Key events
Lauren Filer will share the new ball.
Andy Roberts is off something of a long run (aptly given his name) in the emails.
“Hey James, Andy in FNQ listening along and loving the early start – cricket underway at 9am is a great start to the day! Looking forward to Healy and co. dominating again, feel they have just a bit too much class across the board for England (or anyone else really). HOWEVER…”
(here it comes… gulp)
“I have a bit of a gripe. I love the Guardian OBO coverage, but am frustrated that for cricket in Australia the Guardian consistently displays the score the wrong way around. If I am watching cricket played in Australia, on a Guardian Australian edition page, the wickets really should be BEFORE the runs. I understand that for cricket in England or elsewhere the reverse is true, but this is match is being played in AUSTRALIA and I access the OBO via The Guardian AUSTRALIAN edition. I hope I can count on you to encourage the editors to make the appropriate changes.”
I sort of see what you are saying Andy but my brain, heart, hell, my soul, just won’t allow me to do it the Antipodean way. Talk about an old dog and new tricks, I can barely get myself into matching socks these days man! `Next you’ll be asking me to catch with my hands facing upwards and start drinking beer out of miniscule receptacles…. Just kidding cobbah.
There undoubtedly is a reason why we do it this way, to keep it uniform and all that most likely. The Guardian big dog editors will of course all be reading this right now as they discuss my inevitable and hefty pay rise so maybe one of them will be in touch.
1st over: Australia 2-0 (Litchfield 0, Healy 0) Lauren Bell starts for England with the ball. She bowled well in the first game but shows some signs of nerves early on by spearing a couple down the leg side to give the umpire an early arm stretch.
Bell is into her groove soon enough though, the rest of the over is full as the tall seamer goes in search of some early swing, she’ll have to find it pronto, the sun is starting to burn through in Melbourne. Litchfield defends and it’s just two runs off the first over.
Ben Mimmack is an early contender in the OBO mailbag:
“It’s probably not very interesting, seeing as almost everyone in the US seems to be moving here these days, but I’m following from Dallas, TX. It is far-flung from both the UK and Aus though and still a bit snowy from the winter storm we had last week. Cheers!”
Great to have you on board Ben. I was going to call you ‘cowboy’ then but thought better of it.
The players are coming out as I type – yeehaw!
The weather is a bit overcast in Melbourne which gladdens my heart under a black treacle skied Blighty. More importantly it’ll provide some decent conditions for both Laurens Bell and Filer to make early inroads with the shiny white Kookaburra.
Time to make a pre-play coffee, we’re about 15 minutes away from the first ball. Let us know where you are tuning in from, furthest flung/most interesting location gets an as yet undisclosed prize*.
*OBO infamy not good enough for you eh? Eh?
The ECB have issued a quick update on Kate Cross, it appears she is still not quite fully fit, I’m sure we’ll see her make an appearance in the series before too long.
“Kate Cross has remained in Sydney to train and continue her return to play.”
Both captains mention they want their sides to be more “ruthless” and “clinical” in today’s match. Australia have never lost at the Junction Oval, a fact that Alyssa Healy wasn’t aware of as she was informed at the toss, “thanks for the good vibes before we start” she grins.
On the flip side, England have won the last seven matches in which they have chased… game on!
Both teams are unchanged from Sydney:
Australia 1 Alyssa Healy (c & wk), 2 Phoebe Litchfield, 3 Ellyse Perry, 4 Beth Mooney, 5 Annabel Sutherland, 6 Ashleigh Gardner, 7 Tahlia McGrath, 8 Alana King, 9 Kim Garth, 10 Megan Schutt, 11 Darcie Brown
England 1 Tammy Beaumont, 2 Maia Bouchier, 3 Heather Knight (c), 4 Nat Sciver-Brunt, 5 Danni Wyatt-Hodge, 6 Amy Jones (wk), 7 Alice Capsey, 8 Charlie Dean, 9 Sophie Ecclestone, 10 Lauren Filer, 11 Lauren Bell
England win the toss and choose to bowl first!
Heather Knight calls the coin correctly and inserts Australia on a green tinged pitch that she thinks might help her seamers. Teams incoming, will Kate Cross be fit to play for the visitors? They missed her experience and tight lined nous in Sydney…
The men’s Ashes is a long way off in traditional months and weeks notation. Talking about it at this distance is a breach of protocol, a red flag, signal for a weary roll of the eyes. It’s Big Three pandering, disrespectful to more marginalised nations, a diminishing of the contests in between.
It also involves reaching rudely across the Women’s Ashes, which kicked off over the weekend in Sydney, all set to be a genuinely fascinating spectacle. Australia have the numbers, the stars and the endless all-rounders. England have depth, reliable medium pace, dogged spin, and the quickest bowler in Lauren Filer, who was genuinely challenging in South Africa, but struggled to plant her feet during a rain-addled warmup this past week.”
Some pre toss reading for your delectation:
Preamble
James Wallace
Hello and welcome to the second instalment of the 2025 Women’s Ashes. Today’s fifty over bout takes place in Melbourne’s Junction Oval and comes hot on the heels of the home side taking the spoils (two points) in Sydney during the first encounter of the series at the weekend.
That first game was a comfortable win for Alyssa Healy’s talent toting XI, albeit they didn’t have to be in top gear to see off an undercooked England side.
Heather Knight will want to see an improvement in all departments from her team today – the top order batters need to not squander promising starts, kick on and make impactful scores and the bowling unit need to tighten up and fling down far fewer four balls.
In the field, England’s butter-fingered catching was notable once again after their chance squandering/turf bothering efforts in T20 World Cup a few months back.
With two more ODIs (including this one) and three T20s up for grabs before the historic day/night Test match at the MCG at the end of the month there are still plenty of points on offer and punches to be thrown in what could yet turn out to be a humdinger of a series.
I’m here in an icily fronded and window-fogged London to bring you the first half of the action from Melbourne before Martin Pegan will tag in for the chase.
Play gets underway in an hour’s time – 10.05am AEDT and 11.05pm GMT – do let us know if you are tuning in by clicking the email link on the left flank of this page and typing out a missive. The OBO is nothing without the wit and charisma of its punters (especially in the wee small hours, trust me).
I’ll be back soon with news of the teams and the toss and to hopefully trawl through your iridescent correspondence. No pressure…
