England’s last Women’s Ashes win was so long ago – 11 years, in fact – that, when asked about it last week, Danni Wyatt-Hodge struggled to remember many details. Her main recollection was of the raucous night out in Hobart afterwards – a celebration that the then-captain, Charlotte Edwards, said resulted in her “worst ever hangover”. Somewhere out there is a photograph of Edwards and her successor, Heather Knight, staggering back to the team hotel, looking distinctly worse for wear. Unsurprisingly, it has never found its way into the public domain.
Of course, that was all in the pre-professional era (January 2014). All the same, should England pull off a similar triumph over the next three weeks (the series gets under way in Sydney on Sunday), Knight may be forgiven for leading some rambunctious celebrations of her own. This will be her fifth Ashes as captain: her side have fallen short on all four previous attempts. As for the possibility of beating Australia in their own backyard? England have managed it only three times, and one of those was the first ever international women’s series back in 1934-35. Tasks don’t get much more uphill.
