Ecclestone's heroics give England best platform to go on attack

WHEN England captain Heather Knight declared all-out attack in the build-up to this Test, the framing of her comments were in relation to how England would play with the bat: white-ball cricket; play your shots; go out and whack it. What was less clear, however, was how the plan would manifest itself with the ball.

- Cameron Ponsonby

Across day one here, we got our answer, in the shape of hyper-aggressive fields, high pace and lots and lots of Sophie Ecclestone.

It is worth reiterating for the sake of many casual fans just how good the Australia side that England are playing are. In their last 110 matches, they have lost eight. They have won all three of the most recent T20 World Cups, they beat England in the final of the 2022 ODI World Cup and they beat India in the final of the 2022 Commonwealth Games.

In order to regain the urn for the first time since 2014, England will need to beat Australia in at least four of the seven multi-format matches across the series. In other words, half of the losses that Australia have suffered in the last five years need to come in the next five weeks. “Ultimately, we need a team that’s going to take 20 wickets,” Knight said in the build-up.