The Women's Ashes

The Women's Ashes

Countries	Australia   England
Administrator	International Cricket Council
Format	Mixed, points based system
First edition	1934–35 (Australia)
Latest edition	2023 (England)
Next edition	2024–25 (Australia)
Tournament format	Series
Current champion	Australia
Most successful	Australia (10 titles)
Most runs	Ellyse Perry (1761) [lower-alpha 1] [1]
Most wickets	Ellyse Perry (66) [lower-alpha 1] [2]

The Women's Ashes is the perpetual trophy in women's international cricket series between England and Australia. The name derives from the historic precedent of the Ashes in male cricket and, until 2013, was similarly decided exclusively on the outcomes of Test matches.

Since the Australian tour of England in 2013, the competition is decided on a points system, taking account of One-Day Internationals and Twenty20 International matches as well as Tests. Four (previously six) points ^[3] are awarded for a Test victory (two points to each side in the event of a draw), and two points for a victory in a limited-overs game.

History

Heralded in 1931, ^[4] the first women's Test series between England and Australia—the first women's Test series anywhere—was played in 1934–35. ^[5] At that time, according to the English captain, Betty Archdale, women played only "for love of the game" and did not wish to be associated with the male concepts of Tests and Ashes. ^[6]

A total of 24 series have taken place, with 51 Test matches played (and one scheduled Test abandoned). The length of series has varied between one and five Tests. Series have been played biennially since 2001, with only one or two tests played in a series. Since the 2013 series, One Day Internationals and Twenty20 International matches have counted, as well as Tests, toward the trophy result. As of 2015 ^[update] , a Test victory is worth four points (two to each side for a draw), and two points are awarded for victory in a limited-overs match. ^[3]

Australian Beth Mooney batting in the 2017–18 Women's Ashes Test at North Sydney Oval with England's Sarah Taylor keeping wicket behind her.

In February 2007, England Women travelled to Australia to defend the Women's Ashes, doing so successfully by winning the one-off Test in Bowral by six wickets. In July 2009, England retained the Women's Ashes after the one-off test at Worcester ended in a draw. In January 2011 Australia was victorious, winning a one-off test in Sydney. England regained the trophy on the new points system in August 2013, and successfully defended it in a series played in Australia in January–February 2014. ^[7] Australia succeeded in regaining the trophy during the 2015 series played in England. ^[8]

Australia has retained the Ashes for three consecutive series - 2017-18, 2019 and 2021–22 - making them the current holder of the trophy. ^[9]

Trophy

Before the ODI series in July 1998, the president of the Women's Cricket Association, Norma Izard devised a way for the women to have a trophy of their own, like the men's Ashes urn. The England and Australia players both signed a miniature cricket bat which was burned at Lord's in a wok alongside a copy of the WCA constitution and rulebook, as the WCA had voted 4 months earlier to merge with England and Wales Cricket Board. ^[10] Izard had commissioned a trophy to hold them: a wooden cricket ball ^[11] carved from yew. ^[10]

The plaque commemorating the Women's Ashes trophy creation at Lord's.

Following the 2001 series, the Australian team took an empty replica home with them and the ball containing the ashes remained in the Lord's museum. However, in the intervening years, one of the two wooden balls went missing. ^[10] When the ECB and Cricket Australia commissioned a new trophy, the remaining ball became the focal point of the new trophy, inside nine stumps. ^[12] Because of this, it remains unclear if the modern trophy contains those original ashes or not. ^[10]

In July 2023, to mark the 25th anniversary of the trophy's creation, the MCC unveiled a plaque at Lord's. ^[13]

Results summary

	Played	Won by Australia	Won by England	Drawn	Ref
All series	25	10	6	9	[14]
Series in Australia	12	6	3	3	[14]
Series in England	13	4	3	6	[14]

Test (until 2010–11) Played Won by Australia Won by England Drawn Ref All Tests 45 11 8 26 [15] Tests in Australia 22 6 4 12 [16] Test in England 23 5 4 14 [16] All series 18 7 4 7 [14] Series in Australia 9 5 2 2 [14] Series in England 9 2 2 5 [14]

Multi-format (from 2013) Played Won by Australia Won by England Drawn Ref All Matches 49 25 18 4 [17] Matches in Australia 21 12 5 2 [18] Matches in England 28 13 13 2 [19] All series 7 3 2 2 [14] Series in Australia 3 1 1 1 [14] Series in England 4 2 1 1 [14]

Series

Series decided on Test results:

Series	Season	Played in	First match	Tests played (sched)	Tests won by Australia	Tests won by England	Tests drawn	Series result	Holder at series end
1	1934–35	Australia	28 December 1934	3	0	2	1	England	England
2	1937	England	12 June 1937	3	1	1	1	Drawn	England
3	1948–49	Australia	15 January 1949	3	1	0	2	Australia	Australia
4	1951	England	16 June 1951	3	1	1	1	Drawn	Australia
5	1957–58	Australia	7 February 1958	3 (4)	0	0	3	Drawn	Australia
6	1963	England	15 June 1963	3	0	1	2	England	England
7	1968–69	Australia	27 December 1968	3	0	0	3	Drawn	England
8	1976	England	19 June 1976	3	0	0	3	Drawn	England
9	1984–85	Australia	13 December 1984	5	2	1	2	Australia	Australia
10	1987	England	1 August 1987	3	1	0	2	Australia	Australia
11	1991–92	Australia	19 February 1992	1	1	0	0	Australia	Australia
12	1998	England	6 August 1998	3	0	0	3	Drawn	Australia
13	2001	England	24 June 2001	2	2	0	0	Australia	Australia
14	2002–03	Australia	15 February 2003	2	1	0	1	Australia	Australia
15	2005	England	9 August 2005	2	0	1	1	England	England
16	2007–08	Australia	15 February 2008	1	0	1	0	England	England
17	2009	England	10 July 2009	1	0	0	1	Drawn	England
18	2010–11	Australia	22 January 2011	1	1	0	0	Australia	Australia

Series decided on a points system:

Series	Season	Played in	First match	Test	ODIs	Twenty20s	Australia points	England points	Series result	Holder at series end
19	2013	England	11 August 2013	Drawn	Eng 2–1 Aus	Eng 3–0 Aus	4	12	England	England
20	2013–14	Australia	10 January 2014	Eng	Aus 2–1 Eng	Aus 2–1 Eng	8	10	England	England
21	2015	England	21 July 2015	Aus	Eng 1–2 Aus	Eng 2–1 Aus	10	6	Australia	Australia
22	2017–18	Australia	22 October 2017	Drawn	Aus 2–1 Eng	Aus 1–2 Eng	8	8	Drawn	Australia
23	2019	England	2 July 2019	Drawn	Eng 0–3 Aus	Eng 1–2 Aus	12	4	Australia	Australia
24	2021–22	Australia	20 January 2022	Drawn	Aus 3–0 Eng	Aus 1–0 Eng (2 no results)	12	4	Australia	Australia
25	2023	England	22 June 2023	Aus	Eng 2−1 Aus	Eng 2−1 Aus	8	8	Drawn	Australia

Player statistics

Tests (until 2010–11)

Batting

Most runs ^[20]

Runs	Player	Matches	Highest	Average	100	50	Span
1024	Jan Brittin	11	167	56.88	3	5	1984–1998
919	Myrtle Maclagan	12	119	43.76	2	6	1934–1951
896	Charlotte Edwards	10	114*	56.00	1	7	1998–2011
874	Karen Rolton	11	209*	58.26	2	4	1998–2009
740	Rachael Heyhoe Flint	9	179	49.33	2	4	1963–1976

Bowling

Most wickets ^[21]

Wickets	Player	Matches	BBI	Average	Economy	5	10	Span
53	Betty Wilson	9	7/7	12.69	1.67	3	1	1949–1958
52	Cathryn Fitzpatrick	9	5/29	18.26	2.01	2	0	1998–2005
51	Myrtle Maclagan	12	7/10	16.90	1.68	2	0	1934–1951
47	Mary Duggan	11	7/6	14.76	1.88	3	0	1949–1963
31	Peggy Antonio	6	6/49	13.90	2.61	3	0	1934–1937

Multi-format (from 2013)

Player names in bold text are current international players.

Batting (all matches)

Most runs ^{[1] [lower-alpha 2]}

Runs	Player	Matches	Highest	Average	100	50	Span
1693	Ellyse Perry	36	213*	62.7	2	12	2013-2023
1182	Heather Knight	33	157	35.82	1	10	2013-2023
1119	Nat Sciver-Brunt	34	129	37.30	2	5	2013-2023
1033	Meg Lanning	25	133*	39.73	2	6	2013-2019
774	Alyssa Healy	32	71	25.8	0	6	2013-2023

Updated to include 2023 Women's Ashes, however some matches for the 2021-22 Women's Ashes are missing from the records.

Bowling (all matches)

Most wickets ^{[2] [lower-alpha 2]}

Wickets	Player	Matches	BBI	Average	Economy	5	Span
59	Ellyse Perry	42	7/22	16.29	2.79	3	2013-2023
45	Megan Schutt	28	4/22	19.15	3.36	0	2013-2023
41	Jess Jonassen	34	4/38	26.46	3.86	0	2013-2023
39	Katherine Sciver-Brunt	26	6/69	29.03	3.6	1	2013-2022
37	Sophie Ecclestone	17	5/63	25.08	3.57	2	2017-2023

Updated to include 2023 Women's Ashes however some matches for the 2021-22 Women's Ashes are missing from the records..

1. Unfortunately, some matches from the 2021-22 series have been excluded from the record, meaning these numbers are likely an underestimation.
2. For any player who participated in the series prior to 2013, those scores have been subtracted to achieve their post 2013 records.

References

1. "Records / Women's Ashes/ All matches / Most runs". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 19 July 2023.
2. "Records / Women's Ashes/ All matches / Most wickets". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 19 July 2023.
3. (Formerly six points were awarded for a Test victory, prior to the 2015 series.) Women's Ashes 2015: England v Australia schedule announced, BBC News, 11 November 2014.
4. Cricket Booming Among Women in "Woman's Ways" feature, The Worker (Brisbane) , 29 April 1931, at Trove
5. English Women's Team Kalgoorlie Miner , 12 March 1947, at Trove
6. Women Cricketers. No Ashes or Tests. Playing for Love of Game The Sydney Morning Herald , 21 Nov 1934, at Trove
7. England retains women's Ashes with nine-wicket Twenty20 win against Australia ABC News (Australia), 29 January 2014.
8. Collins Adam. "Women's Ashes: Australia clinches the series with 20-run win over England in second T20 in Hove" ABC News, 29 August 2015
9. "Women's Ashes | 2022 Women's Ashes | Live Score, Schedule, News". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 11 July 2023.
10. "Let there be Ashes". Cricinfo. Retrieved 22 June 2023.
11. Starting a tradition: Australia and England to play for Women's Ashes at sportsillustrated.cnn.com, 20 July 1998. Accessed 4 September 2013
12. The Women’s Ashes Trophy Made in Kyneton Archived 2013-11-13 at the Wayback Machine Kyneton Connect , August 2013
13. "MCC celebrate creation of Women's Ashes at Lord's ahead of England v Australia T20 clash | Lord's". www.lords.org. 7 July 2023. Retrieved 11 July 2023.
14. "Records – Women's Ashes –All Matches- Team Records". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
15. "Statsguru Records – Women's Ashes from 2013 – Team Records". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
16. "Records – Women's Ashes until 2011 – Team Records". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
17. "Records – Women's Ashes –All Matches- Team Records". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
18. "Records – Women's Ashes –All Matches in Australia- Team Records". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
19. "Records – Women's Ashes –All Matches in Australia- Team Records". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
20. "Records – Women's Ashes until 2011 – Most runs". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 21 August 2015.
21. "Records – Women's Ashes until 2011 – Most wickets". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 21 August 2015.

Further reading

• Nicholson, Raf (19 June 2023). "'My brain was hurting after that day of cricket'". The Cricket Monthly . Retrieved 22 June 2023.