As an intriguing Ashes finale approaches, England places its batting hopes in Sophia Dunkley.

In the opening ODI of the series against Australia, England management has opted to move Sophia Dunkley up the order because Emma Lamb is currently having trouble with her form. Notably, the 24-year-old performed admirably in the T20I series against the Alyssa Healy-led team. As a result, the team management is confident that Dunkley can disrupt Australia’s bowling in the opening overs and will start the match alongside Tammy Beaumont, who scored an incredible double-century in the lone Test at Trent Bridge.

The captain, Heather Knight, confirmed the most recent development and also announced that she will bat at number three in place of Dunkley. She also praised the young woman, stating that because Dunkley has performed admirably for England in recent years, she expects her to do much better in her new position.

“Sophia will start batting first. She moved up to three last year, excelled, was incredibly successful, and left a lasting impression. This year, she will move up to open and perform just as she did on the ODI team at three. We want to take advantage of the powerplay as much as possible, so when Sophia moved up to level three last year, we made the adjustment to try to do just that. She is a genuine batter, though, when it comes to Sophia. She’s not only a top-level pinch-hitter

Notable achievements include Dunkley’s magnificent half-century in the first T20I match against Australia and her crucial 57-run partnership with Danni Wyatt in the second. However, Knight feels that despite the fact that she only scored nine runs in the third T20I, the 39 runs she and Wyatt together scored at Lord’s truly contributed to their victory.

Their cooperation at Lord’s was excellent. The way they started, with Danni especially taking on the game and Sophia playing that position for us so wonderfully, I thought that definitely won us the game. She naturally makes swift runs, so she can make big runs as well. The plan is for her to play her natural game, get rid of poor deliveries, and then attempt to put pressure back on the bowler—maybe not exactly at the same pace she does in T20, but that’s the idea, according to Knight.