Heather Knight admits England need to be more “ruthless” with the bat in the second match of the Women’s Ashes Trophy after losing their first one-day international against Australia.

England will travel to Melbourne for the second of three ODIs, which starts at 11:05pm UK time on Monday, aiming to win Sydney comfortably with four wickets and 67 balls to spare over Australia Immediately after the opener, they hit back in the multi-format series.

The win means Australia take an early 2-0 lead in the series, with six white-ball games (three ODIs and three T20s) set to be played this month, with each win available ahead of a single four-day Test. Two points. The competition will be held at the MCG in Melbourne from January 30 to February 2, with the final winner receiving 4 points.

While England captain Knight said there were a lot of positives to take from the opener, especially the way the team bowled as Australia set a target of 204, she said they need to find a way to A bigger score in the second race at Junction Oval.

“I thought we did a really good job in this game,” said Knight, England’s leading scorer with 39 points.

“I think with the bat – myself included – some of us started out and didn’t go on to score as big a score or really big partnerships, and that’s something we could have done a little better.

“When we do get a big score, be a little bit more ruthless, that wicket doesn’t always feel like you’re in it, there’s always a little bit throughout the innings.

“We got another 20 points there and we were really in the game.”

Bale: Despite opening defeat, we can still gain confidence early in the series

While praising the way the England bowlers tried to limit Australia’s scoring after setting a target of 204, Knight singled out the “outstanding” Lauren Bell for praise and said “it’s the best I’ve ever seen her do in an England jersey.” The best bowling ball”.

Bell, who took the wicket of Ellis Perry, said she felt “in a really good place” with her bowling and from a team perspective heading to Melbourne, “there are definitely things we can work on” .

“Obviously Australia had good chances and we conceded some in important moments,” she added.

“Overall, we can take quite a lot of confidence from the game.

“We’re one game into a pretty long series and we’re obviously down 2-0 but we have to start the next game and imagine being 0-0 and losing again. That’s the beauty of this series “We can come back, we just have to recalibrate and stick to our plan and go.”

On how they will approach the second ODI at the Oval, Bell added: “I think we will sit down as a team and review it, our batting group will come together and we will work out all the issues.

“Things will be different in Melbourne so we’ll have to make adjustments. But we’ll come together as a team and figure out the details we can sort out and hopefully have a better performance.”

2025 Women’s Ashes Schedule

All dates and times in the UK and Ireland

• First foreign direct investment: Saturday 11 January – North Sydney Oval – Australia wins by four wickets
• The second foreign direct investment: Monday 13 January 11.05pm – Junction Oval, Melbourne
• The third overseas direct investment: Thursday 16 January 11.05pm – Hobart Ninja Stadium
• First T20I: Monday 20 January 8:40am – Sydney Cricket Ground
• Second T20I: Thursday 23 January 8.40am – Manuka Oval, Canberra
• Third T20I: Saturday 25 January 8am – Adelaide Oval
• test: Thursday 30 January to 3.30am Sunday 2 February – MCG, Melbourne