Depleted Aussies retain Ashes with assertive win

Australia have officially retained the women's Ashes, overcoming a chaotic lead-in to the first T20I that saw them lose two star players to injury to romp to a 57-run victory over England.

No Alyssa Healy, no Ashleigh Gardner but an inspired Australia led by Beth Mooney's 51-ball 75 piled on 8-198 batting first at the Sydney Cricket Ground, leaving England needing to pull off the equal second-highest run chase in women's T20Is to keep the Ashes alive. 

Sophia Dunkley powered her way to 59 off 30 to keep England in touch with their mammoth target, but their next highest scorer was Nat Sciver-Brunt's 20, as leg-spinners Georgia Wareham (3-25) and Alana King (2-14) helped bowl the tourists out for 141 in 16 overs.

Australia now hold an 8-0 lead in the multi-format, points-based series and will continue their decade-long grip on the Ashes – and now have two further T20Is and the day-night Test at the MCG to claim the two points required to win the series outright.

However, they may have to continue without captain Healy, whose further participation in the series is under a cloud after she reported foot soreness in the lead-up to Monday's match. 

Australia were rocked in the hours leading up to the match as both Healy and Gardner were ruled out with foot and calf injuries respectively, and the carnage threatened to worsen when Megan Schutt reported a sore ankle shortly before the toss.

Fortunately for Australia, Schutt was cleared to play, but a cloud will remain over Healy and Gardner's participation going forward in the series.

Healy's absence opened the door for Georgia Voll to make her T20I debut and she grabbed cap No.61 and ran with it as Australia were put in to bat by England.

Opening alongside her close mate and mentor Mooney, she hit a quartet of fours in a lively 11-ball 21 before she was trapped lbw by Bell, who one over earlier had dropped the 21-year-old on 13.

Promoted to No.3, Phoebe Litchfield (25 off 20) switch hit leg-spinner Sarah Glenn for six to help Australia to an imposing 1-90 at the midway mark, but her charge ended when she was run out just after drinks, and Ellyse Perry (7) and Annabel Sutherland (3) came and went in quick succession, leaving the hosts 4-121 in the 14th.

Throughout, Mooney had been the rock, hitting England's attack to all corners of the SCG as she raced to fifty off 37 balls, and when she was joined by stand-in skipper Tahlia McGrath, the pair piled on 45 runs from the next 2.5 overs, the pair punishing first Glenn then Bell, aided by England's sloppiness in the field.

Australia's escalation stalled as McGrath and Mooney departed in the space of five deliveries, but late cameos from Grace Harris (14) and Wareham (11) took their team to 7-198.

Schutt and Kim Garth combined to hand Australia a dream start with the ball, removing openers Maia Bouchier and Danni Wyatt-Hodge for a pair of ducks to reduce England to 2-4 inside the first seven balls.

But the momentum swung back England's way in a heartbeat, as first Sciver-Brunt (20 off five) smacked a quartet of fours, then Dunkley hit Garth over the long on boundary three times in an over, as the tourists raced to 2-48 from four overs – remarkable, with all 46 runs off the bat coming via boundaries. 

McGrath tossed the ball to the in-form Alana King, playing her first T20I since February 2023, and she duly bowled Sciver-Brunt first ball. 

But Dunkley, featuring for the first time in this series, continued to play with the flair and aggression that England insist is the hallmark of their T20I game, engaging in battle with Australia's leg-spinners as she raced to fifty off 24 balls.

King got a second when she trapped Heather Knight (18 off 20) on the pads and although the umpire was unmoved, Australia successfully reviewed, leaving England 4-96 needing 103 off 59.

Dunkley smacked McGrath wide of long on for the 10th boundary of her innings, but the Australian captain hit back three balls later, bowling the England No.3 for 59, and when Wareham bowled Amy Jones for 12, the tourists were teetering needing 83 off 43.

The final five wickets fell for 25 runs, as Australia wrapped up another comprehensive win in front of more than 9200 fans. 

The game marked Australia's return to the T20I format for the first time since their shock World Cup semi-final loss to South Africa and, injury-enforced changes aside, they did deliver a reshuffled order, with Litchfield and Sutherland both promoted up the order to No.3 and 5 respectively.

Australia and England will travel to Canberra on Tuesday, where Gardner will hope to prove her fitness for Thursday's second T20I at Manuka Oval.

Healy's future in the series is a little cloudier, with selector Shawn Flegler revealing on broadcast the Australian captain was suffering a stress reaction in the same foot she injured – on that occasion, by rupturing her planter fascia – at the World Cup in October. 

Healy was wearing a boot at the SCG on Monday night and Cricket Australia said in a statement pre-game they were consulting with specialists to develop an appropriate management plan for the 34-year-old.

Commbank Women's Ashes 2025

Australia lead the multi-format series 8-0

First ODI: Australia won by six wickets

Second ODI: Australia won by 21 runs

Third ODI: Australia won by 86 runs

First T20I: Australia won by 57 runs

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