Women's Ashes 2021-22

Twenty20 internationals (3): Australia 1, England 0 Test match (1): Australia 0, England 0 One-day internationals (3): Australia 3, England 0 Overall Ashes points: Australia 12, England 4

On recent Ashes tours, it's not been unusual for England to start amid chaos and finish in exhaustion. But this was a particularly difficult trip for the women's side. They were beset by off-field challenges long before facing the world's strongest team; that they failed to win a match, in any format, was perhaps little surprise. First came the rejigging of the fixtures, originally scheduled for January 27 to February 19, and beginning with the Test. To allow for a longer quarantine period in New Zealand, where the World Cup would begin in early March, the Twenty20 internationals were brought forward to the week before the Test, so the series could end on February 8.

As the virus played havoc with the men's Ashes, the women had to isolate before they even arrived. Next, rain washed out two of the T20 internationals, stripping England of perhaps their best opportunity to land a blow on Australia's all-conquering side. Then there was the emotional hit. The highlight, for England and for spectators looking for a contest, was the Test: chasing 257, they came within 12 runs of a highly implausible victory, though a late collapse left the last pair hanging on to save the game.

As in the first T20 match, where Australia had chased down 170, their highest second-innings total, the thought of what might have been was hard to take for Heather Knight's team. The drawn Test left Australia 6-4 ahead on multi-format points; England needed to take all three one-day internationals to win the Ashes for the first time since 2013-14. Australia imposed an ODI whitewash. Their strength in depth, and ability to win even when not at their best, overwhelmed an England side seeking miracles, hanging on to cliche´s and hoping for the best.

Underlying it all was Australia's stronger domestic infrastructure - and a fitter, focused team. They were confident enough to drop their biggest star, Ellyse Perry, for the T20 series: there was another all-rounder in town now, Tahlia McGrath. Perry was back to play a key role in the rest of the series, and captain Meg Lanning was the leading scorer, with 254 runs, one more than Knight. But the home side's determination was embodied by Beth Mooney, whose jaw was broken just before the series began. Ten days later, she returned for the Test, titanium plates and all; she scored 63 in the second innings (and took a remarkable tumbling catch), followed by a match-winning 73 in the first ODI.

While Australia had plenty of players ready to take their turn in the limelight, England relied too heavily on too few. Knight scored the series' only century, an unbeaten 168 in the Test, while stalwart seamer Katherine Brunt (like Perry, in her ninth Ashes series) took the only five-wicket haul; she and McGrath finished with 11 across all matches. But no other England player managed more than five, compared with five more Australians, and they had only four half-centuries, to Australia's nine. It's a team game, and the Ashes only reinforced how much better Australia were.