England vow to strike back after opening Ashes defeat
HEATHER KNIGHT believes England can draw on their triumphant World Cup campaign for inspiration after admitting standards dipped in the Women’s Ashes opener in Brisbane.
Australia started the multi-format series with a two-wicket victory with five balls to spare in the first of three one-day internationals.
England captain Knight rued several costly errors in the field but said: “We lost the first game of the World Cup. One thing about this team is we’re a resilient bunch and we’ll get ourselves up for the next game.”
Among those errors was dropping Alex Blackwell on 36 – her unbeaten 67 underpinned the Australia innings as they successfully chased down a target of 229.
Ashleigh Gardner followed up her threewicket haul in England’s innings with a match shaping cameo of 27 from 18 balls.
“We were a little bit off the pace, with a little bit of rustiness and things to iron out for the next game,” added Knight. “We were way off our usual standard in the field.
“That’s kind of why we’re so frustrated because we feel it was our game to win. But credit to Australia, they finished the job off. Ideally the fielding will be slightly better in the next game.”
The game was on a knifeedge when Gardner arrived at the crease, Australia needing 48 off 44 deliveries. She bludgeoned successive fours and hit two sixes, departing with just nine runs required from 16 balls for victory at Allan Border Field.
Lauren Winfield was England’s top scorer with 48 in their total of 228-9.