By Rob Barnett
England are breaking down the Women’s Ashes into separate series, knowing that winning two one-day internationals will mean they retain the urn, according to Lydia Greenway.
Charlotte Edwards’ side stormed to a thrilling victory at Perth on Monday in the sole Test, giving them six of the 10 points they require to keep the Ashes.
The first of three one-day internationals, each worth two points to the winner, is on Sunday in Melbourne. Those games are followed by a trio of Twenty20 internationals with the same value to the victors.
Greenway, a middle-order lynchpin and star fielder in all formats for England, explained the tourists’ approach to the rest of the multi-format contest.
“We want to win every single game that we play, so we’re breaking it down,” she told ecb.co.uk.
“We’re looking at it as a one-day series in itself, so three games. To win that series we have to win two of the games. That’s the way we’re looking at it. And I think for us a team it keeps us really focussed and hopefully we can keep playing the way we want to.”
Following two days off, including a trip to the Australian Open tennis yesterday, England today switched focus from Test to 50-over cricket. Tomorrow they face a Cricket Australia Chairman's XI at Melbourne’s Junction Oval.
Greenway, who averages over 30 in her 112 ODIs, explained: “As a batter you have to change your mindset and that’s what we did today at training.
“I think it’s just expanding your game a bit more and making sure you have got that more aggressive mindset for the one-day game. Hopefully we’ll put that into practice tomorrow for our warm-up game.”
Sunday’s ODI is at the MCG, a vast stadium that hosted a world-record cricket crowd of 91,092 on Boxing Day for the men’s Ashes Test.
Greenway has played two ODIs there, both in February 2008, but is excited at the prospect of another.
“Growing up you watch all these games being played at big venues and for us as international cricketers that’s what you train for,” she added. “To actually be given the opportunity to play at grounds like that is great.”
“Great” is also the adjective Greenway used to describe the Ashes Test, which ebbed and flowed before England prevailed by 61 runs.
She said: “It was a great Test match, not just us as a team but for women’s cricket. It’s the sort of game that you want to play in and I think with it going our way as well made it even more special.
“We just said that’s the best game we’ve played in and I’d certainly not been part of a win like that during a Test match. Coming off the field having won the Test is a great start for us.”
Follow the Women's Ashes ball-by-ball via the following media:
Live stream: www.ecb.co.uk/news/womens/womens-ashes-live-stream
Live Scores: www.ecb.co.uk and www.cricket.com.au
Twitter: @ECB_cricket and @SouthernStars
Radio: 5 Live Sports Extra, ABC Grandstand or online via www.cricket.com.au/live/audio-stream