England Women have added spinners Danielle Hazell and Danielle Wyatt to T20 Ashes squad. The three Twenty-20 matches, which take place in Chelmsford, Hove and Cardiff over the next week, make up the final games of this summers Women's Ashes series. Australia currently lead the series 8-2 after winning the stand alone test match in Canterbury after England's batting line-up collapsed.
Hazell and Wyatt come into the squad in the place of Fran Wilson and Kate Cross, with England needing to win all three T20 matches to draw the series and retain the Ashes. Hazell is currently ranked number one in the T20 bowling rankings and was a surprise omission to the ODI and test match squads. And Wyatt, who can also bat in the top order, has performed well previously in T20 matches and was called into the squad after scoring heavily playing for Notts in county matches.
After winning the opening one day match in Taunton, England have been disappointing with the bat. Australia went on to win the following two ODI's, which also counted towards the ICC Women's Championship to decide qualification for the 2017 Women's World Cup. Taking a 4-2 lead into the one and only test match, Australia completely outplayed the hosts. England are now unable to win the series outright, but having won the last two Ashes series know that winning all three T20's would draw the series level at 8-8 and mean they retain the trophy.
England T20 Squad: Charlotte Edwards (Kent) Katherine Brunt (Yorkshire) Georgia Elwiss (Sussex) Lydia Greenway (Kent) Rebecca Grundy (Warwickshire) Jenny Gunn (Nottinghamshire) Danielle Hazell (Yorkshire) Heather Knight (Berkshire) Laura Marsh (Kent) Natalie Sciver (Surrey) Anya Shrubsole (Somerset) Sarah Taylor (Sussex) Lauren Winfield (Yorkshire) Danielle Wyatt (Nottinghamshire) | Australia's T20 Squad: Meg Lanning (cat) Alex Blackwell (vice-capt) Kristen Beams Nicole Bolton Jess Cameron Sarah Coyte Rene Farrell Holly Ferling Alyssa Healy (wk) Jess Jonassen Erin Osborne Ellyse Perry Megan Schutt Elyse Villani |