Australia retain Ashes at earliest opportunity with solid win in first T20I
Australia delivered a statement performance to beat England in the first T20I and retain the Ashes after claiming eight points, with eight points still left to play for in the ongoing Women's Ashes.
The home side won all three of the One Day Internationals at the start of the Ashes, and they continued that impressive form into the T20s, racking up a huge total when batting first in Sydney.
Beth Mooney top scored with 75 from 51 balls at the top of the order, while attacking cameos from Georgia Voll (21 from 11), Tahlia McGrath (26 from 9) and Grace Harris (14 from 8) boosted Australia to a daunting score of 198/7.
England briefly threatened to pull off something special in their reply, despite losing both openers to ducks. Sophia Dunkley’s counter-attacking 59 from 30 balls at number three put England in a decent position at the halfway stage of the innings, but wickets kept on falling, and the chase fizzled out as they were bowled out for 141 with four overs still remaining.
They're not going anywhere 😎 #Ashes pic.twitter.com/quV4hJUrE7
— Australian Women's Cricket Team 🏏 (@AusWomenCricket) January 20, 2025
Georgia Wareham picked up 3/25, but it was Alana King who played the biggest role, going for 2/14 from her three overs and picking up the key scalps of Nat Sciver-Brunt and Heather Knight.
Australia won the three ODIs by four wickets, 21 runs and 86 runs respectively, and will be eyeing a clean sweep with three matches (two T20Is and a Test) still to play.
The second T20I is coming up in Canberra on Thursday, before the final T20 in Adelaide next Saturday and then the one-off Test in Melbourne, which starts on January 30.