Heather Knight has point to prove as Women's Ashes reaches grandest stage
Hopes of a record attendance at MCG have been dented by one-sided nature of series
Valkerie Baynes29-Jan-2025When Cricket Australia positioned the MCG Test at end of the series for the first time in the multi-format Women’s Ashes, making history was at the forefront.Now, however, the first pink-ball Test at the celebrated venue and the first Women’s Test there in 76 years also carries the prospect of the home side sealing an unprecedented 16-points-to-nil whitewash.It is an unexpected state of play after an eight-all draw in England 18 months ago and every Australia victory of this year’s edition added volume to the big question hanging over the Test: will it draw a big enough crowd to stop the 100,000-seat stadium looking desolate?With the trophy long since decided, how many will venture out for a late night at the end of the first week of a new school year to watch England play for pride, or Australia grind their opposition into the dust, remains to be seen.Home spectators eager to witness the latter over the weekend are probably the best bet for a bumper crowd. And the concept of bumper must be tempered in light of the record 86,000-plus which last saw Australia Women play at the venue, in the 2020 T20 World Cup final.Related
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Heather Knight, the England captain whose position has come under pressure (along with head coach Jon Lewis) amid a winless campaign thus far, supported the ambition shown by staging the match at the MCG given a shortage of mid-sized venues seating around 20,000 which are more common at home.”The chance to play a Test match at the MCG is just iconic,” Knight said on match eve. “We’d much rather do that and then have the ambition in the future to continue to grow the crowds and bring people in.”Everyone’s really disappointed with how we’ve performed so far. We feel like we haven’t played our best cricket at all as a side. We haven’t shown what we’re about and the next four days is a chance to do that, for us to show exactly who we are as cricketers and who we are as people.”The Test has been important in determining the path of the series several times since the Women’s Ashes became a multi-format affair in 2013.A record women’s crowd witnessed Australia’s victory in the T20 World Cup in 2020•Getty ImagesFor Australia, a 161-run triumph at Canterbury in 2015 put them 8-2 up and on the cusp of regaining the Ashes, which they did by winning one of the subsequent three T20Is. Their 89-run victory at Trent Bridge in 2023 ultimately allowed them to retain the Ashes despite going on to lose both white-ball series.For England, their 61-run victory in Perth in 2013-14 set them on course for the series, which was sealed in the first T20I in Hobart. That was the last time England won the series on Australian soil. Meanwhile, the tense draw of 2021-22 had no bearing on the series, with Australia having already retained the trophy, but it was huge for the game as England, chasing 257 to win, posted the highest fourth-innings score in women’s Test history and Australia took nine wickets in a session. With all four results possible in the final over, tailenders Kate Cross and Sophie Ecclestone held out.Knight scored 168 not out and 48 in that Test in Canberra and her desire to make another significant contribution in this match has been heightened by the criticism of her team.”The way we’ve performed and the results in this series, I think you come to expect that extra scrutiny and pressure,” Knight said. “There’s no doubt that there has been a lot of noise.”Individuals will probably deal with it differently. Some will probably try to ignore it and do everything they can to try and turn things around. Some will use it as motivation. The way the results have gone, there’s bound to be some criticism and that’s completely fair. It’s our jobs to try and turn things around and try and have some success this week.”I’m probably someone that is at my best when I’ve got a bit of a point to prove and I certainly do have it this week, so hopefully I can put in a really good performance for the side over the next four days.”Australia won the 2023 Ashes Test before England battled back in the series•Getty ImagesAfter Australia thrashed England by 72 runs in the final T20I in Adelaide last weekend, Beth Mooney – the standout performer with 303 runs across both white-ball legs of the series, including an unbeaten 94 in that match – acknowledged that the tension was gone from the series.”It certainly would have been nice if we played the Test match while the series was still on the line, maybe earlier in the series, but that wasn’t to be,” she said. “On an individual front and as a group it’s come at a great time for us to basically just show off our skills and really enjoy playing the four-day game.”So, will the MCG see two free-wheeling sides putting on a show at one of the sport’s most revered venues with nothing on the line in terms of results? Or will it be an Australian side which prides itself on being ruthless seeking to assert their dominance even further on an embattled side with plenty at stake?Throw in the inevitable chatter around the position of Tests in the women’s game – this one will be played with just three full training days available in the lead-up – and it makes for an intriguing end to the tour, whatever happens.