Or, they might say that. We’re not sure who “they” are, perhaps the people who invent copy for books of fake Vince Lombardi quotes. But it does sound like the sort of phrase that could be vaguely true and has a hollow ring of wisdom.
Australia’s women proved that imaginary thesis in the second Women’s Ashes one-day international, winning a match that they had absolutely no right to. A mixture of their confidence under pressure and England’s complete lack under the same scenario meant Australia defended a target of 181 with 11 balls and 21 runs to spare, after a poor home batting performance had given the visitors every chance to level the multi-format series on two points apiece.
Continue reading...January 11, 2025
Alyssa Healy finds form as England fail to get out of second gear in Women’s Ashes ODI | Geoff Lemon
The Australia captain’s 70 from 78 balls all but killed the run chase but England only had themselves to blame in Sydney
With eight overs to go and lower-order clouter Sophie Ecclestone newly arrived to the crease, the television commentary started talking up her skills. The kind of player who can hit sixes from ball one, we were told. A few seconds later, from ball two of that over, Ecclestone played the opposite of a six-hitting attempt: a dink into the leg-side. Leading edge, caught midwicket. Moments later, England were all out for 204.
The ninth wicket to fall was far from the most important, but it was emblematic of an England performance that went nowhere close to any players’ ability. Losing the first ODI of the Women’s Ashes was always more likely than not, but limpness in defeat is something else. Tammy Beaumont and Alice Capsey suffocated among dot balls. Heather Knight, Nat Sciver-Brunt, Amy Jones, and Danni Wyatt-Hodge all got up and running, 13 fours and two sixes between them, but none reached 40, coughing up catches looking to hit big.
Continue reading...January 10, 2025
Jolted Australia are on the tear again – England have their work cut out
Healy’s side have reacted strongly to World Cup pain and the tourists need to keep the series live until the Test
If you’re playing against the Australian women’s cricket team, there are points where the only option is to brace yourself. Because they lose so very rarely, in any format, they tend to respond to those anomalies by proving how unusual they are. For England’s women, visiting Australia for a Women’s Ashes series of three one-day internationals, three Twenty20s and a day-night Test, this is now the position they are in.
Skip back two places on the list of major failures to the 50-over World Cup semi-final of 2017, when Australia got ambushed by Harmanpreet Kaur in one of the all-time batting assaults. Outraged at watching England subsequently knock over India in the final, Australia went on a tear: unbeaten in series terms across four Women’s Ashes, three T20 World Cups, three T20 tri-series, 14 bilateral T20 series, 14 bilateral ODI series, the Commonwealth Games and the next 50-over World Cup, on the way notching a world record ODI winning streak of 26.
Continue reading...January 4, 2025
Australia’s bowlers batter India to keep home fires burning for World Championship tilt
In the very end, it was less fizz than fizzle, though something else had earlier threatened. Mind you, the very end came right in the middle, Australia winning the fifth Test against India halfway through the third day in Sydney.
It wasn’t even the middle if you counted overs bowled, the match using 197 of a possible 450 on a pitch that grew less fit for purpose with each passing day. That tallied with the broader contest: early finishes in Perth and Adelaide, rain in Brisbane, all resulting in the third-fewest deliveries ever bowled across a five-Test series.
Continue reading...Australia win Border-Gavaskar series 3-1 against India – as it happened
35th over: India 148-7 (Washington 7, Siraj 1) Mohammed Siraj at No9 is not a comforting prospect for India. So presumably Bumrah will bat last, if he must, to make sure that warm-up is next to his bowling warm-up? The Indian camp said he had back spasms, which might be manageable. Siraj gets a run first ball though, to fine leg, and Washington has a big square drive to end the over but misses out. Siraj on strike in Boland’s second over. Not good for India.
The lead is 152.
Continue reading...Rishabh Pant blast rocks Australia on 15-wicket day to keep India’s hopes alive
When the fourth Australia-India Test at Melbourne finished with an hour to go on the final day, those who love the long game were sated. The experience was hearty and nutritious, like working your way through a large slice of dense and worthy rye bread. The first two days of the fifth Test here, by contrast, have been a pure sugar rush. Eleven wickets on day one were followed by 15 on day two, as the match careered towards a conclusion though a winner remains unclear.
India all out 185 was the first-day story, but somehow that turned into a four-run lead. Reading that sentence could only leave the assumption that Jasprit Bumrah must have made that happen, but as it turned out that was only true of the first 20%. It was Bumrah who made Usman Khawaja nick behind on the first evening, a wicket on the very last ball of the last over and it was Bumrah the next morning who drew the faintest forensically detected edge from India’s roadblock in Melbourne, Marnus Labuschagne.
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