By Richard Clark

England are 119 for 6, and there are five overs to go.  Danni Wyatt has a dilemma…

The opening salvos of this Ashes series saw business – kind of – as usual.  England had their moments, but when push came to shove Australia found a way.

By general consensus the Test Match was close, a game England could have won, perhaps even should have won.  For what it’s worth, I’m not sure I necessarily agree.

There were points in proceedings where things were on the brink of turning England’s way, for sure.  The visitors were 238 for 6 in their first innings and had they been dismissed for below 300, with England having the best of the conditions to bat…

In reply England were closing in on 400 with only four wickets down.  Had they gone on to gain a lead of 50 or more…

Second time around Australia were teetering at 198 for 7, a lead barely the right side of 200.  Had England picked up those last three wickets cheaply…

But we know what Australia do.  They ‘find a way’, it’s what it says on their tin.  And they found ways in all three of those moments. 

Buoyed by the advantage those four points gave them, Alyssa Healy’s team produced arguably their only really convincing performance of the series in the first T20 at Edgbaston.  Sophia Dunkley and Amy Jones gave them a bit to think about with the bat, and there was something of a wobble as the chase came down to the pointy end, but ultimately it was as emphatic as a win with one ball to spare could be.

Six-nil, job almost done, thanks for coming.  See you at the Oval.

So here we are.  England are 119 for 6, and there are five overs to go.  Danni Wyatt has a dilemma…

Convention, with the tail for company, is that you eke out a respectable score.  Something in the region of 155 to 160 would be grand.  It’s something for the bowlers to defend.  Going for broke is too risky, it brings into play the possibility of being bowled out for 140 or less, and Australia will chase that down in their sleep.  The flaw with that thinking is that this is Australia.  They’ll chase down 155 to 160 in their sleep just as easily.  Finders of ways, remember?

Wyatt instinctively knows this.

Forgive a little detour here.  During the closing stages of the 1981 Headingley Men’s Test – the Botham’s Ashes series – Dennis Lillee flipped a bouncer from Bob Willis over the slips for four.  On commentary, Christopher Martin-Jenkins described Lillee as “a most canny cricketer.”  It’s funny the phrases that stay with you – I often think of Martin-Jenkins’ words when I’m watching Wyatt bat. 

Healy turns to Miss Reliable, Megan Schutt, and the next six, no seven, no eight balls will define the series.

The first is a long hop, an awful ball, and Wyatt climbs into it.  Frankly it would have been rude not to.  Better still, umpire Russell Warren has his arm outstretched.  The shot that follows, from the free hit, is one only Wyatt among this England squad could play.  Schutt spears it in at leg stump, but Wyatt has anticipated that and taken two steps back towards square leg already.  The stroke looks effortless, languid, and yet the ball arrows almost for six over backward point.  It’s an outrageous piece of batting, and it’s the shot that changes the Ashes.

The next two balls go for boundaries as well, and Schutt chucks in a wide that evades Healy for good measure.  25 runs from the over in total, 62 from that plus the three that follow.  Wyatt doesn’t last much longer, but she has set a tone that Sophie Ecclestone in particular gleefully emulates.  England rattle along, Australia are just rattled.  Only a quiet final over yielding just five tempers the giddiness of it all. 

And yet, Australia almost chase it down, falling a mere three runs short.  No matter.  The important thing is that England, from the most unpromising of positions, have found a way.

Up until that one over, Australia had won all the key moments, found all the ways.  From that point on the vast, vast majority of ways were found by England, most notably at Bristol and at Taunton when the Aussies looked like wrestling victories from see-saw contests.

Healy’s post-match comment yesterday that “I have actually never been a believer in the gap. The gap’s not necessarily been [there],” was… interesting.  The facts don’t bear that out in any way.  England’s only points across the last two series had come from washouts, drawn and rain-spoiled Tests, and a dead rubber T20.  A lot was made of the near-victory in the Canberra Test 18 months ago but in reality that opportunity was handed to them by Meg Lanning’s ‘sporting’ declaration.  Wise heads insisted this summer would be no different.

In that context, it’s really difficult to think of a key moment when it has mattered in recent series where England have come out on top.  The Canberra T20 in 2017 (another Danni Wyatt masterclass) which drew that series is probably the last time it happened, and also the last time Australia lost any white ball series.

And it’s important to remember this is not just ‘an England thing.’  Australia had won 41 out of 42 ODIs ahead of this summer.  That’s an awfully large percentage of moments won and ways found.

Is this the end of an era?  Has the aura been destroyed?  Probably not, but at the same time it really ought to be the case now that England should never be cowed by this opposition again.  Fire has been fought with fire, toes have gone to toes.

Ways have been found.