Wounded World Cup foes to seek Ashes redemption

Many had tipped Sunday’s T20 World Cup final to pit Australia against England in a battle that would ignite the fire for the multi-format Ashes to come later this summer.

Instead, the world’s current two top-ranked teams will assemble in Sydney in early January still smarting and feeling they have a point to prove following their shock early exits from the ICC tournament.

For Australia, there was the disappointment of missing a place in the final for the first time since 2009, and the shot at a fourth consecutive title – and what would have been their first significant piece of silverware of the post-Lanning era.

Alyssa Healy’s team have already been clear that nothing than less than outright Ashes win will do after merely retaining in England in 2023, and would not countenance the loss of a second major trophy in the space of four months.

England, meanwhile, had arrived in the UAE brimming with confidence after a successful home summer, ready to go ‘toe-to-toe’ with Australia for a tilt at their first T20 World Cup title since 2009.

Instead, they left in tears after being soundly beaten by West Indies in their final group game and didn't reach the semi-finals.

Both teams will have the chance to shake off their World Cup disappointment in other international engagements prior to the Ashes; England have a multi-format tour of South Africa starting in November, and Australia play one-day series against India and New Zealand in December.

But the Ashes are the main event this summer, with games scheduled in the country’s biggest stadiums culminating in a day-night Test at the MCG, and England will be desperate to ensure Australia’s hold on the trophy does not extend into a 10th year.

"We've worked incredibly hard over a long period of time working towards this point and we’ve put a lot of really good foundations into the team," England coach Jon Lewis said following his team’s World Cup exit.

"They might not feel that now, they will be better for this experience and I'm pretty sure that they'll come back a stronger team for it."

In the immediate aftermath of Australia’s semi-final exit, captain Alyssa Healy was quick to emphasise the positives her team would draw from the tournament.

Those included the contributions of Phoebe Litchfield, who batted at a strike rate of 128.88 in her four innings in the tournament, but only had the opportunity to face 45 balls.

Annabel Sutherland was Australia’s leading wicket taker with the ball, taking nine and maintaining an economy rate of 5.15, but the allrounder was starved of opportunity to bat coming in at No.8 or No.9, and facing nine deliveries in total.

Healy had admitted Australia had not yet quite worked out how to get the maximum use out of their ultra-deep batting line-up leading into the tournament.

Following the semi-final, work remains to be done there: Australia have lost five of their past 11 matches batting first, compared to 26 of 27 chasing going back to 2020.

Using the pain of missing the World Cup final in a positive way, to drive the team further forward, would be crucial with a long summer ahead, coach Shelley Nitschke said on Thursday.

"As you can expect, a lot of the girls are really disappointed at the moment, but I think we just have to take the time to keep everything in perspective and make sure that we use this," she said.

"It's going to hurt, it's going to hurt for a while, but we need to use this.

"I think it's just about keeping our feet on the ground, getting around each other and maintaining a perspective moving forward ... we've got a lot of cricket coming up this summer."

Commbank Women's Ashes 2025

First ODI: January 12: North Sydney Oval, Sydney, 10.30am AEDT

Second ODI: January 14: CitiPower Centre, Melbourne, 10.05am AEDT

Third ODI: January 17: Bellerive Oval, Hobart, 10.05am AEDT

First T20I: January 20: SCG, Sydney, 7.40pm AEDT

Second T20I: January 23: Manuka Oval, Canberra, 7.40pm AEDT

Third T20I: January 25: Adelaide Oval, Adelaide, 7.10pm ACDT (7.40pm AEDT)

Day-night Test: January 30 - February 2: MCG, Melbourne, 2.30pm AEDT