“Not far away from them,” says England’s Ecclestone ahead of 2nd T20I against Australia

London [UK], July 5 (ANI): Ahead of England’s second T20I match against Australia in the multi-format Women’s Ashes series, England spinner Sophie Ecclestone said that her team is not too far away from beating the Aussies.

Australia will take on England in the 2nd T20I of the series at The Oval. After wins in the one-off Test and the first T20I, Australia has a 6-0 lead in the series in terms of points.

Australia is on a monstrous run in T20Is and have not lost a T20I since March 2021 except for their Super Over defeat to India last year. They are also undefeated in their 39 previous white-ball matches. In this situation, England’s hopes of regaining the Ashes are really slender and they will have to produce something magical to do it.

The Heather Knight-led side will have to win each of the next five white-ball matches to overcome the 6-0 points deficit.

However, Sophie is not ready to accept defeat. She delivered standout performances in both of England’s previous fixtures and is confident that England will come good.

“We have seen weirder things happen than that in cricket. We are up for the challenge, we know exactly what we need to do. We are really not far away from them. They are a great team and we compete with them a lot, but we have to go one better tomorrow,” said Ecclestone as quoted by ESPNCricinfo.

“It is obviously going to be a really hard task to beat the Aussies, five out of five, but we know what we need to do and the girls are up for it tomorrow. So we are hoping to put on a big show in front of the big crowd,” she added.

The Ashes so far has been great in terms of crowd turnout. The Test match attracted 23,000 people across five days and over 19,000 people attended the thrilling T20I at Edgbaston.

With more matches to come, with Edgbaston, Headingley, the Ageas Bowl, The Oval and Lord’s being the venues for T20Is against Pakistan and England and a prospect of Lord’s Test in 2026, Ecclestone was delighted to the extent the women’s game was breaking new ground.

“It is absolutely amazing. To see so many kids in the crowd, so many people watching our games has been amazing. I think [Edgbaston] is the largest crowd I have ever had in the UK, so hopefully, it continues,” she said.

“I know we have got sell-out crowds at the Oval and Lord’s, and I am just so excited to get out and play cricket there in front of them. It makes all the hard work on and off the field worth it. I think we are just really excited to get there and entertain them, and hopefully inspire the next generation to play cricket,” she added.

Ecclestone got a hard-earned ten-wicket-haul in the one-off Test in 77.4 overs. She was also among the pick of the bowlers for England at Edgbaston with figures of 2/24 in 3.5 overs. Ecclestone has noticed a serious determination by Australia to take her on in the series and she hopes that it will play to her advantage as the series progresses.

“A few Ashes ago they just did not go against me and looked to block me out, but they have definitely taken more of an attacking approach, so I think it is exciting for me. I feel more in the game when they come at me and not look to block me out,” she said.

“We have had conversations and a few meetings about how we want to go about our cricket tomorrow. We’re really confident going into it and hopefully we can pull it off,” concluded Ecclestone.