England women's cricket recorded a thrilling two-wicket win in the first ODI to level the Ashes 2023 series on Wednesday, July 12. With a win, they also ended Australia's winning streak in 15 ODI matches which stretches back to September 2021, and recorded their biggest run chase in ODI history.
After losing a one-off Test and first T20I match, England made a sensational comeback to take a 3-2 lead (on a level with six points) in the seven-match series at home. They won the T20Is by 2-1 to end Australia's invincible status and now have taken a crucial 1-0 lead in three-match ODIs.
Australia posted 263/8 while batting first at Bristol's County Ground with batter Beth Mooney top-scoring with 81* off 99 balls and star all-rounder Ellyse Perry scoring 41 off 51. Young pacer Lauren Bell and top-ranked English all-rounder Natalie Sciver-Brunt took two wickets each for England.
England struggled for a promising start but skipper Heather Knight played a captain's knock by smashing unbeaten 75 runs off 86 balls. Tammy Beaumont and youngster Alice Capsey also contributed with 40-plus scores. Pacer Kate Cross scored a crucial 19* off 20, in the end, to rescue England with a thrilling win with just 11 balls remaining.
Knight won the Player of the Match award but she credited England's win to Cross' cameo knock to finish the game. "It feels very good. It was hard work out there. I thought it was starting to slip away. Kate Cross, what a hero. She was nervous when she came in but we broke it down. To beat a very good side is outstanding - and we can be a lot better. It's been an awesome series. I wanted to be there at the end. It was pure joy." Heather Knight said in the post-match presentation.
For record books, England's previous record run chase in ODIs was against New Zealand, 245 at Derby in 2021. This was Australia's first ODI defeat since their loss to India in September 2021 and their first defeat in a 50-over game to England since 2017. Notably, the Alyssa Healy-led side also recorded three consecutive defeats across formats for the first time since February 2017, after 136 games (2327 days).
