Melbourne [Australia], July 1 : England skipper Heather Knight said her team will throw everything they have at Australia and continue with their aggressive game during the remainder of the multi-format Ashes series to end their winless streak against the Aussies.
England will start the T20I leg of the multi-format Ashes series with the first match at Edgbaston on Sunday.
Australia has also vowed to match with England's fire, setting the scene for a blockbuster T20 match at Birmingham.
England's last win against Australia came in the 2019 Ashes during the final T20I. They lost the one-off Test held at Nottingham by 89 runs, with Aussie all-rounder Ashleigh Gardner taking 12 wickets in the match, including 8/66 in the final innings that caused England to fold at 178 runs during the chase of 268 runs.
But England has reinvented itself in T20Is and since the arrival of Jon Lewis as coach, they got more aggressive with the bat during the ICC Women's T20 World Cup earlier this year. Though England could reach only the semifinal, they finished the tournament with a collective strike rate of 141.2, the highest by any team, ahead of the champions Australia, who had a strike rate of 127.2.
England were the only team to post a total of 200-plus in the tournament, having smashed 213/5 against Pakistan at Newlands.
"I think it is probably been our strongest format over the last couple of years and we have really made a shift in how we do things," Knight told reporters in Birmingham on Friday as quoted by cricket.com.au.
"I think the World Cup in the group stages was a sign of how we want to play our T20 cricket and there are some exciting youngsters as well. We have not played (Australia) for a long time in T20 cricket, in the last Ashes (in January 2022) we played one game and the other two were rained off."
"We are super excited, they are a really strong T20 team that are world champions so we are going have to really take them on, try and play to our strengths and do the things that have worked so well for us in T20s."
"In T20 cricket you have got no other way than to be aggressive ... that is really important, to take the game on and not have any doubts that you are looking to score and you are looking to take wickets. That is our philosophy as a team and we will do that against any team that we come up against," she added.
Fearlessness has been at core of Australia's game since they started their own period of transformation back in 2018.
Speaking to cricket.com.au, Australia's explosive middle-order batter Grace Harris also said that tourists will try to match with everything England throws their way.
"We have seen some stats and some trends in (England's) last 12-month period of white-ball games and they do seem to come out really hard," Harris said.
"They talk a lot about playing an aggressive brand. So instead of being on the ropes and trying to counterpunch, we are just going to try and come out and attack from the get go."
"Let us see what they come out with ... and then we will try and better them," Harris concluded.
England are yet to finalise their playing XI for the opening T20I, with a squad of 16 players to choose from. They will be making atleast one change to their playing XI though, following the retirement of Katherine Sciver-Brunt after T20 WC.
Nat-Sciver Brunt will be available to play at Edgbaston despite being hampered by knee issues. But it is uncertain if she will be played as an ll-rounder. She was restricted to bowling just 14 overs at Nottingham Test.
"She has had a little assessment, she is fine to play," Knight said.
"The question is whether she can play a full role as an allrounder. We are going to have a little look at her today, she is going to have a little bowl and see how we go."
"But the most important thing is Nat is there on the pitch as a batter, we do not want to push her too far and sacrifice the amazing role that she plays with the bat as one of the best players in the world," he concluded.
Australia has also not settled on their playing XI, but are positive that captain Alyssa Healy will play despite two fractured fingers.
Knight said that her group has brushed aside the disappointment caused by loss in one-off Test.
"We had a couple of days at home to recharge and refresh (and) everyone is in pretty good spirits," she said.
"We have added a few new faces to the squad and they have brought a lot of energy into the group as well."
"I think it was important to get that mental space for a couple of days away from cricket and everyone's come back and ready to get stuck into T20 format. It is a format that brings its own energy and playing in front of a massive crowd tomorrow, you don't need to get yourself up for at all, that'll take care of itself," concluded Knight.
Test: Australia won by 89 runs
First T20I: July 1 at Edgbaston, Birmingham, 6.35pm (3.35am July 2 AEST)
Second T20I: July 5 at The Oval, London, 6.35pm (3.35am July 6 AEST)
Third T20I: July 8 at Lord's, London, 6.35pm (3.35am July 9 AEST)
First ODI: July 12 at The County Ground, Bristol, 1pm (10pm AEST)
Second ODI: July 16 at The Rose Bowl, Southampton, 11am (7pm AEST)
Third ODI: July 18 at The County Ground, Taunton, 1pm (10pm AEST).
Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor
