England squad offers no surprises as Women's Ashes opportunity looms

NICK FRIEND: Heather Knight is confident that England have what it takes to regain the Women's Ashes in Australia for the first time since the winter before the introduction of central contracts

England's squad for the Women's Ashes is as expected: an experienced, tried and tested formula, with no real surprises.

A second string – the first time an England A side has toured Australia – travelling concurrently features plenty of wildcards should Heather Knight and Lisa Keightley feel the need to call upon their reserves but, in the main, they are travelling down under with a party honed over the last two years.

The auxiliary group is intriguing: Issy Wong, Alice Capsey, Kirstie Gordon, Eve Jones and Georgia Elwiss – all at different points in their respective careers – are among its members. They will play six white-ball games against Australia A, once they have finished warming up their compatriots for the main event. The series begins with a one-off Test in Canberra, so England will give their initial preparations an appropriately red-ball focus.

Acclimatising to multiday cricket, though, perhaps won't be as great a challenge as in the recent past, when Ashes Tests have bookended two-year periods without any. Instead, both countries have faced India in Tests this year and though the games – affected by the weather in each case – ended in draws, they were good draws rather than the most recent instalment between these two sides at Taunton two years ago, rain-ruined and played out on a turgid, lifeless surface.

It means that England feel better prepped for what's to come, with less emphasis in their pre-Test work on how to adjust to the longer format. "I think we put it in there with an eye on the Ashes," says Knight, reflecting on the role of the tussle with India at Bristol back in June.

"It was really good prep for us, just getting used to the mentality that you need in red-ball cricket and how you have to adapt to different passages of play and how you need to soak up pressure at times and try to find ways of putting pressure back on." Their only debutante was Sophia Dunkley, who made an unbeaten half century.

When Australia followed suit, Knight sat down to watch. And when it was over, she watched the highlights as well. For a change in the women's game, England and Australia head into the Test with recent evidence of opposition plans.

^{England defeated New Zealand in the second half of the international summer (Christopher Lee/Getty Images)}

Knight was part of the previous England team to win in Australia, under the captaincy of Charlotte Edwards, still half a year before the introduction of central contracts. The last attempt to wrestle the Ashes off Meg Lanning was perhaps the most disappointing – and certainly the most one-sided – of Knight's career. Not since 2013 – when she starred as player of the series – has the multiformat scoreline been so warped in one direction.

The consequence was a change at the top: Keightley replaced Mark Robinson not long after, while that winter heard the intention for a major revamp of the domestic system.

It is too early for the fruits of that restructure to present themselves in an Ashes contest, but its early impact beneath Team England is evidenced in the makeup of the A team. Emily Arlott, for example, wasn't even among the players to earn the first tranche of domestic retainers in 2020 but developed her game to the point of a call-up for the India series six months ago and now for a winter with England A.

The memories of 2019 have not disappeared, though, and Knight admits "the way we performed has created real motivation".

She has been part of BT Sport's coverage of the ongoing men's series, which has only brought the moment closer. "As a captain it's the ultimate, winning the Ashes away from home," she adds. It marks the beginning of an enormous year, directly followed by England’s defence of their World Cup crown, with the Commonwealth Games to come thereafter.

"We've got a real chance to do something very special," she says. "A lot of planning has gone into it but we're going to have to be able to adapt when we get over there. We're going to have to be bold, we know that and we feel like we're in a really good place to do that. We've improved as a team, we've got more leaders in the side since 2019. It would mean a lot, it would be one of the biggest achievements of my captaincy if we are able to do that and get the Ashes back down under."

Knight mentions boldness, and England have been noticeably aggressive in white-ball cricket since Keightley's arrival, perhaps even more so than in Robinson's tenure, which produced five of England’s 10 highest ODI totals. They ended this summer with a 203-run trouncing of New Zealand.

^{Charlie Dean has impressed for England since making her international debut (Alex Davidson/Getty Images)}

"I think we've got to take the game to Australia," Knight explains. "Any team that has been successful against them has gone at them: meet fire with fire. The Aussies are at their best when they're on top of you and are trying to exploit weakness. We have to make sure we're trying to punch first and be aggressive towards them and try to win those battles very early because – when they get on top – they’re quite hard to flip around."

Over the last five years, they have beaten Australia just six times in 21 matches across all formats, including an ODI whitewash in the most recent series two summers ago.

"It's going to be tough, there's no doubt about that, Australia are obviously a very good side and the best team in the world at the moment, so we're going to have to be at our best to go out there and beat them. But we've got world-class players that can win us games and the pleasing thing for me in the summer was how we built a wider squad of players.

"We brought in some new youngsters that have added to the side that have performed really well and we've created a bit of a squad - there's real competition for places which has pushed us forward a little bit."

Among them is Charlie Dean, the off-spinner, who made her international debut against New Zealand and impressed. Still only 20, she – alongside Maia Bouchier – is the only squad member without a central contract. But, having only begun life in England colours midway through September, she already has 10 ODI wickets to her name, having emerged from the blue – in Knight's consciousness, at least – to join a group of young spinners already including Sophie Ecclestone, Sarah Glenn and Mady Villiers.

A four-wicket haul against New Zealand at Worcester effectively won England her second ODI – a moment at which Knight was aware that "we've got a player on our hands".

She had hardly seen Dean until they turned out as teammates in The Hundred at London Spirit. But since then, her ability to impart overspin on the ball has stood her out as a potential threat in Australian conditions, where drop and bounce are often more available and more significant traditional sidespin. "Her nous probably impressed me the most," says Knight. "She's a very canny bowler – not just having the skills, but she knows when to use them."