Australia win Women's Ashes as England frustrated by rain in second T20
Updated 23/01/2025 at 14:02 GMT
React to this story
Australia clinched the Women's Ashes outright after moving into an unassailable lead with victory in a rain-affected second T20. England needed 18 runs with five balls remaining when rain forced the players off, handing the hosts victory via the DLS method. England had nudged ahead before the first deluge – and would have won had play not resumed – but were ultimately left cursing the weather.
Highlights: Australia win Ashes outright as Knight fumes in rain-affected T20
Video credit: TNT Sports
Australia have won the Women's Ashes at the earliest opportunity after rain interrupted the last over of the second T20 in Canberra and set up a six-run victory on the DLS method.
Chasing 186, England needed 22 from the final over and were buoyed by Heather Knight crashing the first ball through backward point for four - as well as Australia being allowed just three fielders outside the ring - when the umpires took the players off for rain.
Unlike when they earlier went off in the chase when England were ahead on DLS, they never re-emerged.
That England were chasing such a big total was because of Grace Harris and Talia McGrath's unbeaten 71-run partnership for the sixth wicket in Australia's innings.
Harris smashed three sixes and had a strike rate above 200 en route to 33, while captain McGrath's 48 was Australia's highest score, and the pair wrestled momentum away from England after the tourists' spinners applied a squeeze.
In response England started well, with Danni Wyatt-Hodge regularly finding the boundary in a 36-ball 50 and Sophia Dunkley hitting the ground running from number three.
The tourists were ahead on DLS when rain took the players off in the ninth over, but conditions cleared and Megan Schutt changed the game in Australia's favour shortly after. Schutt dismissed both set batters in a brilliant 13th over.
/origin-imgresizer.tntsports.io/2025/01/23/4088882-82915293-2560-1440.jpg)
‘That is a huge breakthrough!’ - Schutt removes Wyatt-Hodge as Australia fight back
Video credit: TNT Sports
England's required rate steadily grew from there, to 22 off the final over, before rain meant the last five balls could not be bowled.
Australia have an unassailable 10-0 lead in points with one T20 and a day-night Test match still to come. A whitewash remains in play.
Talking Point - England show fight, but whitewash a real threat
England have never amassed fewer than four points since the Women's Ashes adopted a points system, but with none after five games, that record looks in real danger. The threat of a whitewash - a fate the men's team know plenty about, but which has never happened in this points-based format - also looms large.
England's performance today was better than much of what has come before in the series, and the close margin of defeat should offer some comfort when compared to the four emphatic scorelines of before. Yet it was still not enough, rain could not save them, and you would not expect this Australian side to take their foot off the gas even with the outright Ashes win now secured. England face a grueling test of character and skill over the next two games.
/origin-imgresizer.tntsports.io/2025/01/23/4088744-82912533-2560-1440.jpg)
'It’s been a pretty tough few days for me' - Hartley on Ecclestone refusing interview
Video credit: TNT Sports
Player of the Match - Grace Harris (Australia)
Harris' brutal hitting down the order proved the difference, lifting Australia to a high total England ultimately could not chase. The three sixes Harris hit matched the amount the other 21 players could produce as a collective, and no Australian scored quicker.
Key Stats
- Harris and McGrath's 71-run partnership is Australia's highest for the sixth wicket in a T20I.
- Harris hit more sixes (3) than the entire England team (2).
- The biggest margin of victory since the Women's Ashes adopted the points system is 12-4. Australia are 10-0 ahead with six points left to play for.
- Wyatt-Hodge's 22nd T20I half-century moves her into a tie for forth on the all-time fifties list.
Advertisement
Advertisement