England Women announce squad of 13 for Ashes Test against Australia

Kirstie Gordon has been named in England Women’s squad of 13 and could be in line for her debut in the must-win Test against Australia.

Gordon – who impressed in last winter’s ICC Women’s World T20 before picking up a stress fracture – is brought into the squad after taking eight wickets in the warm-up fixture between Australia and England Women’s Academy.

England’s warm-up game – against Australia A – ended in victory, with centuries for Tammy Beaumont, Amy Jones and Nat Sciver.

Danni Wyatt and Jenny Gunn, who were a part of the ODI squad, will stay with England Women’s Academy to take part in T20s against Australia A and Ireland, the latter fixtures a replacement for Ireland’s series against Zimbabwe which was cancelled.

Fran Wilson and Alex Hartley will stay with the Test group in Taunton as cover.

England captain Heather Knight said: “It’s obviously a very important match for us and we need to win it to stay in the series.

“The beauty of the multi-format points series means we’re still very much in the battle, a normal bilateral series that finished like the ODIs would have been finished but we can get back to 6-4 with a win in the Test match and that’s exciting.

“The warm-up at Millfield was ideal. We saw batters get runs and spend time in the middle and the bowlers performed well to bowl out the opposition twice on a flat one. We’re raring to go again to get back into the Ashes.”

England Women’s squad: Heather Knight (captain), Tammy Beaumont, Katherine Brunt, Kate Cross, Sophie Ecclestone, Georgia Elwiss, Kirstie Gordon, Amy Jones, Laura Marsh, Nat Sciver, Anya Shrubsole, Lauren Winfield, Sarah Taylor

Women’s Ashes schedule

Test:

• July 18-21: The County Ground, Taunton

T20Is:

• July 26: 1st T20I – County Ground, Chelmsford
• July 28: 2nd T20I – The County Ground, Hove
• July 31: 3rd T20I – Bristol County Ground, Bristol

(c) Sky News 2019: England Women announce squad of 13 for Ashes Test against Australia