Record crowd expected as Australia hunt Women’s Ashes sweep at MCG

Cricket Australia is expecting a record-breaking turnout for the Women’s Ashes Test that starts at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Thursday, with local fans excited by the possibility of the hosts sealing a 16-0 whitewash.

The record crowd for a women’s Test is 23,207, at Trent Bridge in 2023, but on Tuesday Cricket Australia’s CEO, Nick Hockley, confirmed they anticipate exceeding that in Melbourne this week.

It is the first women’s Test at the MCG since 1949, and the first pink-ball day-night Test at the ground. Hockley said the historic week evoked memories of five years ago, when CA’s #FillTheMCG campaign saw 86,000 fans flood into the ground to watch the T20 World Cup final. “In 2020, we had that wonderful moment,” Hockley said. “This is picking up the momentum from that.”

CA could scarcely have anticipated England’s drubbing in the white-ball matches when they scheduled this Test, but the one-sided nature of the contest has done little to dissuade fans from showing up. The white-ball matches cumulatively attracted almost 40,000 spectators, including more than 10,000 at the Adelaide Oval on Sunday, making this the best attended bilateral women’s series in Australia – even before gates open at ‘the G’ on Thursday.

In theory this match is a dead rubber: in practice it is anything but. Australia, 12-0 ahead, are desperate to seal their supremacy, while England will be equally desperate to salvage pride from this wrecking-ball of a tour. The futures of England’s coach, Jon Lewis, and captain Heather Knight may hinge on the result.

View image in fullscreen Australia captain Alyssa Healy is battling to recover from a foot injury to appear against England in the pink-ball Test at the MCG that begins on Thursday. Photograph: Mark Metcalfe/Getty

Australia’s coach, Shelley Nitschke, confirmed on Tuesday that Ash Gardner is available, but the hosts are nervously awaiting a decision on the fitness of captain Alyssa Healy, who missed all three T20s with a foot injury and has spent the last week in a moon boot hoping to expedite her recovery. A final decision is set to be taken on Tuesday evening, after Australia’s training session at the venue. Should Healy play it will be as a pure batter, with Beth Mooney set to take the gloves for the first time in a Test.

England, meanwhile, are hopeful that Kate Cross will be able to feature for the first time this series after being sidelined by a back injury. “She’s tracking good,” Nat Sciver-Brunt said on Tuesday. “It’s nice to see her rocking out a few overs in the nets.”

When the Test starts England will have had just four days to draw a line under one of their worst T20 performances: they were last seen collapsing to 90 all out in the Adelaide T20. “The last few days have been tough for us,” Sciver-Brunt said. “It is difficult. But we love putting on the whites, we love the fact that we get to create new memories with our close friends, and we will hopefully put on a good showing. We’ve regrouped and we’ll do our best to stay up.”

Tammy Beaumont – who was not part of the T20 squad – is set to return at the top of the order, while Sciver-Brunt hopes to draw a line under the white-ball matches by replicating her Test century against South Africa in December. “I’d like to have a good showing of myself, for my personal pride,” she said. “When you’re six games down in the series it’s easy to go into your shell a little bit, but I’m willing to put myself out there again.”

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The biggest spotlight will be on Knight, who will start the match knowing it could be the last time she captains her country, pending the result of the ECB’s post-series review. Knight has twice scored Test 150s against Australia - the last one was in 2022 in Canberra - and a third in Melbourne might convince the ECB that far from being part of the problem, she is instead part of the solution to the side’s woes.

The pink ball adds another element of intrigue. England’s women have previously played one pink-ball Test - against Australia at North Sydney in 2017 - while Australia’s last pink-ball game was against India in 2021. The packed schedule has not permitted a proper day-night warm-up, so both sides will have to adjust quickly.

But the fact remains it is hosts Australia who have confidence and form - not to mention the psychological bonus of knowing that at the end of day four, come what may, they will be the ones lifting that Women’s Ashes trophy.

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