by There was a sense of inevitability about the outcome of the third Ashes one-day international, from the moment Ash Gardner decided she was going to hit Sophie Ecclestone for six in her opener. Gardner has been England’s Ashes foe before – who can forget the 12 wickets she took in the 2023 Trent Bridge Test while nursing a finger injury?
Now here she was, facing England’s best bowler just after Heather Knight had recruited her. Australia were four wickets down in the first 15 overs, after a disappointing 180 on Tuesday, but Gardner saw Ecclestone coming, came down the track and hit the ball gently over the top. Two hours later she celebrated her first international hundred and England were left with a record 309 to win.
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If the prevailing feeling was that the visitors might as well have given up and gone home at that point, they only had themselves to blame: 204 all out in the first ODI and 159 all out All during the second had hardly inspired confidence. In this respect, England’s 222 defied expectations: they faced Australia for 30 overs of the race, with Tammy Beaumont and Nat Sciver-Brunt scoring half-centuries.
But nothing was going to ruin Gardner’s day in the sun. Georgia Wareham slipped the ball into the stumps of the set’s two batters, Phoebe Litchfield and Kim Garth took stunning catches and Alana King claimed a first five for, but Gardner had the last laugh.
Playing on the rope at deep mid-wicket, she went off balance while trying to latch on to the catch offered by Ecclestone, but managed to parry the ball and drive all the way into the field of play to latch on before it hits the grass. Centuries followed by spectacular catches win matches.
England’s worst fears have been realized here in Hobart. It was the old Australia, the one that won four consecutive World Cups, back with a vengeance – the glimmer of weakness shown in the second ODI now gone. Calls for Beth Mooney and Tahlia McGrath to be dropped to make way for new kid on the block, Georgia Voll, suddenly seemed ridiculous. Mooney’s 50 proved vital in helping Gardner rebuild after a shaky start before McGrath struck a 38-ball half-century as a slow start turned into a sprint.
Wareham was not in Australia’s XI for the first two ODIs: here, selected in place of Darcie Brown (apparently for her bowling), she smashed 38 off 12 balls at No. 8, winning 17 runs since the final of Ecclestone. Australia added 104 runs from the last 10 and by the end, England were making defensive errors on the field. This could be a long tour.
England looked desperate at the start, burning their two critical DRS in 23 balls to try to dislodge Alyssa Healy and Ellyse Perry, caught behind. Interestingly, Australia looked just as nervous in the first 15 overs, despite being four runs ahead.
Three wickets took place in the powerplay: Litchfield swung his bat at Lauren Filer and slipped behind, Perry threw Lauren Bell straight into Filer’s hands at short fine leg and Healy was dropped by a Spin backpedaling halfway through, but broke through. at deep midwicket in the next over from Sciver‑Brunt. Charlie Dean took a fourth as Annabel Sutherland was caught in the ring again.
But then came Gardner: lofted runs across the floor, but also filling gaps in rounds of controlled aggression that set the platform for a total over 300. She found herself facing Beaumont in the deep with four overs remaining, but Wareham gave the fielders no relief.
If England win all three T20s and the Test, they would still win the Ashes: Jon Lewis will no doubt remind his players of 2023, when they came back from 6-0 down to level the series 8-8 . Doing it away from home, however, feels like a completely different proposition: England has a mountain to climb.
