There was a sense of inevitability about the result of the third Ashes one-day international, from the moment Ash Gardner decided she was going to pummel Sophie Ecclestone for six in her first over. Gardner has been England’s Ashes nemesis before – who can forget the 12 wickets she took in the 2023 Trent Bridge Test while nursing a finger injury?

Now, here she was, taking on England’s best bowler just after Heather Knight had brought her on. Australia were four wickets down in the first 15 overs, after an underwhelming 180 on Tuesday, but Gardner saw Ecclestone coming, came down the track and struck the ball sweetly over the top. Two hours later, she was celebrating a first international hundred and England were left requiring a record-breaking 309 to win.

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If the overwhelming feeling was that the visitors might as well have given up and gone home at that point, they only had themselves to blame: 204 all out in the first ODI and 159 all out in the second had hardly inspired confidence. From that perspective, England’s 222 defied expectations: they went toe-to-toe with Australia for 30 overs of the chase, with Tammy Beaumont and Nat Sciver-Brunt scoring half-centuries.

But nothing was going to spoil Gardner’s day in the sun. Georgia Wareham skidded the ball into the stumps of both set batters, Phoebe Litchfield and Kim Garth held on to stunning catches and Alana King took a maiden five-for, but Gardner had the last word.

Fielding on the rope at deep midwicket, she overbalanced while trying to hold on to the catch proffered up by Ecclestone, but managed to parry the ball back in and thrust herself full stretch into the field of play to clasp on before it hit the turf. Centuries-followed-by-spectacular-catches win matches.

England’s worst fears were realised here in Hobart. This was the old Australia, they of four consecutive World Cup wins, back with a vengeance – the glimmer of weakness shown in the second ODI now gone. Calls for Beth Mooney and Tahlia McGrath to be dropped to make way for new kid on the block Georgia Voll suddenly looked ridiculous. Mooney’s 50 proved critical in helping Gardner rebuild from a shaky start before McGrath struck a 38-ball half-century as a slow start turned into a sprint.

Wareham was not in Australia’s XI for the first two ODIs: here, selected in place of Darcie Brown (ostensibly for her bowling), she smashed 38 from 12 balls at No 8, taking 17 runs from Ecclestone’s final over. Australia added 104 runs off the last 10 and by the end England were making tired fielding errors. It could be a long tour.

England seemed desperate early on, burning both their DRS reviews within 23 balls in an attempt to dislodge Alyssa Healy and Ellyse Perry, caught behind. Oddly enough, Australia looked equally skittish in the first 15 overs, despite being four points to the good.

Three wickets went in the powerplay: Litchfield dangled her bat to Lauren Filer and edged behind, Perry flicked Lauren Bell straight into the hands of Filer at short fine leg and Healy was dropped by a back-pedalling Filer at mid-on, but holed out to deep midwicket in Sciver‑Brunt’s next over. Charlie Dean took a fourth as Annabel Sutherland was once again caught on the ring.

But then came Gardner: lofting drives down the ground, but also picking out the gaps in a run-a-ball innings of controlled aggression that set the platform for the 300-plus total. She holed out to Beaumont in the deep with four overs to go, but Wareham gave the fielders no relief.

If England win all three T20s and the Test, they would still take the Ashes: Jon Lewis will no doubt be reminding his players of 2023, when they came back from 6-0 behind to square the series 8-8. Doing it away from home, though, feels a different proposition altogether: England have a mountain to climb.