England’s Ashes whitewash: How did it happen and what comes next?

Posted by author February 1, 2025 Sports

The Women’s Ashes is over after Australia wrapped up a multi-format whitewash to take a 16-0 series sweep.

Here, the PA news agency looks at what went wrong and what comes next for England’s bruised and beaten side.

– Was this result a fair reflection of where these side are in 2025?
Yes. Don’t kid yourself that any other answer is applicable.

– Where did it all go wrong Down Under?

England were well-beaten (James Ross/AP)

Take your pick. England were outgunned with the bat, outsmarted with the ball and outclassed in the field.

While they ended the tour barely able to compete due to tired bodies and more weary minds, there were times in the white-ball leg where they could have seized the moment.

But Australia stood taller in the crunch moments. They had more belief and more match-winners to call on.

– Wasn’t it all about ‘cultural differences’ and the Coogee to Bondi walk?
Head coach Jon Lewis has been openly ridiculed for suggesting a general societal approach to fitness lay at the root of this debacle. And while he certainly spoke clumsily on the matter, he was right to say Australia are a more athletic, faster, stronger side.

England’s Lionesses are a much better match for the Matildas in football, and the same is true in several other sports, so the truth may be that Australia’s brightest and best athlete’s simply choose cricket more readily than their English counterparts.

Ellyse Perry abandoned a promising career in international football for cricket…would the same happen here?

– Why was the fielding so bad?

England’s Lauren Filer holds her head — England missed plenty of opportunities to take wickets in the Test match (James Ross/AP)

Only England can truly answer why they have allowed their basic handling skills to abandon them over the past 12 months.

They were well-below standard when exiting the T20 World Cup in October and unbelievably sloppy again in Australia, culminating with a day two horror show at the MCG Test.

Standards have been allowed to slip and it is not unreasonable to demand a sharp and immediate improvement.

– Does there have to be a change of leadership?
It feels inevitable. Things are not trending in the right direction under Lewis, who arrived with a mandate to make the team feel good about themselves and embrace a positive mindset reminiscent of the ‘Bazball’ environment he came from.

Those days appear to be gone and the former Sussex seamer, whose deal expires in November, is likely to pay the price.

The more thorny question concerns Heather Knight’s captaincy. Well liked and much respected, she has been in the job nine years and has yet to oversee an Ashes win.

England probably need fresh ideas, though vice-captain Nat Sciver-Brunt is not a natural on-field leader.

– Is an overhaul of the playing squad required?

The Australian team celebrates after defeating England — Australia celebrate their historic clean sweep (James Ross/AP)

A trickier one. England had the best available players with them in Australia and there are no superstar options being overlooked. The likes of Grace Scrivens and Davina Perrin are exciting names for the future but it is fanciful to think selection was an issue.

Instead it could be that standards inside the group that need to raised.

From afar, the women’s setup has looked a thoroughly enjoyable place to be for the past couple of years. A few harder conversations are needed.

– Do they need to look at the domestic structure?
On this matter, the ECB can at least claim to be ahead of the game. The occasionally confusing regional structure is being replaced this summer by the newly launched ‘tier one’ revamp.

Eight fully professional, fully aligned county sides will do battle this summer with Yorkshire joining in 2026 and Glamorgan in 2027.

A higher quality, more focused competition should pay dividends for England sides of the future but in terms of having a entire competition filled with full-time cricketers, Australia are nearly a decade in front.