Melbourne: It has been a summer of cricket to remember for Australia Women as they whitewashed their biggest rivals England Women 16-0 in the 2024-25 Ashes series. The hosts sealed the trophy with a massive victory by an innings & 122 runs at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Alana King was named player of the series having taken 23 wickets, nine in the Test match, at an average of 11.17 to equal Ash Garnder’s record, when she picked 23 wickets in the 2023 Ashes series.
Australia won the toss and elected to bowl first at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), putting relentless pressure on the visitors.
Nat Sciver-Brunt top scored in the first innings with 51 runs in what was another faulty performance by England with the bat. Alana grabbed four wickets to her name and was accompanied by two wickets each for Kim Garth and Darcie Brown to bundle England out for 170.
In reply Annabel Sutherland, who was named the Player of the Match in the one-off Test match, etched her name into history on Day Two of the Test, becoming the first woman to score a Test century at the iconic venue. The young all-rounder played a masterful knock of 163 off 258 balls.
Beth Mooney accompanied Sutherland on the crease and became the first Australian woman to hit a century in all three international formats with her 106-run contribution to the scoreboard which saw them score 440
After having taken a lead of 270, Alana and Ash bowled 47.4 overs together unchanged to claim the last nine wickets of the match and seal the victory. The highlight of the innings came in the 37th over when Alana, bowling from the Shane Warne End, bowled her own variation of the iconic ‘ball of the century’. A flighted ball drifting outside the leg stump gripped and spun past the bat to nestle into the stumps to send Sophia Dunkley.
“Got to give some credit to T-Mac (Tahlia McGrath), she led beautifully in that T20 series, so a joint effort. Couldn’t be prouder of that group. At every opportunity that we thought England were clawing their way back, someone came back and shut the door on them. Full credit to that group. Think the whole series, playing at some of the best stadiums in Australia against a really good opposition, getting crowds back to cricket has been really cool. Great to see everyone here, but I think in general the series was an amazing experience for everyone,” said Alyssa in the post-game series.
Brief scores:
Australia 440 all out in 130.3 overs (Sutherland 163, Mooney 106, Sophie Ecclestone 5-143) beat England 170 & 148 all out in 68.4 overs (Beaumont 47, King 5-53, Gardner 4-39) by an innings and 122 runs
(IANS)
