Australia women continue their uncompromising cricket that is suffocating any chance England believe they still have in the Ashes
There was a time, when players named Ponting and Waugh were running about, that Australian cricket’s dominant traits were ruthlessness and relentlessness. That is no longer the case in the men’s teams, as they have shifted into a quite endearing state of ongoing fallibility studded with bursts of brilliance. But as Meg Lanning’s charges have taken apart England on their current Ashes tour, they have started to bear resemblance to Australian sides of times past.
At Taunton on the first day of the solitary Test, it was a different ruthlessness to that men’s side which pushed to win at all costs. This was the ruthlessness of not needing to win, of suffocating the opposition’s hopes before they really had a chance to draw breath. It was also a ruthlessness that leaves Australia the option of being the only team that can conceivably win from here.
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