The second ODI will go down as the defining match of this series because, essentially, Australia got away with one.
Instead of England gaining momentum and levelling the series, it simply gave Australia a reminder of their own fallibility and since then they have not given an inch.
They responded by posting 308 in the next ODI – when, in fairness, England did little wrong in the field – and then 198 at the first time of asking in the first T20 here in Sydney.
Beth Mooney smacked a match-winning 75 from 51 balls having been dropped on 16 and 23, after debutant Georgia Voll was put down on 13 on her way to an aggressive 11-ball 21.
If we are looking at the gulf between the sides, the biggest area where England need to improve is in the field – and that is where Australia excel.
During Australia’s innings, England let the ball slip through their hands and legs. There were singles stolen from overthrows. They failed to reach balls on the boundary, where in comparison, Australia’s fielders were reaching them with ease.
The hosts, whether marshalled by Alyssa Healy or stand-in skipper Tahlia McGrath, charge around the field between the overs. They don’t give the opposition time to breathe, let alone think. They smother you.
Such is their supreme athleticism and aura, the crowd is stunned into silence when a rare slip happens.
And even when they are up against it – as when Sophia Dunkley smashed a 24-ball fifty in England’s chase – their body language does not change.
Mooney herself summed it up perfectly in her post-match interview.
“It’s an attitude thing,” she said. “We throw our bodies around and make a conscious effort to go for everything.
“We want to keep pushing the boundaries of what we can achieve.”
In contrast, England are not addressing their problems with the same level of discipline.
In 2023, they lost 39 wickets to Australia’s spinners at an average of 22.5, and towards the end of that summer they surprisingly lost a T20 series against Sri Lanka when spin dominated once more.
Head coach Jon Lewis acknowledged it as a weakness, and said he would be taking his players to spin camps to address the problems. Yet so far in this series they have already lost 22 wickets to spin, averaging just 11.63 at a strike-rate of 71.
