Grace Harris aims for a complete whitewash in the Women’s Ashes with her admitting “A whitewash would be outstanding”.
Grace Harris sets sights on embarrasing England with 16-0 Ashes.
In the midst of a rush of DLS calculations, Australia won in Canberra. England had already taken the lead when the game was initially paused, but Heather Knight played a valiant hand before the rain returned with 18 needed off five balls.
The 2023 Ashes draw, which left them with subdued celebrations after lifting the trophy at the end of the series after watching England rally from a 6-0 deficit, has greatly inspired Australia. The emphasis now shifts to preventing the visitors from scoring any runs in the last Twenty20 International in Adelaide and the day-night Test at the MCG.
With that box checked, teammate Grace Harris now wants to “embarrass” England with a 16-0 scoreline, but Beth Mooney didn’t want to get caught up in the rumours of a whitewash before the series was won.
“Of course, I have thought about 16-0,” Harris told BBC Test Match Special after the win. “A whitewash would be outstanding. England got the better of us in the last series.
“To me, it’s a loss, a draw is boring. But 16-0, that would be very, very good if we could embarrass this England team because they’re actually a very competitive outfit and they’ve got some really good players among them.”
Having trailed the DLS when play was initially halted, stand-in captain Tahlia McGrath, who has replaced the injured Alyssa Healy since the beginning of the T20I series, acknowledged that relief was among the first feelings felt when the Ashes were won outright.
“It hasn’t quite sunk in yet, there’s just so much drama in that game and so much mental capacity taken up watching DLS, watching run rates, radars, so it was a weird way to wrap up and win them outright,” she said. “Relieved, happy to win it this early, it would be nice when we get a chance as a group to properly celebrate together but job not done, still two really big games to go.”
“[A whitewash] would be pretty special to us. The Ashes last year, retaining them in England didn’t quite sit well with us and we’ve been hungry for a while and looking forward to these Ashes for a very long time. We’ve been playing some really good cricket but still feel like there’s areas to improve.”