A brief history

1934-35 The first tour was to be underrepresentative for England as the women, who had to agree not to smoke, drink or gamble or "be accompanied by a man", had to fund themselves They still proved the strongest of the trio which included New Zealand, as the first Test in Brisbane, captained by Betty Archdale, "brought victory but no blaze of glory, for nerves and spin combined to make the cricket on both sides less than good than it might have been," according to Nancy Joy in her book Maiden Over. Australia were bundled out for 47 courtesy of Myrtle MacLagan; England replied shakily also. Australia then rallied to make 183, and England required 34 to win. England also won the second Test, MacLagan, who had already taken the first wicket in a Test, made the first Test century too, making 119. The third Test, in Melbourne, was a draw - MacLagan making fifty and taking seven match wickets - as Australia were fast improving.
Tests: Australia 0 England 2

1937 Two years later, a wounded Australia arrived stronger and fitter, setting the tone for contests to come. According to Maiden Over they "paraded up and down the country" outplaying county sides at will, Hazel Pritchard's batting "graceful, fluent, flashing" was a revelation. "So were Antonio's legbreaks, and her cheeky 80s and 90s: the pace of Smith and Flaherty: McLarty's suicidal infielding: Pat Holme's 200 at Basingstoke, the steady run-getting of the middle batsmen and the skill and study behind Margaret Peden's captaincy." All these, matched with England's skill, made this the Ashes the equivalent of the 2005 men's - contests so closely fought that they were settled only in the closing overs. Australia won at Northampton at 5 o'clock by 31 runs, England returned victory in the second at Blackpool. Then the three-Test series fittingly ended 1-1.
Tests: England 1 Australia 1

1948-49 The 1948-49 tour should have been the third or fourth for England's women, but war got in the way in 1939. An ageing England - with four from the original party - went via Sri Lanka for a tour match, before heading to Perth, Sydney and Brisbane for more warm-ups. The first Test in Adelaide finally took place in January with another healthy crowd watching Australia make 213, and they went on to win by 183 runs. Two draws, at Melbourne and Sydney, handed the series to Australia, who held the Ashes for the first time.
Tests: Australia 1 England 0

1951Although this was a series of three-day Tests, each side managed to force a result, and third Test was drawn, leaving things all square and Australia retaining the Ashes. The opener was a draw at Scarborough, then Australia squeaked victory by two wickets at Worcester. The indomitable MacLagan made a fifty in the third Test at The Oval, then Mary Duggan skittled them for 83 with five wickets.
Tests: Australia 1 England 1

1957-58 A decade after their previous tour, England returned Down Under and had two draws against New Zealand and then three against Australia. As these were only three-day matches, however - with a rest day in the middle of most of them - it was pretty difficult for any team to force a result. The opener in Melbourne, when both sides were out around the 30-mark in the first innings, looked like shaping up for a result, but England couldn't chase down their target of 206 after Australia put on 9 for 206 declared in the second innings, with 100 for the inevitable Betty Wilson. The other two, in Adelaide and Perth, had draw written all over them almost from the start, and Australia kept the trophy.
Tests: Australia 0 England 0

1963 This was to be the last time England were to win an Ashes series for 42 years, and they left it to the last Test of three, after two draws at Edgbaston and Scarborough. It was at The Oval where they triumphed, adding 120 runs on the third and final day to leave Australia needing 210 to win. They hardly went for it, with a run-rate of 1.78per over, but were bowled out anyway, by Duggan's three wickets. She had also taken four wickets in the first innings and made a century. It was her match.
Tests: England 1 Australia 0

1968-69 England came here owning the trophy this time after an interim series win on home soil and they retained it through a drawn series. Australia were back on the agenda as the first country, with three draws again, although England beat New Zealand 2-0. Three-day Tests were the rage once more and Enid Bakewell's century in the opener in Adelaide made sure that one was a draw. Australia wound up 76 runs shy of their target in the second match in Melbourne, two rare failures from Bakewell offering the chance of a result. Australia declared in the final match to set England 231; the tourists were six down and way shy of the target.
Tests: Australia 0 England 0

1976 The first one-day series between the teams (but not the first ODI, as that was in the World Cup in 1973) was played on English soil, and England emerged the 2-1 winners. Australia took the opening match at historic thanks to Lorraine Hill's century. Three days later, at LORD'S - LINK - the first women's game there ever, and in quite contentious circumstances, England edged the win thanks to Enid Bakewell's 50. The home side took the title in the decider at Nottingham, easily hunting down their target of 120, with Megan Lear's fifty steering them home. Test-wise, both three-dayers were drawn, at the Oval, Heyhoe-Flint's 176 ensured that Australia didn't even to get to bat again, while England left it too late with the declaration at Edgbaston, Australia four down until very late, when two wickets fell at the last gasp.
Tests: England 0 Australia 0
ODIs: England 2 Australia 1

1984-85 England headed out to New Zealand for two drawn Tests and then were treated to a five-match series against Australia, and went down 2-1, the Ashes slipping from their grip. Australia, though, had to wait to the final match to take the series win, with victory at Bendigo where they made a canny declaration and eventually chased down their target of 116 for the loss of only three wickets. England had, in fact, taken the lead with a second Test win in Adelaide, following a draw in the opener in Perth.

A win in South Australia had looked unlikely when England were rolled for 91, but they recovered in the second innings to make 296 and then bowl Australia out just short of their target of 126 to win by five runs, Avril Starling taking 5 for 36, with good support from Gill McConway's three wickets. A draw followed in the third game, leaving Australia with some serious work to do in the last two matches. But they won both, including a convincing 117-run win in Gosford. The Ashes were still safe and stayed in Australia's possession with five series wins (both home and away) and a draw until England took them back in 2005.

The one-dayers, all in Melbourne, were a much more one-sided story, Australia picking them up 3-0, with two centuries for Jill Kennare in the second and third matches the talking point.
Tests: Australia 2 England 1
ODIs: Australia 3 England 0

1987A two-match one-day series ended in a draw. Australia won a rain-affected opener at Lord's, launching 174 from 31 overs, which England failed by some distance to get anywhere near as the spinner Lyn Fulston cramped them with four wickets. Australia reached 177 from 53 overs in the next reduced game at Canterbury, and England overhauled it with more than three overs to spare thanks to Carole Hodges' fifty. The three-Test series was won by Australia, with matches now four days. Neverthless, though they won the opener at Worcester, with Jenny Owens' slow offerings sparking two collapses, the second and third ones containing high scores at Wetherby and Hove and ended in deadlock. Tests: England 0 Australia 1

ODIs: England 1 Australia 1

1992-93 This tour again went in reverse, with England playing three Tests against New Zealand before heading to Australia. Australia wiped them out by an innings and 85 runs in the only Test to easily keep the trophy, Denise Annetts compiling an unbeaten 148.
Tests: Australia 1 England 0
ODI Tri-series: Australia and England shared the trophy

1998 World Cups excepted, Australia hadn't played a one-day series in England for 11 years when they headed over this year. A five-match ODI series was on offer this time, and Australia swept the board, winning 5-0. Belinda Clark's unbeaten 95 from 29 rain-affected overs helped Australia to the 11-run D/L win in the opener at Scarborough, fifties for Lisa Keightley and Mel Jones took them to the second at Derby. At Hove, England's only 200-plus score wasn't enough to chase down Australia's 237 for 4, and the two final games went the dominant Australia's way, too. The three Tests, however, were more evenly contested with three draws from three.
Tests: England 0 Australia 0
ODIs: England 0 Australia 5

2000 Australia took the one-day series easily, a warm-up for the World Cup although that would be won by New Zealand, the only time Australia have not won it so far this millennium.
ODIs: England 0 Australia 4

2001 Australia smashed England in both matches, needing to bat just once at Shenley, Michelle Gosko making a double-century. The other at Headingley wasnotable for Karen Rolton's double-ton and Claire Taylor's century, and the visitors' target was a measly 7. Their dominance continued in the one-dayers, with three straight wins.
Tests: England 0 Australia 2
ODIs: England 0 Australia 3

2002-03 Australia retained the Ashes with another 1-0 win in the two-Test series, courtesy of anopening victory in Brisbane. Cathryn Fitzpatrick twice took four wickets in the match, knocking over a brittle England for 124 and 92. Australia's first innings was similarly weak, skittled for 78, but they reached their 139 target with five wickets to spare. It was cricket for the purists, with the run rate peaking at just over two an over for Australia; England never got above 1.6. England's lithe opening bowler Lucy Pearson grabbed 7 for 51 in the second drawn Test in Sydney, but half-centuries from Alex Blackwell and Karen Rolton and a century from Lisa Sthalekar shored up the home side's batting. England were six down for 133 chasing 207, but at around 1.60 runs an over once more, they didn't deserve to win, and in fact it was more a question of survival in the end. The one-dayers were one-siders, with Australia killing off England 3-0.
Tests: Australia 1 England 0
ODIs: Australia 3 England 0

2005 It was England's summer of Ashes glory. While the men had to wait 16 years for a series win, the women hadn't won a Test series for 42. This was all to change in one magical summer, and they were treated to an Ashes parade on a bus in Trafalgar. The women's success belied their fame though, with many bystanders wondering if they were the male player's wives. Nevertheless, it was a triumph and Clare Connor's captaincy highlight. The one-dayers were equally closely contested (at last) but they went the way of Australia 3-2 in the end, who also took the Twenty20 scalp.
Tests: England 1 Australia 0
ODIs: England 2 Australia 3