England’s Tammy Beaumont and Heather Knight hailed Australia all-rounder Tahlia McGrath after she fired the hosts to a nine-wicket victory in the Women’s Ashes opener in Adelaide.
McGrath took 3-26 to help peg England back after Beaumont (30) and Danni Wyatt (70) put on 82 for the opening partnership.
Despite her impressive spell, England still appeared to be favourites at the halfway stage after posting 169-4, but McGrath smashed 91 from 49 balls and put on 144 with Meg Lanning (64) as Australia cruised to victory with three overs to spare.
England batter Beaumont said: ‘I know Tahlia from playing at Sydney Strikers [in the Women’s Big Bash League] and I’ve just said to her, “I think that’s one of the best innings I’ve ever seen”.
‘It’s hard to be too frustrated. We would have been happy to get 170 this morning and I’m really happy with how I went about it with the bat but honestly if I could go back I would have maybe tried to get a few more.’
Captain Knight added: ‘The way Danni Wyatt and Tammy Beaumont came out and batted was outstanding, especially because they said they felt a bit rusty.
‘We thought we got to about par with the bat. They batted outstandingly and Tahlia McGrath made it difficult to set fields. We’ll have to learn from that ahead of Saturday.’
Australia have won two of the last three women’s Ashes series and laid down a marker at the Adelaide Oval with an emphatic win.
Player of the Match McGrath said: ‘I’m just loving playing cricket at the moment. It’s always nice when you’re winning and in good form. I’ll roll with it as long as possible.
‘We thought it was probably about par. They had a really good start and we pegged it back quite well. We gave ourselves every chance.
‘There are lots of quality players sitting on the sidelines and I wasn’t even sure if I was going to be given the nod tonight and play.
‘When you get your opportunity, you’ve got to make the most of it because there are so many waiting to have a go. I got to bat at three today and I sort of had to take it with both hands.’
The Women’s Ashes continues on Saturday with the second of three T20 games. A Test match in Canberra and three one-day internationals follow as Australia look to retain the Ashes and England bid to win back the urn.
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