by With eight overs remaining and lower-order batter Sophie Ecclestone newly arrived in the crease, the television commentary began to praise her skills. The kind of player who can hit sixes from the first ball, we were told. Seconds later, after the second ball, Ecclestone played the opposite of a six-hit attempt: a leg shot. Leading edge, caught at mid-wicket. Moments later, England were bowled out for 204.
The ninth wicket that fell was far from the most important, but it was emblematic of an English performance that fell far short of the players’ abilities. Losing the first ODI of the Women’s Ashes was always more likely than not, but the sluggishness in defeat is something else. Tammy Beaumont and Alice Capsey were choking among the dot balls. Heather Knight, Nat Sciver-Brunt, Amy Jones and Danni Wyatt-Hodge all got up, 13 fours and two sixes between them, but none reached 40, coughing up catches looking to strike big.
Related: England fall to four-wicket defeat as Australia draws first blood in Women’s Ashes
With so few players to defend, England’s only way was to eliminate Australia. Instead, they gave the game away before the first drink break. They can highlight moments of fortune, like Lauren Bell’s lbw against Alyssa Healy which was overturned after review. But most of the errors were in England’s hands, or not, as with Ellyse Perry’s Capsey falling into the deep end.
Despite the need for wickets and the new ball movement for Bell and Lauren Filer, England played out without slips or gullies to chase catches. Early bowlers sent misdirected full tosses or swings to the leg side.
While Filer’s pace eventually drew a nick from Phoebe Litchfield with an excellent lifting ball, and she had Perry’s catch abandoned two overs later, the next Filer made 19. Wider, and even though one of the boundaries was an inside edge, the others came from the side leg for Perry to hit well, then from wide to Healy’s force which was smoked through point and cover.
Senior all-rounder Sciver-Brunt scored 14 in her first pass. There was a misfield to gift a boundary to Beth Mooney, missed releases for overthrows and dreadful reviews, one burnt on a catch on Perry’s thigh, the other for the weight after breaking the inner edge of Mooney. England knocked down a heavyweight not out against Bell’s Perry, but had lost both challenges by the 16th over.
At this point, Ecclestone, England’s best bowler, had only just started her shift, the left-arm spinner held back arguing that Charlie Dean’s off-spin was a better option against the left-handed Mooney. Instead, Dean primarily played against the right-handed Healy and was immediately thrown to the boundary via coverage and sweep. When she finally got a look at Mooney, she was swept for four, then followed up with trash outside Healy’s leg stump for another.
By the time Mooney attempted consecutive sixes from Ecclestone, she had taken Australia beyond halfway, and even when Annabel Sutherland was fourth, they needed just 80 three-pointers. All the while, sloppy bowling and fielding had contributed to bringing one of Australia’s most dangerous players into the series at a delicate time, after Healy’s heavily interrupted schedule due to injury since the T20 World Cup last October.
Related: Women’s Ashes: Australia beat England by four wickets, first one-day international – as it happened
Healy, the slugger, is almost a luxury item on this team. Aside from leading and guarding the wicket, her latitude as an opener is to go all out, knowing she is supported by the firewall of Mooney, Perry and Sutherland. When she pulls it off, it’s a win, and when she doesn’t, finishes from Ash Gardner and Tahlia McGrath can make up for it with a heavily lower order. In this match, Healy’s 70 from 78 balls virtually killed the chase the moment it was started by Dean. While England had a moment of late interest with the wicket of McGrath and a dropped catch from Gardner, early innings missteps had already revealed too much.
England will not underestimate the challenge of beating Australia as many members of their squad have experienced the wrong side of the Ashes table on several occasions. But the start of a series here saw the power differential highlighted again: Australia barely having to get out of second gear, England barely able to get into it. The visitors have players who, at their best, can compete, but they can’t beat Australia if they spend half a match defeating themselves.
