The ECB hope that the All Stars Cricket scheme will inspire around 50,000 new cricket lovers in its first year

George Dobell10-Feb-2017The ECB are to launch an ambitious project designed to attract a new generation of supporters to the game.With evidence suggesting the sport has slipped to something approaching irrelevance in the eyes of children (research suggest pictures of wrestlers are more recognisable to children than England’s captains and that only 2 percent of children between the ages of 7 and 12 rate cricket as their favourite sport), the ECB hope that the All Stars Cricket scheme will inspire around 50,000 new cricket lovers in its first year.The nationwide initiative, which is based upon the Milo Cricket scheme pioneered in Australia, is aimed at children between the ages of five and eight. Parents will be required to pay £40 per child (the ECB are understood to be exploring the possibility of providing financial aid for families in need) for which the children will receive a rucksack full of kit and eight weeks of introductory sessions at a local cricket club starting in May. Clubs will receive £5 for every child that signs up and will be encouraged to run summer camps in the school holidays as part of ensuring a lifelong involvement in the game. The ECB hope around 1,500 clubs will sign up to All Stars in its first year with each club attracting at least 30 children.If all that sounds familiar – and many clubs do already run such admirable schemes – the emphasis of All Stars will be more towards enjoyment (“competition without exclusion,” as the ECB call it) than some comparable courses. There will be no hard ball or full-size pitches, for example, with bean bags used instead of balls for some, with progress badges awarded as skills such as ‘catching’ or ‘hitting’ are achieved. Instead of coaches, ‘activators’ will run the sessions and children will receive emails from England players congratulating them on their progress. As other commitments allow, there will also be personal appearances by England players as the ECB build on research underlining the value of “heroes” in inspiring a new generation of cricket lovers.But it’s the method that the ECB will use to reach this new generation of potential players and supporters that differentiates this programme. Determined to reach beyond cricket’s normal audience, the ECB plan to invest heavily in advertising – the scheme will, for example, be pushed on popular radio stations around the time of the school run – while they also hope to agree partnerships with various lifestyle publishers and websites such as Mumsnet. They are also expected to announce a celebrity ambassador – likely to be a woman with young children – in the coming weeks. Research has convinced the ECB that it is, in general, mothers who make most of the decisions over which hobbies children of such ages.The project is part of the ECB’s wider ‘Cricket Unleashed’ programme, which aims to re-establish the sport’s relevance to all sections of society. In the longer term, they hope their new-team T20 competition – which looks likely to be partially broadcast free to air – will play a leading role in the expansion, but with little cricket currently broadcast free to air (there are some clips and highlights on-line and on TV), they are investing heavily in the department run by Matt Dwyer, the ECB’s director of participation and growth, who now has around 80 development officers around the country. Dwyer was also heavily involved in the Milo programme that has run successfully in Australia.Dwyer’s team will aim to work closely with the County Boards in driving growth in four key areas: kids, clubs, communities and casual cricket. With staff based in regional locations as well as at Lord’s, the team will be backed by increased investment in marketing and digital support to strengthen connections with county cricket boards, clubs, leagues, volunteers, coaches and officials.The All Stars scheme is not without its critics. Some have expressed concern at the failure of a pay-as-you-go option (thereby reducing the impact of the one-off outlay for parents), some at the negative impact on clubs already running such projects, and others on the failure to deal with the substantial problem of teenagers dropping out of the game. There is an issue, too, with volunteer disillusionment and weariness. The ECB state that a few teething troubles are inevitable and the project can be tweaked as it develops. They also say they are working on plans to combat the drop-out issue.But whatever other faults may be levelled at the ECB, they have acknowledged the game has a serious problem in England and Wales and they are investing heavily in trying to find a solution. Whether that can be done without a serious realignment of the broadcasting landscape – a key factor in Australia’s success with the Big Bash – is debatable.Clubs or individuals who wish to be involved can sign up here

Sri Lanka A fought back on the second day of their match with the England Lions in Pallekele, with spinners Dilruwan Perera and Malinda Pushpakumara to the fore

ESPNcricinfo staff18-Feb-2017
ScorecardFile photo – Dilruwan Perera scored 37 and then claimed two top-order wickets•AFP

Sri Lanka A fought back on the second day of their match with the England Lions in Pallekele, initially through a bright half-century from Sandun Weerakkody and then with the ball as spinners Dilruwan Perera and Malinda Pushpakumara shared five wickets between them.Despite the Lions securing a 149-run first-innings lead, they were in some difficulty second time around after being reduced to 85 for 6, before an unbroken partnership between brothers Sam and Tom Curran lifted them to a lead of 261 with four wickets standing.Keaton Jennings, the Lions captain, was the only member of the top six to pass 16, as Dilruwan and Pushpakumara wheeled their way through 31 of the 40 overs possible before bad light brought an early close.Toby Roland-Jones, who had struck 82 and taken two wickets in his first over on the first day, earlier claimed 4 for 51 as Sri Lanka A were dismissed for 167, although that score represented something of a recovery from their overnight position of 29 for 4.Weerakkody began by taking the attack to the Lions, scoring the majority of the 29 added in 4.5 overs with his captain, Dhananjaya de Silva, before Tom Curran effected the run-out of the latter with a throw from mid-off. Weerakkody fell just before lunch, lbw to Ollie Rayner for 68 out of 109, but Dilruwan and Pushpakumara then added 45 for the seventh wicket to add further respectability to the score, before Roland-Jones and Rayner shared the last four.Sitting on a comfortable lead, the Lions lost Haseeb Hameed for a duck – to go with his first-innings 4 – after he left a straight delivery from Lahiru Gamage. Dilruwan then had Nick Gubbins and Tom Westley lbw, before Pushpakumara claimed three in five overs as the tourists wobbled from 71 for 3 to 85 for 6 under gloomy skies.

In February, Steven Smith led Australia to a famous Test win in Pune. Now, he returns to the city as Rising Pune Supergiant’s new captain

The Preview by Akshay Gopalakrishnan05-Apr-2017

Match facts

Rising Pune Supergiant v Mumbai Indians
Pune, April 6, 2017
Start time 2000 local (1430 GMT)
1:41

Most of our players have enough game time – Rohit

Head to head

Overall: Both sides have one away win apiece against each other.

In the news

MS Dhoni will not be leading an IPL team for the first time after Rising Pune Supergiant handed the captaincy to Steven Smith. There are two others – Faf du Plessis and Ajinkya Rahane – who have captaincy experience, so the team won’t be short of ideas.Supergiant won’t have R Ashwin for the season because of a sports hernia, and Mitchell Marsh is also injured, but they signed the current No.1 T20 and ODI bowler Imran Tahir.Mumbai Indians had a change of guard, with Mahela Jayawardene replacing the 2015 title-winning coach Ricky Ponting. Mumbai don’t have players on the injury list, but do have a few returning from it.Rohit Sharma has played only two competitive matches since undergoing thigh surgery in November and scored 20 runs in them. He’s lasted two warm-up games without discomfort and said he’s overcome fears to last the season and beyond. Lasith Malinga will also be returning from an injury layoff but is likely to join the team on April 7, after finishing Sri Lanka’s home series against Bangladesh.

The likely XIs

Rising Pune Supergiant: 1 Ajinkya Rahane, 2 Mayank Agarwal, 3 Faf du Plessis, 4 Steven Smith (capt), 5 Ben Stokes, 6 MS Dhoni (wk), 7 Rajat Bhatia, 8 Jaydev Unadkat 9 Ankit Sharma, 10 Ashok Dinda, 11 Adam ZampaMumbai Indians: 1 Rohit Sharma (capt), 2 Parthiv Patel (wk), 3 Ambati Rayudu, 4 Jos Buttler, 5 Kieron Pollard, 6 Hardik Pandya, 7 Krunal Pandya, 8 Harbhajan Singh, 9 Mitchell McClenaghan, 10 Jasprit Bumrah, 11 Tim Southee

Stats that matter

• The average first-innings score at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune since 2014, in the IPL, has been 170. The team chasing has won five out of the eight games
• Ben Stokes has never bowled to Jos Buttler in a T20 game.
• Of all the current IPL teams, Mumbai Indians have managed the second-worst run rate at the MCA Stadium – 6.92, across three matches. Sunrisers are the only team to have done worse – they scored 119 for 8 (at 5.95 per over) against Pune Warriors in the 2013 season.
• Krunal Pandya’s strike rate of 191.12 in the 2016 IPL was the best among batsmen who faced at least 50 balls.
• Rohit Sharma is Mumbai’s most prolific away batsman with 1301 runs in 48 matches at 35.16. Ambati Rayudu, who has 1213 runs in 55 matches at 30.32, is second.
• Rajat Bhatia is one of three bowlers against whom Rohit has scored 100 IPL runs – the others are Piyush Chawla and Morne Morkel. Against Bhatia, Rohit has scored 100 runs in 63 balls, and has been dismissed twice.
• The only three bowlers to have dismissed Faf du Plessis more than once all currently play for Mumbai Indians – Harbhajan Singh (3 times), Mitchell Johnson (2), and Lasith Malinga (2). Against Harbhajan, du Plessis has been out three times in seven innings, and has only scored 49 runs off 47 balls.
• In the IPL, Steven Smith has scored at more than eight an over against each kind of bowler apart from right-arm spinners, against whom he has only managed a run rate of 6.52.

Sam Northeast for England! Kent fans will demand it once again after his unbeaten 173 at Hove, but is anyone in the England set-up listening?

Vithushan Ehantharajah at Hove16-Apr-2017
ScorecardSam Northeast’s reputation seems consigned to Kent•Getty Images

“Northeast for England!” It’s one thing for Kent fans to chant for their captain (and, to be fair to them, they’ve been singing that for a while). But when those chants are coming from his own dressing room, it does strike a different note. As Sussex slinked off when bad light ended play, Kent’s players, with a 426-run-lead in their step, were in full voice. They, more so than the fans, are annoyed he has been overlooked for as long as he has.Sam Northeast, a decorated youth cricketer, an England Lion and a regular “well what about” selection in many an England XI thrashed out over beer-soaked tables, must be close to the real thing. And it’s innings like today – a barbaric, unbeaten 173, which saw him race to 37 from 23 balls to quell Sussex’s early attack, before bringing up three figures in 123 balls – that will push him close to the front of the queue. It was his 17th first-class hundred and, remarkably, it is hard to peg this as his most devastating.Naturally, Northeast was fairly chilled about England talk, happy to let his record do the talking – 1,474 Championship runs since the start of 2016 at an average of 77.6, if you’re wondering. “There are a lot of people in my position around the counties,” he said. Kent seamer Mitchell Claydon, within earshot, interjected: “Not with 18,000 effing runs in a year-and-a-half,”. Northeast laughed: “See what I have to put up with?”Considering Northeast’s hot streak started during his first full season as club captain and that his role at Kent is wide-ranging – he plays a prominent role in team meetings, player contracts and overseas recruitment – it says a lot about his character that the extra distractions seem to have focused his work out in the middle.During the North-South series in the UAE, in which he scored a century in the second match, he had chats with Andy Flower and England assistant coach Paul Farbrace. There was a chance for a catch-up with Flower today: the ECB technical director was at Hove and spent time talking to Kent’s coach Matt Walker. Northeast, of course, was otherwise occupied.His England claim is not just limited to one format. Recently, he has been one of the standout domestic Twenty20 batsmen in the world. Across the last two seasons in the T20 Blast, he has scored 1,103 runs at an average of 40.9. It is telling, too, that when analysts involved in recruitment for franchises across the world crunch the numbers in search of the most valued picks, Northeast’s name often makes an appearance.But, for now, the England Test side need a middle order batsman. And as well as Northeast’s free-scoring nature aligning with Trevor Bayliss’s blueprint for the Test side, he would also bring with him a knack for big runs. Including today, his last six Championship hundreds have all exceeded 160. He does not have a double hundred to his name – 191 against Derbyshire and 190 against Sussex, both last season, are as close as he has come – but looked like he was on the way to addressing in the final session on Sunday, hitting two sixes and a four in the last four balls of the day to take him to 173 off 181 balls.He shared a stand of 123 with opener Sean Dickson which put Sussex in their place and then one of 161 inside 27 overs with Darren Stevens (71) that whipped them into submission. Sussex, a bowler and ideas light, simply had to accept the punishment that was being dished out. Together, Stevens and Northeast put on 52 off the last five overs.But without Dickson’s patience, Kent would be a long way from the position they currently occupy. His grafting 68 gave Darren Stevens and Wayne Parnell a platform for their 123-run stand in the first innings. Disappointed he was not able to convert that to three figures on day one, it looked like he would get there in the second innings.He was in complete control, knocking the ball about diligently to get to 89 but, again, fell short after being trapped in front by Ajmal Shahzad. When you consider he suffered a recurrence of the hamstring injury that kept him out of the opening fixture against Gloucestershire, it was a remarkable effort from the 25-year-old. Just as every good band needs a reliable bassist, Dickson’s calm and diligence allowed the more flamboyant around him to flourish.It’s still a good pitch, as Northeast and Stevens showed by the way they were able to hit through the line so well. “It would be nice if it was a bit cloudy in the morning,” said Northeast. “We’ve got a good bowling line-up here, with good variations and we’ll try a few things out there tomorrow.”

USA will appear at the ICC Europe T20 qualifier since the ICC does not host any Americas qualifier. The ICC had announced last year that USA was given a wildcard spot in the tournament.

Peter Della Penna21-Jun-2017Batsmen Nadia Gruny and Shebani Bhaskar anchor a USA batting unit ready to resume international competition for the first time in more than five years after they were named in a 14-player squad for the ICC Europe T20 Qualifier this August. The squad was picked after the conclusion of a series of trials held in Indianapolis from June 9-11, organized by ICC Americas staff, as they continue to oversee USA’s cricket operations while the USA Cricket Association is under suspension.Gruny was USA’s leading scorer at their last international competition in 2012 when they finished runner-up to Canada by virtue of the net-run-rate tiebreaker at that year’s ICC Americas T20 Championship in the Cayman Islands. Gruny, 33, most recently captained a USA Women’s XI last September in Philadelphia against a touring MCC Women’s side featuring former England players Charlotte Edwards and Claire Taylor.Bhaskar was also part of the USA Women’s XI that played against the MCC in Philadelphia, though this will be her first time playing for USA since the 2011 Women’s World Cup Qualifier in Bangladesh. Only 17-years-old at the time, Bhaskar was USA’s leading scorer at that event with 139 runs in six matches, including a top-score of 72 for USA’s only victory, a one-run win over Zimbabwe in which Bhaskar’s direct hit from cover resulted in the game-ending wicket.

USA Women’s T20 squad

Neha Anand, Candacy Atkins, Claudine Beckford, Shebani Bhaskar (wk), Sugetha Chandhrasekar, Nadia Gruny, Uzma Iftikhar, Triholder Marshall, Samantha Ramautar, Akshatha Rao, Erica Rendler, Sindhuja Salguti, Sindhu Sriharsha (wk), Onika Wallerson

The other big name to return for USA is former West Indies Test player Candacy Atkins. The 33-year-old starred for USA in the buildup to the 2011 Women’s World Cup Qualifier but ultimately boycotted the team’s participation, along with several of her team-mates, for what they claimed was discriminatory treatment from the USA Cricket Association by way of tour stipends that were far less than those provided to men’s touring squads. However, Atkins came back to captain USA less than six months later at the 2012 ICC Americas Women’s tournament.One other player with international pedigree, but still relatively new to the squad is former India A and India U-21 batsman Sindhu Sriharsha. The opener played for a USA team captained by Gruny against Pakistan in a two-match bilateral series in November 2015 held in Florida.Of the five players yet to play a full-fledged international for USA, three of them – Sindhuja Salguti, Sugetha Chandhrasekar and Onika Wallerson – played as part of the USA XI that took on the MCC Women last year. Wallerson formerly represented Guyana in the West Indies domestic women’s competition before migrating to the USA. The other two, Neha Anand and Uzma Iftikhar, have a chance to play for USA for the first time against any competition.USA will face Netherlands and Scotland in the double-round robin Europe T20 Qualifier scheduled to be held in Scotland from August 14-19. The ICC announced last year that USA would be given a wildcard entry to the tournament since there is no Americas qualifier. The top two teams will advance to the global qualifier for a chance to go to the 2018 Women’s World T20 in the West Indies.

North group leaders Leicestershire made it four wins out of four, all away from home, in the NatWest T20 Blast when they beat Durham by 27 runs at Chester-le-Street.

ECB Reporters Network20-Jul-2017
ScorecardNorth group leaders Leicestershire made it four wins out of four, all away from home, in the NatWest T20 Blast when they beat Durham by 27 runs at Chester-le-Street.The Foxes appeared to have made a hash of their innings as they subsided from 100 for 2 in the 12th over to 123 for 8 after 18.The return of quicker bowlers allowed Matt Pillans to strike two fours and there were also four leg byes as 21 came off the last two overs to leave them on 144 for 8.It proved more than enough as Leicestershire learnt from the success of Durham’s spinners for Colin Ackerman and Callum Parkinson to take two wickets each in reducing the Jets to 31 for 5.Left-armer Parkinson added a third to end a stand of 30 when he bowled Usman Arshad and Durham finished on 117 for 8.Callum Parkinson took three wickets to hurt Durham’s chase•Getty Images

With the Sky cameras present on a sunny evening, Durham came under fire after choosing to bowl. The visitors’ top three all made rapid progress, but Mark Cosgrove’s 33 was the top score.The failures of the middle order put him under pressure and he holed out at deep midwicket in the 16th over to become one of four victims for Paul Collingwood.Seven overs of offspin produced 3 for 33 with Ryan Pringle taking 2 for 22 and Adam Hickey 1 for 11 in three.They hauled Durham back into the game after Luke Ronchi and Cameron Delport took 14 off Chris Rushworth’s opening over and had 37 on the board after four.Delport departed for 29 when he sliced Rushworth to backward point, then Cosgrove opened the face and ran the first ball he faced to the third man boundary.Ronchi reached 32 off 22 balls before dragging a Collingwood slower ball to wide long-on, where Pringle held the catch before conceding only three runs off the tenth over.Pringle then struck twice in the 12th as a smart leg-side stumping by Stuart Poynter got rid of Ackerman then Ned Eckersley lofted to long-off.That double blow set the collapse in motion, but Clint McKay followed his 5 for 11 in Leicestershire’s last game by striking with the first ball of Durham’s reply.Left-hander Hickey reached for a wide one and sliced to Delport at point and when Ackerman came on for the fourth over Clark pulled his first ball straight to deep midwicket.Michael Richardson chopped an attempted cut into his stumps and Parkinson took the next three wickets.Jack Burnham attempted a ramp to fine leg and was bowled, Collingwood chipped to deep mid-on and Arshad was bowled for 27 when Parkinson came back for his final over, the 15th.It was left to skipper Paul Coughlin to salvage some pride for Durham with an unbeaten 42.

Heavy rains influenced a match in Basseterre for the second night in a row, with the clash between St Kitts and Nevis Patriots and St Lucia Stars called off after just 8.1 overs

ESPNcricinfo staff20-Aug-2017Match abandoned
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsHeavy rains in Basseterre resulted in the first washout of the 2017 CPL•Ashley Allen – CPL T20 / Getty

Heavy rains influenced a match in Basseterre for the second night in a row, with the clash between St Kitts and Nevis Patriots and St Lucia Stars called off after just 8.1 overs, as a lively Saturday night crowd was subjected to a frustrating wait at Warner Park. Both teams shared a point each, giving Stars their first of the tournament, after six games without a win. *Stars aren’t out of contention for the playoffs; they can still qualify if they win their remaining three league matches, and Guyana Amazon Warriors and Barbados Tridents keep losing. Patriots remained unchanged on the points table, retaining their second position with nine points from six matches.The rains arrived without warning to force the players off the field at 9.30pm local time, half an hour after the scheduled start. The force at which it came down inflicted considerable damage on the outfield even before the covers could be pulled on. A second spell of showers, after the covers had been peeled off, further weakened the possibility of a resumption, before play was called off following a midnight inspection, ending a near three-hour wait.All that after Patriots captain Chris Gayle chose to field on a flat surface. He unleashed his spinners upfront, Fabian Allen’s left-arm spin being complemented by Samuel Badree’s legspin at the other end. Allen, playing his first match, took the wicket of Johnson Charles, who skewed a catch to mid-off in his attempt to clear the fielder.Andre Fletcher, the tournament’s highest scorer, occasionally found the boundary by manufacturing room. Badree bowled out his four overs in which he gave away 17 runs.*11.10 GMT The story had incorrectly stated that St Lucia Stars were out of contention for the playoffs.

The wicketkeeper batsman has signed a two-year deal with Melbourne Stars ahead of the seventh season of the BBL

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Sep-2017Ben Dunk has signed a two-year deal with the Melbourne Stars ahead of the 2017-18 Big Bash League. Representing Adelaide Strikers, he had been thetop-scorer last season, with 364 runs in eight innings with strike-rate of 163.96. Dunk had also played for Hobart Hurricanes in the BBL, between 2013 and 2016, scoring 814 runs in 31 matches at a strike-rate of 129.”I’m really excited to join the Melbourne Stars,” Dunk said. “It’s a great opportunity to work with [coach] Stephen Fleming and new captain John Hastings. I’m looking forward to joining up with the squad this summer to work on our pursuit of a Big Bash League title.”Jason Gillespie, the Strikers’ coach, dismissed suggestions of the franchise not wanting to sign him, saying it was Dunk’s decision to switch sides.
Dunk has represented Australia in five T20Is, the most recent of which came against Sri Lanka in February this year.”To secure the experience of Ben is really exciting. He’ll obviously bolster an already strong batting line-up and to have another ‘keeping option is a real positive,” Trent Woodhill, Stars Director of Cricket, said.Meanwhile, uncapped fast bowler Jackson Coleman has also earned a full-time contract with the Stars. In the last season, he was called up as a replacement for the then-injured Hastings. Coleman has picked up three wickets in two List A games for Victoria so far.The Stars will open their campaign against Brisbane Heat at the Gabba on December 20.Melbourne Stars squad: John Hastings (capt), Michael Beer, Scott Boland, Jackson Coleman, Ben Dunk, James Faulkner, Seb Gotch, Evan Gulbis, Peter Handscomb, Sam Harper, Ben Hilfenhaus, Glenn Maxwell, Kevin Pietersen, Rob Quiney, Marcus Stoinis, Daniel Worrall, Luke Wright, Adam Zampa

Suzie Bates, Ian Bishop and Kumar Dharmasena are the three other new members of the committee, which will now be chaired by Mike Gatting

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Oct-2017Shakib Al Hasan has become the first Bangladesh representative on the MCC’s World Cricket Committee. The allrounder is one of four new faces on the committee, the others being the New Zealand women captain Suzie Bates, the former West Indies fast bowler Ian Bishop, and the former Sri Lanka offspinner and current ICC Elite Panel umpire Kumar Dharmasena.Mike Gatting, meanwhile, has taken over as the committee’s chairman, replacing another former England captain in Mike Brearley.”We’re delighted to welcome the four new members who will all have a great deal to offer the committee,” Gatting said. “Suzie is well respected around the world as one of the leading women’s players and will be able to give an insight into how to grow the game, particularly as a current player.”Ian played with some of the biggest names that the West Indies have ever had in the game and having toured the globe as a commentator since retirement, he will be able to offer a view of the game as both a player and through the eyes of the media.”Kumar’s experience as both an umpire and a player will be invaluable and as a member of the Elite Panel of ICC Umpires, will have first-hand experience of some of the global issues that are discussed in a committee.”Shakib is the first Bangladeshi player to have joined the committee and has great experience of the world game across all formats, both domestically and internationally, and we look forward to his contributions along with the rest of the new additions.”Apart from Brearley, the former West Indies captain Jimmy Adams and the former England women captain Charlotte Edwards have also relinquished their roles in the committee.MCC World Cricket Committee: Mike Gatting (chairman), Vince van der Bijl, Brendon McCullum, Ian Bishop, Ramiz Raja, John Stephenson, Kumar Sangakkara, Kumar Dharmasena, Sourav Ganguly, Rod Marsh, Ricky Ponting, Suzie Bates, Tim May, Shakib Al Hasan.

The Women’s Ashes begins on Sunday in Brisbane. Here is a reminder of how the format works and how the two squads shape up

ESPNcricinfo staff20-Oct-2017How does it work?The Women’s Ashes is decided on the multi-format points-based method. The three-match one-day series (which is also part of the Women’s Championship) starts on Sunday, followed by a one-off Test in Sydney and then three T20Is in mid-November.

• ODIs: two points for a win; one point for a tie/NR
• Test: four points for a win; two points for a draw
• T20Is two points for a win; one point for a tie/NR

When the format started there were six points for a Test victory but it was felt that gave too much weighting to a single match in a format rarely played in the women’s game.This Ashes also includes the first day-night women’s Test when the two sides meet at North Sydney Oval from November 9.What happened last time?Australia hold the Ashes following their 10-6 victory in 2015. England had started well with victory in the first ODI, but Australia hit back to take the one-day series with it 2-1. They then made a major push towards the urn with victory in the one-off Test at Canterbury when England, who had seemed uncertain how to approach the match, collapsed for 101 on the final day. It left them needing to win the T20I series 3-0 and they kept hopes alive as Sarah Taylor marshalled an impressive chase at Chelmsford, but then it all came crashing down. Having restricted Australia to 107 at Hove, they subsided to 87 all out as Rene Farrell took 3 for 17.The squadsAustralia ODIs Kristen Beams, Alex Blackwell, Nicole Bolton, Lauren Cheatle, Ashleigh Gardner, Rachael Haynes (capt), Alyssa Healy, Jess Jonassen, Tahlia McGrath, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Elyse Villani, Amanda-Jade WellingtonAustralia Test Kristen Beams, Alex Blackwell, Nicole Bolton, Lauren Cheatle, Ashleigh Gardner, Rachael Haynes (capt), Alyssa Healy, Jess Jonassen, Tahlia McGrath, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Belinda Vakarewa, Elyse Villani, Amanda-Jade WellingtonEngland Heather Knight (capt), Tammy Beaumont, Katherine Brunt, Sophie Ecclestone, Georgia Elwiss, Jenny Gunn, Alex Hartley, Danielle Hazell, Laura Marsh, Anya Shrubsole, Nat Sciver, Sarah Taylor, Fran Wilson, Lauren Winfield, Danielle WyattKey playersThe Australians will need someone to take up the slack from Meg Lanning’s absence after she was ruled out of the Ashes with a shoulder injury. Rachael Haynes was named captain so there will plenty on her plate with leadership and run-scoring. In the 2015 series, Ellyse Perry was named Player of the Series and her all-round returns could go a long way towards dictating the outcome. One of the key battles will be between Perry and Nat Sciver, the England allrounder, who enjoyed a stellar World Cup and found a shot named after her – the Nat Meg. Tammy Beaumont was named Player of the Tournament and has provided England with fantastic starts at the top of the order since being given the backing of coach Mark Robinson.How have preparations gone?Frustratingly for both sides due to rain in Brisbane. England’s warm-ups were hit by four days of rain – the first limited to 18 overs and the second called off altogether – leaving the risk of the team being undercooked. “It’s obviously hugely frustrating but there isn’t much you can do about the weather. We’re itching to be out on grass and be competitive,” Mark Robinson, the coach said.The Australian players have at least had the start of the domestic one-day tournament to get into gear and they also had an inter-squad match including players from the CA Under-18 development squad. Elyse Villani hit a century.