Women's Ashes: England face uphill battle trying to beat Australia in their strongest format

After a scintillating finish to the lone Women's Ashes Test between Australia and England, the battle for the urn still hangs in the balance.

With the points sitting 6-4 in the host's favour, the multi-format series now moves onto the one-day internationals. And although England haven't lost an ODI bi-lateral series since they last played the Ashes in 2019, they're still considered the underdogs heading in.

England have beaten Pakistan, India and New Zealand twice in the format over the past three years, but Australia's statistics in the area are quite intimidating.

The Aussies haven't lost a bilateral series anywhere since 2013, they've only ever lost one ODI series at home — back in 1987 against New Zealand — and last year they broke Ricky Ponting's 2003 men's side's record for the longest run of victories in any form of international cricket with a 26-match winning streak.

As the number one team in women's international cricket, with more professional domestic players than any other country, Australia's pathways ensure it is always going to be difficult to play.

If England was going to get the upper hand at any point in the series, it would have been more likely in the T20s, when the unpredictable nature of the format meant Australia was more susceptible to dropping a game.

They set up a brilliant contest batting first at Adelaide Oval in the first T20, setting an imposing target of 170, before losing their way with the ball, allowing Tahlia McGrath (91*) and Meg Lanning (64*) to score freely and complete the record run chase comfortably with three overs to spare.

Unfortunately, any momentum they had built as a team in that opening match was largely lost to wet weather, as the teams were forced to share the points twice