Ashes 2023: Women's cricket at its most competitive in years

London [UK], July 19 : The 2023 Women's Ashes concluded in Australia's favour, as the most successful team in women's cricket retained the prestigious prize that they have in their hands since 2015. Australia was made to earn their title retention after a heavy fightback by England in the white-ball leg of the series and in the end and two of the best sides in the world left no stone unturned in entertaining the cricket world by delivering one of the most entertaining bilateral series in a long while, where merely three runs proved to be the point of difference between both the sides. 
The women's Ashes is different than men's, as it is decided on the basis of points, with four points given for a Test win and two points each for a white-ball match win. England and Australia ground it out on the field and ended the series at 8-8, with the Aussies retaining the Ashes. England had lost the one-off Test and paid for it, but they emerged as a better white-ball side by winning the ODI and T20I series by 2-1.
In the one-off Test, fantastic performances by Tammy Beaumont (208) and Sophie Ecclestone (5/129 and 5/63) went in vain as Annabel Sutherland (137), Ellyse Perry (99 and 25) and Ashleigh Garnder (40 and 4/99, 8/66) guided Aussies to a 89-run win. England's run-chase of 268 was dented by Gardner, who took an eight-wicket haul to bundle out England for 178. Australia had the lead 4-0. 
The T20I series started with a Beth Mooney (61 in 47 balls) special as her knock proved to be instrumental in helping the Aussies chase 154 set by England in the last over. The match was a thriller and the Aussies extended their lead to 6-0. In the second T20I, Danni Wyatt's 76 in 46 balls helped England chase down 184 set by Aussies in a last-ball thriller and also ended their winning streak in T20Is since March 2021. A solid collective effort by bowlers and then some power-hitting from young all-rounder Alice Capsey (46 in 23 balls) helped England chase down a revised target of 119 set as per the DLS method in a rain-affected match. England took home the T20I trophy 2-1 and with the scoreline reading 6-4, the women's Ashes was alive. 
In the first ODI, England pulled off their highest run-chase in ODIs and handed Australia a rare streak of three white-ball match defeats. Beth Mooney's 81 in 99 balls went in vain as England skipper Heather Knight responded with 75* in 86 balls, with support from Beaumont (47) and Capsey (40). England won by two wickets to level the series 6-6. 
The next match was a make-or-break affair. England had to win it to take a series lead. But a spell of Alana King (3/44) denied England a chance to complete their chase of 283 runs despite an unbeaten 111 in 99 balls by all-rounder Nat Sciver Brunt. England lost the match by three runs, giving the Aussies a lead of 8-6 in the multi-format affair and the ODI series was equal at 1-1. 
In the last ODI, Sciver blasted yet another century, scoring 129 in 149 balls to take England to 285/9 in their full quota of overs. Australia was bundled out for 199 with Kate Cross (3/48) being the pick of the bowlers for England. The series ended at 8-8. 
With the series ending with both sides at an equal number of points, having played some of their best cricket in a while, it did not feel fair to England to not walk away with the Ashes despite winning the T20I and ODI series. 
"It is a little bit harder to win when you're going in having not retained it before. Whether there could be an odd number of points for something to make it not end in a draw, I am not too sure," expressed England skipper Knight after the match. 
Australian skipper Alyssa Healy however said that their vulnerability to England cannot be termed as an 'end of an era' of their dominance. 
"I would not say an end of an era. I think it's probably maybe a little bit of a moment that we potentially needed. We looked back on the T20 series and we felt like that might have been coming for a little while … I think we were going to need to look at how to adapt and continue to grow as a T20 side. But the one-day format probably hurt us a little bit because I think we are still a really strong outfit and to play the way we did was obviously disappointing," said Healy. 
Top performers: 
*Most runs
-Nat Sciver Brunt (404 runs)
-Ellyse Perry (401 runs) 
-Beth Mooney (363 runs)
*Most wickets
-Ashleigh Gardner (23 wickets)
-Sophie Ecclestone (20 wickets)
-Lauren Bell (14 wickets).