All you need to know about the Women's Ashes 2025

Alyssa Healy (left) and Heather Knight (right) will again lead Australia and England respectively

The Women's Ashes starts on 11 January in Australia.

The contest is between two great cricketing rivals, England and Australia, with England looking to win the Ashes for the first time since 2013-14.

The first women's Ashes began in 1934, 52 years after the first men's tournament.

The contest was not officially called 'the Women's Ashes' until 1998, when a miniature bat was burned before the first Test at Lord's, and the ashes were placed inside a cricket ball to make a trophy.

In 2013, a new Women's Ashes trophy was produced, with the original trophy mounted in the centre of a larger frame.

How does the Women's Ashes work?

The women's Ashes is played a little differently compared to the men's contest.

The men's Ashes series usually consists of a best out of five Test matches.

The women's edition of the contest is played across three formats: a one-off Test match, three T20s and three one-day internationals.

There are points awarded in each game, with the winning team having the highest points.

What's the difference between the formats of cricket?

A Test match can span up to five days, although for this years' Ashes contest, it'll be four days at the end of the series.

In a Test match, each team gets two innings - meaning they bat once and bowl once in each inning. The team that scores the most runs over both innings wins the match.

An inning refers to the time when one team bats, and it ends when all the batters are out or the team reaches a specific number of overs. An over is six deliveries of the ball bowled to the player batting.

A Test match typically consists of 90 overs per inning.

In a One Day International (ODI) The focus is on scoring runs quickly and playing in a more attacking way as teams are limited to just 50 overs.

T20, or Twenty20 is a shortened format of cricket. In a T20 game, the two teams have a single innings each, which is restricted to a maximum of twenty overs.

Other common words in cricket

• Run: A run is a unit of scoring. One run is scored each time the batters cross and reach the set of stumps at the other end of the pitch.

• Wicket: A wicket is a set of three stumps with two wooden bails on top of them. They can be stumped, hit, kept, taken or given away to get a batter out.

How does the Women's Ashes points system work?

Australia retained the Ashes trophy after the series was drawn in 2023

Each white-ball game sees the winner earn two points, while a win in the Test is worth four points.

A white-ball game is either a One Day International or T20 contest.

Any no result, tie or abandoned match in the white-ball matches would see both sides earn one point, while a draw in the Test would see both get two points.

In theory a maximum of 16 points are available, so to win the Ashes you need to get to nine points.

An 8-8 draw, like in the 2023 edition in England, would see Australia retain the Ashes because they are the current holders.

There have been 25 Women's Ashes in total, with Australia winning 10 and England six. The other nine ended in draws.

The first ODI of this year's Ashes series is scheduled for Saturday, 11 January at the North Sydney Oval in Australia.