What’s going wrong for England at the Women's Ashes? 🤔🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | Sky Sports Cricket Podcast

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Nasser and Athers are joined this week by former Australia Women batter turned broadcaster, Mel Jones to discuss the latest state of play in the Women's Ashes. Mel also discusses her role in helping get some of Afghanistan's female cricketers to safety after the Taliban took control of the country in 2021, how she's helped them settle in Australia and talks about what the future holds for the team.
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[@stevenburton6785]

England needed to hear what Alex Hartley said,It shows that she really cares.

[@DNW28]

That will be the same Alex Hartley who on the second odi relayed a story for the second time on air of her as a PROFESSIONAL cricketer when in Australia and given a FITNESS programme by Lancashire county cricket club to adhere too videos herself in six different outfits doing " fitness " for 5 mins each video ..... Speak about the kettle calling the pot black . She was no more a professional cricketer than fly in the air , couldn't bat, field , catch , run and was a very mediocre bowler who was unfit and the ECB persuaded a Scot to change allegiance to replace her ...That was why those girls took the hump

[@SteveSkrobot]

I had no idea about those Afghani women. Melanie Jones is a freakin champion for getting involved with helping those young girls that went through hell back home. Well done.

[@spykl007]

There is an excellent interview and piece written by Katya Whitney of Widden cricket about this. You should be able to find it online. It's staggering to see what these girls had to go through and appalling to see the ICCs inaction to it

[@levenscott645]

Melanie Jones has long been a sharp, no-nonsense, knowledgeable observer of the game of cricket, but I did not know until now that she has such depths of humanity.

[@ce11amitkumaryadav83]

One of those ladies who is doing commentry in men games in ICC tournaments She is good 💯

[@tonyquinn8405]

Mel is lovely human being.

[@alanc4407]

One quick thing to mention is that the comments from Alex Hartley about certain players fitness came after the World Cup exit - not during this series. The 'hissy fit' thrown by certain players and coaches over (totally valid) comments is what has come during this tour.

[@bananabrooks3836]

When Alex made her statement after the 2024 W.C. l thought it was slightly off target as the failings were more about the catching (little to no practice under those conditions it was said) and performing well under pressure of the W.I. batting onslaught and the lack of a leader after Heathers injury rather than general fitness. However whilst the latter is obviously a major issue, the fitness comment has also come home to roost in this series.

[@princeroytilakasiri5675]

Nice to hear that Mel got involved into Afghanistan women cricket. As usual it was an interesting podcast with the women's ashes. The emotions of Mel when both Nasser and Athers asked questions about the living standard of the Afghanistan women. When Mel said about the fear living at home for the Afghanistan women, it makes all very emotional for all of us. Love your podcast Nasser , Athers and thanks Mel for the lovely podcast!! Cheers ❤❤

[@MrAsbarton]

Amazing story of the Afghan Women's Refugee team.... thanks for detailing this Mel Jones

[@amandac.1073]

Really incredible, important and inspiring episode. Mel Jones amazing and great work for giving her a platform to share more of the Afghan women's stories and some great insightful thoughtful questions and discussion

[@divyanarayan2214]

What I love the most about this podcast....the guests turn up and yes, talk about cricket...but they display such depth in their personalities...it is not just cricket. You end up seeing the human side as well...kudos to Athers and Nass for bringing out the "human" side to your guests. Your gentle yet honest conversational style puts your guests at ease and they feel comfortable enough to open up and talk in-depth about various matters. Well done and keep going!

[@justinmongta8383]

Love the story about the Afghanistan womens refugee cricket team. Love the support that Australia has given to them and there families.

[@grahamwood7395]

Well done Mel Jones! We should host a tour of the Afghan women cricketers over here.

[@greyfox1127]

The situation with the Afghan Women's Cricket Team is one of the biggest stories in world cricket & has been for some time & yet receives woefully little coverage, just the odd newspaper article here & there & often only in association with how it may affect the men's teams or tournament. It's larger than just cricket as the panel here rightfully mentions. Fantastic episode here with Mel Jones articulating the situation & challenges faced by not just the players but many other women & girls. You can hear the empathy & emotion (& frustration at the larger authorities) in her voice but full respect to her, Cricket Australia & the local clubs (& other individuals) that have stepped up to offer support. Hopefully the match will be well supported & help highlight the issue. Let's hope there are brighter times ahead for all affected.

[@1milliondogs]

I've watched england ladies a bunch of times live. The standard has improved hugely in the last 5 years. However, I think fitness is an issue. The ladies on pro contracts need to be in much better shape with no excuses. Some of the fielding is just embarrassing at times.

[@stuartmills3005]

The women are unfit, some are overweight, under motivated. The Aussies look like athletes, our ladies look just happy to be there. Its just a cosy little clique. All smiles and fun days. The day before the match at The MCG, Elise Perry posted a video of her working out in the gym. Our ladies posted a video of them watching the tennis!! Ecclestone and Capsey, to name but two are blatantly over weight and unfit! Theyre on central contracts, are supposed to be professional athletes but too many dont live like professional athletes! Its one thing to simply not be good enough, we've all played against better players, whatever the sport but to be unfit and over weight should never be a reason to be beaten!

[@creepy999]

Too many are not fit enough,have weight issues ( cue the body shaming replies) , and frankly some are not good enough. The team gives the impression of being a little cliquey with some players thinking they have a divine right to play and again,some, have an attitude problem. The coach seems blind to any of these criticisms and one wonders if he is being pressured from on high to toe the party line

[@anthonysinclair4114]

Mel Jones is world class

[@gregan78]

Mel Jones what a legend. Maybe with her contacts she can find someone at the ICC as well to open their mail! As Athers said, you'd think a sporting body would be front and centre supporting and championing these girls, "sport for all". Their silence reeks of political rather than sporting motivations unfortunately.

[@multioptioned]

Clean sweep of the entire women's ashes series 16-0. Lost test match by an innings an 122 runs! Next time, England should send a cricket team! Hope they had a nice summer holiday in Australia 🤣

[@Me-gy7yk]

As far as dropping our best players, Australia would drop someone who wasn't good enough or fit enough, no matter who it was. They dropped Perry not so long ago when she wasn't playing the style of cricket they wanted from her, went away and changed her approach to up her strike rate and now she's back, better than ever. If we had a top class bowler who wasn't fit, we'd keep picking her. We already do.

[@sniperfi4532]

I think that also stems from perhaps England not putting enough effort into improving their reserves. The reason Australia can seemingly drop an out of form (still legendary) batter like Perry is because they have a lot of talent in reserve. They’re also harsh but fair when it comes to performance.

[@pooonni]

The reason why I love this podcast is because they talk about things thar matter but does not get much interest otherwise. Love the positivity and such a mature conversation around the sensitive topic.

[@IanMonk-lt2zo]

This podcast should be called what's right about Cricket Australia! It's just great what they're doing for the Afghani women. And shame, once more, on the ICC!

[@shubhamshhrivastava7294]

Shame on "ICC" for not recognising Afghan Women's team, Shameless BCCI should've been involved in getting them recognition.

[@kmprash]

forget cricket 90% of women cannot leave their home. and they cannot walk alone in streets some male need to be there along with them. that is the status.

[@omkarsridhar14]

I can think of a pretty glaring reason to the question Nass asked at 32:15. The ICC has not reached out despite international urging because ICC is controlled by the BCCI to a large extent, and BCCI has stronger ties now to India's government than ever before. India regrettably has a friendly relationship with the Taliban for geopolitical reasons, and probably forced the ICC to remain silent on this issue. It's a real shame that the ICC has become the Indian Cricket Council in recent years.

[@Astrobrewster]

The main difference between the teams was fielding

[@denisewilson9783]

I thought the Aussies structure when they got into trouble with the bat was telling, England just fell and then fell apart.

[@simonjess8471]

I'm afraid that a lack of fitnesses is no longer tolerated in sport at the top lever. You only have to look at male players like Samit Patel who wasa simply told that if he did not do something about his weight and fitness, he would not be considered for any future squad. He never played again.

[@Maumau-g1z]

Mel you actually made the other two look good-keep podcasting!

[@baza-c3w]

Just seen the best technical batswomen since Charlotte Edwards retired ...Davina Perrin ...what a player she is going to be , at least one coach knows what hes doing !

[@espanolpordentro]

Can someone tell me how do we give clear borders to speakers ? Is there any professional software to be used?

[@pooonni]

What a lady, Mel! Afghan women would have a lot to thank you for!

[@MadMarchTaffy]

Mel Jones - excellent analysis

[@bobburroughs6241]

Watching T20 Super Smash here in NZ, the array of talented youngsters on display is impressive. English home season as interesting?

[@bobburroughs6241]

Dunkley opens after batting so well in middle order, same with Capsey. Sciver-Brunt out of runs. 3 spin bowlers who can't bat. When England do win the toss they put Aus in. Where are our all-rounders? Put Aus in yet again and it'll be over in 3 days. Hopefully Tammy (if she's not lbw again!) can show our batters how it's done.

[@camera2painting]

Sophia Dunkerly has a couple of good innings but is inconsistent. Capsey hasn’t batted well since last year hundred. There has always been a culture in cricket of the batters, and then the tail enders, which generally includes the bowlers. Half the team can't be relied on to score runs in the women's team. That's a problem because the team isn’t able to bat the full quota of overs when it gets past 20. Surely, the focus of the coach should be reducing the length of the tail? A change of mindset is needed from the coach down. Why is spin a problem when there are spinners in the team to practice against.

[@gregan78]

The potential whitewash will be the best thing to happen to English Women's cricket going forward. A reality check even the best defence can't block. Thanks Australia. Looking forward to England version 2.0

[@granthodges9860]

Very valid comments by Mel and as always, let’s not overlook the fact that England must surely have a larger number of women to draw from and no disrespect to the current English team but this is the best they have…? 🇦🇺

[@malnix1134]

What an amazing lady

[@denisewilson9783]

The English media were being dishonest before they arrived for the test. Lewis & Knight tried to tell us all that the gap was insignificant and they expected to win the ashes back. Then that first game was telling, the fielding, the bowling, the batting and running between the wickets, even the selections were odd. All we heard was England has the best bowler, the best batter but unless they produce their best when it’s required against the best in the world. Then how honest are the accolades.

[@bananabrooks3836]

Yes, Aussies regrouped after the W. C. blip.

[@sniperfi4532]

They’ve got the best batter and bowler but they’re an average team at best. If those two don’t perform you’ve got a bad team going up against an exceptional team.

[@DavidMeikle-ei7fr]

Batterings happen in sport, it's how you respond and change for the future is the most important. Will the management agree to the necessary changes ? This country has always been slow to change

[@matthewsmith-lk4qe]

The ODI cricket approach isn't working, last 6 ODIs in Aus bowled out 6 times barely making 200. All bish bash bosh, need seperate team to T20 if finances allow.

[@nordog55]

You don't need to be an expert to see exactly what Alex was on about. The Aussie girls are fit and athletic not only that look at the body language on our girls, lost before they even start.

[@PatrickKearns-qy8zx]

Nasser for coach of the English women's side.🇦🇺

[@markcowling1690]

I think it's much simpler than this and that is that too many of our women cricketer strut around as if they're extraordinarily good athletes and cricketers and they're simply not the commentary is all about she's the greatest in the world. Well they are not secondly it's the leadership and the coaching those girls do not go onto the field with a killer instinct they just go on to have a good time. The attitude is wrong and so the will to win just isn't there before you get to skill set, I blame the coaching staff to a very large degree it's poor and weak.

[@camera2painting]

Would this coaching team be considered good enough for the men's game? Central contracts quite rightly make life more comfortable, but do they inflate a player's idea of how good they are because they are considered the best in the country?

[@jaynepal5278]

ECB should give the reigns of women cricket to Brendon Mccullum too? :D

[@VirinchipuramSrikanth]

They are just a hopelessly outclassed side.

[@divyanarayan2214]

I get the feeling Nass and Athers actually felt a bit guilty for not helping the Afghan girls enough. I mean...Mel Jones was under hard quarantine and she figured out what to do and how to help them further including getting them out of the country (including sorting out the documentation and going through the legal channels). I am sure she must have co-ordinated with a lot of people to help her out (could not have been an individual effort). But still, she did so much...I am pretty sure Nas and Athers would be thinking like,"Sure we can question the ICC and all...but what have *we* done to help the girls? Why can't we do more in our own capacity?"

[@KelvinPollock-pz1ru]

Well done mel kelvin

[@mikeellis4345]

If an Australian captain threw down her bat in disgust at an umpire’s decision anger refused to shake hands with said umpires .. you lot would be up in arms demanding she be sacked … instead ? Crickets

[@timdintinger9037]

Melanie Jones is absolutely correct. Get her in to run the ECB, get rid of the idiots.

[@brushy1953]

Melanie Jones is an outstanding person who exudes humanity and compassion, she should enter politics, but why would she after the way women get treated.

[@Pullyaheadin92]

The men’s team are next

[@derekwhyle1884]

The England team were poor physically. Many appeared to lack the natural hand/eye coordination required to field and catch well, even if they had the fitness required which many didn’t. Worse than the physical shortcomings was the lack of aggression and desire to win. If it were me any member of that squad caught crying after this defeat would be fired. They need to harden up physically and mentally.

[@mikeellis4345]

Here’s a fun idea !! Have some village park cricketers come in and do a review of the English women’s cricket team performance in the Washes !! You know like root and broad do to humiliate the village park cricketers!!! That would a solid hour of laughs, a real hoot !! 😂

[@vuppuluriraghuramireddy5757]

Nothing wrong you are playing against Australia they are different breed all together in cricket no team can ever come even come close to Australia that's fact.

[@jshaers96]

The main problem with the women's game is that there are a few players who are genuinely good, but a lot of them are basically village level and don't deserve to be professional cricketers at all.

[@CameronVerrills]

Go Mel,

[@DaryllCook]

The commentary on TV is that bad, viewer’s now look forward to the adverts let alone watching the England girls trying to perform

[@micksonneman8807]

Unfortunately if the men were in the same condition, they wouldn't get a game. When SA dropped a certain player because of fitness, they got slammed. Should happen more often to truly professionalise the women's game.

[@markbrenner7804]

Really disappointing performances from England. The comments about the athleticism comparisons are totally valid. The aussies generally look better, far sharper in the field. There is a confidence and clarity about how the aussies approach things.

[@kartikpandey1353]

Gotta address the men as well. They aren't even scoring in T20s anymore.

[@johnab67]

This comment didn't age well

[@baza-c3w]

The batting technical ability of the England player is woeful , the coaching in this country is abysmal , look at Dunkley /Capsey coming through I remember you guys saying dont change Dunkley grips a few years on and she is changing now , Capsey needs to hit the ball on the floor . Looking at the under 19s England batting in the comp going on its virtually the same batting ability not leading with the head and shoulder and keeping a bent front knee and a straight back leg body weight going forward is vital as well as moving the back leg back and across when playing back ..its in all the coaching books !!

[@bashab3098]

What is apparent is that Australia are able to develop talent much quicker than England , heather Knight has never reached her potential , Dubkly is still batting the same war she did when she burst on the scene, Danny wyatt’s technipue still have the same flaws it did when she came in the scene . What do the coaches actually do ? England both men and women , suffer from the see ball hit ball woke way of coaching with youngsters , and it results in clear flaws in technique .

[@luxpursuits]

All talk

[@GaryNoone-jz3mq]

The big problem for the English women's cricket is that they have forgotten how to field. If they could do that, they could at least stand a chance.

[@ianmontgomery7534]

having watched the women's test match I could not get over how poor the English fielding was. Dropped catches looses matches - as the meerkats say -simples! catching is really the basics of fielding.

[@hershpuri289]

Kudos to Mel and cricket australia !!!! On afghanistan women Athers ... I have to call you out here!!! You seemed like a publisict of imran khan the politician. Please note that zalmay khalilzad and imran khan were working hand in glove when afghan women were thrown to the taliban !! Please make a note of this !! You are in media and you should be more aware.. by no means am I saying that you had a role in this.. but it's right that you are called out.

[@Me-gy7yk]

Everything comes down to attitude and our women's team has a definite air of "We've made it" about them. High profile, high wages, but no willingness to work on the fundamentals. It's by no means all of them, but when your better players are pulling strokes on fitness, and lumbering about in the field, it's a really bad look. They have an amateur attitude to a professional sport. Time they grew up.

[@foundfoundfound1]

“fitness” is a polite euphemism for “fat” which the media is too coy or spineless to talk about (if such talk is necessary).

[@Astrobrewster]

I don’t agree at all. Boon was fat. Warnie was fat. Merve was fat. They were all athletic in the field

[@simonjess8471]

I am not sure that is the case. Sure, weight might be a part of it, but fitness is the umbrella term and is correctly used here.

[@gwarhnden]

No it's not

[@Phipsfatboy]

You can be fat and fit. Look at the cricketers already mentiond in another comment. And although a diffrent sport look at most of the front rows in rugby are you telling me they aint fit??

[@simonjess8471]

@ Never saw them at cover point!

[@IANREA]

So I don’t see any of the positions within the team being challenged by other players, is that because of contracts, or places given to get appearance stats. Take a batter, you would expect their batting average to increase, with experience, knowledge, but has it. Press and commentator’s also at fault, when you watch coverage, it’s gives say a bowlers best stats, but not her recent form over a year of T20s, or ODIs, in national/franchise cricket. Then you would see the real performance. Shiver Brunt has been a great player, but would you sat]T her recent form is good, NO. How many of that team will get selected and play in WPL? 3 or 4, but playing every match, NO. Also India is showing us young player being impressive, nudging out established players, Kaur for example.

[@Rambo_88UTB]

Any chance of talking about the ongoing men’s series and some focus on that 🤷🏽‍♂️ Have nothing against the women’s game and I watch it sometimes when there’s nothing else on but I think 90% of the people watching this show tune in for the Men’s game.

[@vinylgenie1190]

This is about the women's team. There are plenty of episodes covering the men's team if you care to look

[@bobburroughs6241]

I'm not - the men have played one, the women are near the end of a tough series.

[@robbutterworth9296]

Loads of engagement on all the online articles and podcasts relating to this women’s series, so clearly a decent market for covering it.

[@seanb2009]

you a goofy

[@seanb2009]

lol you clown, it's the first video about womens cricket in months, what you crying about? They'll talk about the mens game when the game is over. It's still day 2 you flog lol. Anyone calls themselves rambo is a confirmed virgin

[@thatsbollox]

They are unprofessional, but want to be seen as professional. Not prepared to do the required work. Seems like just being selected becomes their grand achievement. Even an ounce of scrutiny and criticism causes them emotional damage....and they feel a need to circle the wagons like a bunch of princesses.

[@HkFinn83]

Sorry but the England womens cricket team don’t look like professional athletes at all. The Australians do. They were given central contracts perhaps too early. It’s hard to have an ‘elite’ group of international cricketers when there’s no base of competitive sport from which to draw. Looks like they have a bunch of randomly selected people who are sort of ring fenced and not improving. Also I have to wonder about the culture around the team. If the tv commentary is anything to go by they’re getting a LOT of praise for doing not much

[@richardmartins1541]

I said before the series england won't win a game and I'm proven right..

[@shaunrobson4278]

And on this the commencement of the historic ASHES Day/Night Test at the G may I present ... AN ODE TO OUR ALL-CONQUERING, TRAIL-BLAZING AUSTRALIAN WOMEN'S CRICKET TEAM It's not often a person is gifted With the chance to see paradigms shifted To see history created And legends restated As national spirits are lifted It's not often so seize on those moments To freeze-frame the finest exponents Of technique and fitness To be there to witness The clinical crush of opponents The climax of talents outrageous Whose feats will be sung of in pages With generations to coo You were right there to view A cricketing team for the ages ~~ The Versed Responder

[@darrylmackie9184]

I DON'T BLAME THE WOMEN, How do they expect The Women Cricketers to Perform. In This Game They are PLAYING IN a Stadium that Seats 100,000 Plus Spectators AND IN THREE DAYS of play THREE THOUSAND Spectators turn up. WHAT A BLOODY DISGRACE, All the Venues were an Overkill, with the exception of Canberra, with a Rent a Crowd.

[@anthonyj7989]

Where do you want them to play, in a small country town? In Australia during summer there are plenty of cricket grounds in large cities available for use, so why not use them. It should be up to the English to field a team that can preform to an international level and make the Australian girls earn their spot in the Australian team, not dumb down the cricket ground and then blame the cricket ground for the poor performance of the English players.

[@stevenrutherford3013]

Australia are miles better they are unfit, some of them never stand up and their fielding is an embarrassment

[@john8443]

Simply no match v this Aus women's side.

[@BradWaghorn]

Give me a break. This English team doesn’t have the fundamentals right, starting with there fielding which is atrocious. Australia are superior in every aspect of the game.

[@VARMOT123]

India-eng series ?

[@geoffreypayne6867]

Just as uncompetitive as the men are in Australia..

[@eslermanu47]

Who cares

[@jamesrichardson3500]

KZbin played this automatically probably because I watch all of these. There is no appetite for womens cricket, it's garbage and I resent the fact this popped up when it was the first pod I will have ignored.

[@razilH]

This was boring episode

[@Mir_Fawad]

Hypocrisy is evident here. Afghan Women cricket is more discussed on western media than people dying in Afghanistan by hunger due to draconian western sanctions.. Moral conundrum 🤔

[@Gunnercoops]

Men’s white ball batters aren’t smart enough!! They don’t play the conditions or opponents they just slog from the first over!

[@Mister_H.]

Ta da then 👋🏻

[@1320613]

The women’s ashes is a non starter. The English women are not in the same league as the Aussies. No one is interested in one sided matches/

[@paul19vf21]

This should be a semi pro sport. Great that ladies wish to play and embrace the sport but to shoe horn games into the worlds best grounds with first class umpires and TV scheduling etc etc is frankly a farce. It’s Birmingham league two standard at best

[@welshhammer1733]

I love this podcast but 38 mins on women's cricket? I had to turn off

[@wanderingevilspirit]

Well, NO ONE REALLY CARES!

[@johnab67]

I only care because the money I'm paying out to watch the England men's team is subsidising poor quality cricket and a holiday for the girls and massive coaching team.

[@kiriakoz]

@@johnab67 the men's team is also rubbish, mid table in the WTC, thrashed last time they went to Australia, have only "won" one ODI WC ever which was at home and on boundary count back. And that's despite England playing the most ODI WC at home out of the teams.

[@johnab67]

You're missing the point and banging on about how England are not very good, which I don't disagree with but, tickets to watch England men are very expensive (12150 rupees for a T20) which is subsidising something I'm not interested in. Here's an analogy, you have a nice meal in your favourite restaurant and the bill includes 30% extra for a different restaurant that nobody eats in because they feel sorry for them.

[@1milliondogs]

​@@kiriakoz India just got demolished by NZ at home. Time to shush.

[@kartikpandey1353]

There's that