England again in do-or-die Ashes territory after missed moments

Heather Knight says England's failure to seize the key moments cost them throughout the three Ashes ODIs, but she is optimistic a change in format will refresh her team as they confront a run of do-or-die matches.

England must win all three T20s and the day-night Test if they want to end Australia's decade long hold on the Ashes. 

They also trailed 0-6 in the 2023 edition on home soil and ultimately rallied to level the series at 8-8 – something Knight said her team would draw upon over the coming week.

The tourists had their chances across the three one-dayers; in Sydney they caused Australia to wobble chasing 204, then they had their rivals seemingly on the ropes when they bowled Australia out for 180 in Melbourne, only for Alana King to lead the way as England were rolled for 159 in response.

On Friday in Hobart, England again had Australia backed into a corner at 4-59, but Ashleigh Gardner's maiden international century saw them recover to 8-308 before King's five-wicket haul sealed an 86-run win.

"Tricky question, I think just keeping our composure and keep believing," Knight said on Friday when asked what was needed for England to start winning the big moments against Australia.

"There's been really a lot of moments (in the past) where we have done really well, when we've been under pressure we've seized moments. 

"But I guess in the last three games, it's probably been the difference, those key moments, when the game's on the line, they seem to be able to cope with them really well and we haven't been able to seize the moment and really hammer down any advantage that we have got. 

"It's something that we need to do a little bit better, and I guess realising when we're in a key moment of the match, (and saying) 'can we go after this? Let's go and win this'. 

"So hopefully we can show some progress in that in the T20s."

It is a sidenote in the middle of the multi-format Ashes, but Friday's game was Australia's last ODI outing until September, when they will travel to India to play three 50-over games immediately before they commence their World Cup defence. 

Having swept India, New Zealand and England – three of the world's top five ranked ODI teams, alongside Australia and South Africa – over the last six weeks, they will go into the winter feeling confident about their one-day game ahead of the tournament.

This week, they outdid England in all facets in their strongest format.

While Australia's batting was far from clinical, individual players stepped up with significant knocks in each game: Alyssa Healy's 70 at North Sydney Oval, Ellyse Perry's 60 at Junction Oval and Gardner's 102, Tahlia McGrath's 55 and Beth Mooney's 50 at Bellerive.

Only two batters passed fifty for England across the three games: Tammy Beaumont (54) and Nat Sciver-Brunt (61) chasing an unlikely 308 on Friday.

The bowling was more evenly matched, with King (11 wickets) and Sophie Ecclestone (7) the standout spinners while Kim Garth (5) and Lauren Bell (5) were the leading quicks – but again Australia had the edge.

In the field, Phoebe Litchfield took the catch of the series on Friday, only for Ashleigh Gardner to better it with a candidate for catch of the summer four overs later.

England will take solace in a switch to the T20I format. While they failed to get out of their group stage at last year's T20 World Cup thanks to a horror final group game against West Indies, they have been humming in the format and thrashed South Africa 3-0 in December.

Australia have not played a 20-over game since their own premature World Cup exit, and have indicated they will consider reshuffling their batting line-up in response to that defeat, giving an air of the unknown to how they will line up at the SCG on Monday night.

"It's going to be tough. We've been here before, the last Ashes series was six-nil, and we were able to turn things around," Knight said. 

"Having a change of format will be really good for us.

"I think T20 cricket is one of our best formats, and I think that little reset will do some good. 

"We've got to keep believing but we can't look too far ahead. 

"I think we did that back in the last Ashes, we kept it game by game and just got on a bit of a roll. 

"So obviously the next game is going to be really key, and try and put in a really big performance in Sydney.

"But we're still alive, we're still in it, and we've got to keep believing we can.

"It is a quick turnaround ... but just a mental refresh, change of format, couple of new faces and T20 is format that a lot of the girls love playing, that freedom and fun to it."

Commbank Women's Ashes 2025

Australia lead the multi-format series 6-0

First ODI: Australia won by six wickets

Second ODI: Australia won by 21 runs

Third ODI: Australia won by 86 runs

First T20I: January 20: SCG, Sydney, 7.15pm AEDT

Second T20I: January 23: Manuka Oval, Canberra, 7.15pm AEDT

Third T20I: January 25: Adelaide Oval, Adelaide, 6.45pm ACDT (7.15pm AEDT)

Australia squad (ODI/T20Is): Alyssa Healy (c), Darcie Brown, Ashleigh Gardner, Kim Garth, Grace Harris+, Alana King, Phoebe Litchfield, Tahlia McGrath (vc), Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Voll, Georgia Wareham

England squad (ODI/T20Is): Heather Knight (c), Tammy Beaumont, Lauren Bell, Maia Bouchier, Alice Capsey, Kate Cross*, Charlie Dean, Sophia Dunkley, Sophie Ecclestone, Lauren Filer, Danielle Gibson+, Sarah Glenn, Bess Heath+, Amy Jones, Freya Kemp+, Nat Sciver-Brunt, Linsey Smith+, Danni Wyatt-Hodge

* ODIs only; + T20Is only

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

Australia Test squad: TBC

England Test squad: Heather Knight (c), Tammy Beaumont, Lauren Bell, Maia Bouchier, Kate Cross, Charlie Dean, Sophia Dunkley, Sophie Ecclestone, Lauren Filer, Bess Heath, Amy Jones, Ryana MacDonald-Gay, Nat Sciver-Brunt, Danni Wyatt-Hodge

The rivalry resumes with a blockbuster series in Australia from Jan 12 - Feb 2. Learn about the remarkable 90-year history at the Women's Ashes Hub