Women's Ashes - 2nd T20I

England, with the Ashes already lost, showed just what a dangerous side that they can beat at the Manuka Oval, Canberra as they looked to win the final two games of their tour of Australia and level the series.

 

The Ashes are staying with the Australians, but there is a certain pride to this England side, and Katherine Brunt is the embodiment of this. It was little wonder that she came off swinging, in a physical and metaphorical sense.

 

Danni Wyatt was promoted up the order to open the batting with Tammy Beaumont; after Wyatt’s first international fifty on Thursday, and it gave England some positive intent at the top of the order. It looked better for the side in this match; there was a balance that had been missing, and it allowed the likes of Sciver and Brunt to free their arms later in the innings.

 

Brunt hasn’t had the best of series, and while there has been the usual aggressive bowling and batting; overall the Australians and Alyssa Healy, in particular, has been able to put her under pressure. The previous game saw Brunt get out the first ball.

 

This time though, with a decent start, Brunt was able to play the sort of innings everyone knows she is capable of. Her 32 not out came from just 24 balls and contained 2 sixes and 2 fours.

 

Sciver is another player who hasn’t had the greatest of series’, but today, she too showed what she is capable of; when on form, Sciver can maneuver the field and find the gaps in the boundaries. But, it took her some time to get going, and to start with, she had a supporting role with Sarah Taylor as they put on 45 for the third wicket.

 

England may have felt that they fell short of a bigger total. Australian bowlers, Megan Schutt and Jess Jonassen, were economical as well as wicket-takers. They both bowled their allotment of overs for under 40 runs.

 

England though felt more than capable of defending their total. Although Australia again got off to another good start, with only the wicket of Beth Mooney falling in the powerplay, Australia was looking comfortable favorites to win the game and the T20 series. It was Brunt who made the vital breakthrough when she had Healy caught by Jenny Gunn. Healy had hit 5 fours at this point and was a good revenge for Brunt. It started a collapse that saw Australia unravel.

 

The first five wickets fell in as many overs; starting in the last over of the powerplay, and continuing till it left Australia 65 for 5. Australia had plenty of batting still left to come, but no one ever really got going and Gunn, bowling a mixture of slower balls, was able to take the final three wickets and see England to a 40-run victory.

 

It is a win that gives England every chance of leveling the multi-format series and winning the T20 series.