da 888casino： Australia captain thrilled by strong crowds in England and looks forward to next T20I at Lord’s
da bwin： Valkerie Baynes06-Jul-2023Australia may be looking to arrest a run of two flawed performances, but for their captain Alyssa Healy, it’s far from panic stations after conceding defeat to England in their second T20I before a huge crowd at The Oval.While Australia managed to scrape a four-wicket victory with one ball to spare in the opening match at Edgbaston on Saturday, a sub-par fielding performance by their lofty standards, and a batting collapse from 59 without loss to 96 for 5 on Wednesday, allowed England to keep the Women’s Ashes series alive.”It felt like we were slightly off in every facet of the game again – and we mentioned that after the last game – but we were probably a little bit worse again tonight,” Healy said. “I guess it’s some sort of comfort to know that we didn’t play our best and still only lost by four runs. We’ll just pinpoint it over the next day and a half, and hopefully put it all together for Lord’s [for the third T20I].Related
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“We’re allowed to lose games of cricket. England also came out at the start of the series and said this is their strongest format. So you’ve got to potentially think they’re going to challenge you at some point, and they did tonight. It’s the game of cricket. You win some, you lose some. Fortunately for us, we haven’t lost a lot. But in saying that, hopefully we learn a lot more out of the loss tonight.”Australia still lead the Ashes by six points to two, with one more T20I and three ODIs – each worth two points – remaining. And they nearly recovered to chase down a target of 187 at The Oval, thanks to Ellyse Perry’s unbeaten 51 off only 27 balls, after Danni Wyatt’s 76 had led England to 186.It was the second-highest total conceded by Australia in the format, behind the 187 in December against India, who won that match in a Super Over, Australia’s only other T20I defeat in their past 25 completed matches as England prevailed by three runs on this occasion.”We spoke about what [are] some areas that we needed to improve on for the last game, and I think we improved in some of them,” Healy said. “But we’re still sort of letting ourselves down in some little one percenters in the game – whether it be the fielding or execution with bat and ball – so there’s not much you can do about it.”You can train all you like but ultimately if you turn up with a ruthless attitude and a want to win, you can get yourselves over the line. I’m not saying that’s what the issue, is but we just [have to] reset, refocus.”Just as they have set the standard as reigning T20I and ODI world champions, Healy believed this series was doing the same for the Women’s Ashes, with bumper crowds attending ahead of the next fixture at Lord’s on Saturday, only the second time England Women have played there since their World Cup victory in 2017.Some 20,328 fans had packed into The Oval to roar England to victory, their first against Australia in any format since February 2020, when they had won in a Super Over in Canberra during the tri-series also involving India. The crowd figure surpassed the 19,527 at Edgbaston for the first T20I after 23,207 attended the Test over the course of five days at Trent Bridge.”It was a great game of cricket at one of the most iconic grounds in England, which was a great showcase for women’s sport. And you see what you can do when you play on a good ground with a good wicket – people want to turn up and watch,” Healy said of The Oval. “We [have] set our sights on what is going to be an amazing occasion at Lord’s on Saturday night. This Ashes series has been such an amazing one so far.”We’re playing at some of the biggest grounds in the country, and people are wanting to turn up and watch because they know what they’re going to get. So to tick Lord’s off, it’ll be a really a special occasion for the girls who get that opportunity. But I’m sure that the girls that aren’t playing, there’s going to be plenty more opportunities in future Ashes series because they’ve set the benchmark now, which is really exciting.””Some of us are emotional because it’s been a long time coming,” Sarah Glenn on England’s win in the second T20I•Getty Images
For England’s part, Sarah Glenn, who took two wickets and shared an important 31-run stand for the eighth wicket with fellow spinner Sophie Ecclestone, said the victory in the second T20I was an emotional one, having pushed Australia during stages of the Test and in the previous T20I.”Oh God, so many emotions. Really happy,” Glenn said. “Some of us are a bit emotional just because it’s been a long time coming. We’ve had lots of really close calls, and we’ve always known we can beat them. It’s just actually [about] getting over the line against a top line-up, who have had momentum for a long time.”We really improved from the last game, but I think there’s still a lot to come from us as well. We will celebrate the win definitely, but with a top-class side, they’ll just come back just as hard or even harder. So I think we’re just going to prepare for the next couple of days, how we can try and get over the line again, and just keep that momentum with us.”
