Women’s Ashes: Australia complete series win as England suffer harrowing six-run defeat by DLS in second T20 | Cricket news
Australia completely sealed the Women’s Ashes with a dramatic six-run victory via DLS over England in the second T20 at Manuka Oval in Canberra.
With captain Heather Knight (43no) and Amy Jones (0no) in the middle for the final over, England needed 22 runs from the last six deliveries and after Knight started with a boundary to leave them needing 18 runs from five balls, the umpires called a halt and left the visitors furious as they were taken off at a crucial moment.
From there, with the rain still falling, the game was abandoned and the hosts now have a 10-0 lead in the contest.
Now, even with a win in the final T20 and the one-off Test, Heather Knight’s side can only return the score to 10-6. England went into the second T20I 8-0 down in the Ashes after being thrashed 6-0 in the previous ODI series and then lost the first T20I by 57 runs, retaining the Ashes for the hosts.
After putting Australia into action and setting them a tough target of 186, Danni Wyatt-Hodge (52) and Sophia Dunkley (32) built a crucial partnership for England, 12 fours and one six between them, as England batted well.
However, a decisive 13th over from Megan Schutt (2-32) turned the tide and both were dismissed after a rain delay, reducing England to 99-3 and Australia winning again in the moments of pressure.
That brought Knight and Nat Sciver-Brunt (22) into the middle and tasked England’s two stalwarts with chasing down the remaining 87 runs required, with the pair handling the pressure after adding 17 runs from the 17th over.
Despite their aggressive late partnership, with the rain returning, the total proved too much and England fell six runs short of Australia’s total which was fueled by a late surge from Talia McGrath (48) and Grace Harris (35) as the partnership picked up 48 runs of the last three over his stand worth an unbroken 71 off 35 balls.
Defeat will leave England shaken and the question of whether they left it too little too late unanswered.
The series continues with the T20 final in Adelaide on Saturday, before concluding with a pink-ball Test match at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground from January 30.
England’s intent is improving as the cost of the pressure on the field is high
At the start of the contest, England’s bowlers looked dangerous and struck early to see Australia slip from 66-1 to 75-4, Sophie Ecclestone (1-33) and Charlie Dean (2-28) combined to remove Beth Mooney ( 44). ), Elyse Perry (2) and Phoebe Litchfield (17).
However, after Freya Kemp (1-21) atoned for dropping Annabel Sutherland (18) in the 11th over by dismissing her in the 15th over, Australia chose their moment and regained control of their innings.
With McGrath and Harris getting aggressive and putting pressure back on England’s bowling attack, they broke their half-century partnership to post a total of 83 runs and put their side back in control.
England’s fielding was questioned throughout the series and although the increase in their level of intent was palpable, the strength of the attack across the Australian side saw dropped catches and run-outs continue to play their part, Dean dismissing striker McGrath in the 19th over which saw 18 runs added to Australia’s total.
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