Harris sets sights on embarrasing England with 16-0 Ashes – T20 IPL 2024

After retaining the Ashes in Sydney, Beth Mooney didn’t want to get drawn into talk of a whitewash before the series was won but with that box ticked team-mate Grace Harris now wants to “embarrass” England with a 16-0 scoreline.

Australia prevailed in Canberra amid a flurry of DLS calculations – England were ahead when the game was stopped for the first time – and latterly Heather Knight played a defiant hand before rain returned with 18 needed off five balls.

Australia have been hugely motivated by the draw in the 2023 Ashes which left them with muted celebrations when they lifted the trophy at the end of the series having seen England fight back from 6-0 down. Now, with the final T20I to come in Adelaide followed by the day-night Test at the MCG, the focus turns to not allowing the visitors to get anything on the board.

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“Of course, I have thought about 16-0,” Harris told BBC Test Match Special after the win. “A whitewash would be outstanding. England got the better of us in the last series.

“To me, it’s a loss, a draw is boring. But 16-0, that would be very, very good if we could embarrass this England team because they’re actually a very competitive outfit and they’ve got some really good players among them.”

Stand-in captain Tahlia McGrath, who has taken over from the injured Alyssa Healy since the start of the T20I series, admitted relief was one of the initial emotions after the Ashes were secured outright having been behind the DLS when play was first suspended.

“It hasn’t quite sunk in yet, there’s just so much drama in that game and so much mental capacity taken up watching DLS, watching run rates, radars, so it was a weird way to wrap up and win them outright,” she said. “Relieved, happy to win it this early, it would be nice when we get a chance as a group to properly celebrate together but job not done, still two really big games to go.”

“[A whitewash] would be pretty special to us. The Ashes last year, retaining them in England didn’t quite sit well with us and we’ve been hungry for a while and looking forward to these Ashes for a very long time. We’ve been playing some really good cricket but still feel like there’s areas to improve.”

McGrath herself has played a key role with the bat in the last three games after a lean start to the series which, amid Australia’s abundant batting talent, put her under scrutiny. But she has responded with a 38-ball ODI fifty, 26 off nine balls at the SCG and an unbeaten 48 off 35 in Canberra having come in when Australia had lost 3 for 9.

“I was really disappointed with my batting in the first two games,” she said. “I went away from my natural game a little bit. I like to take the game on, I like to move around the crease and I sort of went away from that.

“I went into my shell a little bit the first two games so I went back to a blueprint that has worked for me in the past and just trying to be a bit braver, a bit more fearless and lucky enough that it’s come off for the last couple of games.

“But Grace was huge for me because I was scratching around a little bit and struggling and she came out and took the pressure off me and just freed me up a little bit at the back end as well.”

Andrew McGlashan is a deputy editor at ESPNcricinfo

Source: ESPN Crickinfo

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