Women's Ashes 2025: Charlie Dean says England carrying fewer scars against Australia ahead of bid to regain Ashes

England spinner Charlie Dean believes the team are carrying fewer scars against Australia as they look to win back the Ashes for the first time in 11 years.

Australia have dominated world cricket over the past decade, winning four T20 World Cups since England's last Ashes win in 2013/14 - taking their tally to six overall - and claiming a seventh 50-over World Cup success in 2022.

The last five Ashes series have gone their way, albeit the most recent in 2023 ended with a tie as England appeared to grow in belief against their esteemed opponents.

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"That home Ashes summer was really big for us," Dean told reporters ahead of the first ODI of this year's multi-format series on Sunday January 12.

"We didn't come away with an Ashes win but it felt like a lot of the momentum was with us. Hopefully that's something that we can replicate.

"We're very aware that playing the Aussies in their backyard is going to be a challenge - we have a lot of respect for them as a team - but I think we're up to it."

Dean, who made her Ashes debut at 21-years-old on England's winless tour of Australia three years ago, added: "Going back to that last Ashes trip, I was really fresh-faced on the international scene and was quite daunted by the prospect of the Aussies.

"This time around, a few of us are a bit more experienced. It feels like we don't have as many scars in the group from games in previous Ashes. We're coming in with a bit more of a fresh attitude towards the challenge.

"We sort of feel that we're closing the gap in a way. But we also know that when that gap to the Aussies gets close, it only spurs them on to do greater things - and they've been so dominant over the past 10 years.

"Hopefully we can come at them with the same attitude and energy that we did back at home."

In that 2023 series at home, England won both white-ball series 2-1 but lost the opening Test match, which earned Australia four points compared to the two on offer for T20 or ODI wins.

The Test match is being played last on this occasion, at Melbourne's famous MCG on January 30, and Dean is hopeful England can go into it in a strong position with a fast start in the white-ball series - something head coach Jon Lewis has spoken about.

"Whether we can land a punch first… Lewis has talked about inspiring and entertaining and I feel we've really bought into that with how we're playing our cricket, trying to make the first move," Dean said.

"Sometimes it's a bit dangerous to dream about [winning the Ashes]. We're sort of framing this series that it's 0-0 every game.

"The Test match has a lot of points on it and if we can go into that in the best situation, then great, but I think equally we need to take each game as it comes and that's what we're focusing on."

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Dean added: "There's nothing greater than being in an Ashes series as an England cricketer. We definitely want to do England proud.

"I feel like within camp, we're pretty confident. Hopefully we can hit the ground running on Sunday."

Women's Ashes 2025 schedule

All dates and times UK and Ireland

• First ODI: 11.30pm, Saturday January 11 - North Sydney Oval
• Second ODI: 11.05pm, Monday January 13 - Junction Oval, Melbourne
• Third ODI: 11.05pm, Thursday January 16 - Ninja Stadium, Hobart
• First T20I: 8.40am, Monday January 20 - Sydney Cricket Ground
• Second T20I: 8.40am, Thursday January 23 - Manuka Oval, Canberra
• Third T20I: 8.10am, Saturday January 25 - Adelaide Oval
• Test: 3.30am, Thursday Jan 30-Sunday Feb 2 - MCG, Melbourne