England bowled out for 90 as Australia close on clean sweep

Women’s Ashes: Third T20, Adelaide Oval

Australia 162-5 (20 overs): Mooney 94* (63), Kemp 1-20

England 90 all out (17.3 overs): Knight 40 (38), Wareham 3-11

Australia won by 72 runs, lead series 12-0

England’s misery against Australia continued as they were bowled out for 90 in a shambolic 72-run defeat in the third Women’s Ashes T20 in Adelaide.

Chasing 163 to win, England slumped to 39-5 inside seven overs and only Heather Knight’s 40 provided any resistance in the chase with Danni Wyatt-Hodge’s 17 the only other score in double figures.

England, who are 12-0 down in the multi-format points-based series, have now lost all six white-ball games on the tour, and are staring down the barrel of an Australian clean sweep with four points on the line during next week’s Test match in Melbourne.

England’s batting was in such poor shape that Beth Mooney, the hosts’ 162-5 opener, was the only one to surpass them in the rankings.

After improving their batting in the previous match in Canberra, where they came within six runs of chasing 186, the score did not feel beyond England on a good pitch.

Only Nat Sciver-Brunt, who was bowled by an Annabel Sutherland beauty, could say she had a good delivery, and they were vastly outplayed in all other aspects of the game.

As England’s hopes of a first win were thwarted, Sophia Dunkley was promoted to open and chipped one over in the second over, Alice Capsey was caught behind sweeping for six, and Wyatt-Hodge and Amy Jones both fell to loose shots off Georgia Wareham in the seventh over.

With 213 runs in three innings, Mooney has been a constant thorn in England’s side all this T20 series, and in Adelaide, she showed off her incredible fitness and game-awareness as her batting partners squatted their bats around her.

The left-hander hit more twos than fours in her knock (10 fours and 11 twos), and has also run almost as many twos than all of England’s side by herself across the whole series (20 to England’s 23). Her dot ball percentage of 25% is stark in comparison to England’s combined 41% too.

She was sprinting back and diving into the striker’s end even as the final over approached, her audacious scoop over Lauren Filer an illustration of her 360 skill alongside her discipline in carrying out the fundamentals.

England improved significantly in both the field and with the ball, especially at the death, where they only conceded one boundary in the final three overs, a score that was close to the previous game’s 48 runs.

After making her first ball, Sophie Ecclestone removed Phoebe Litchfield for 12 and Ellyse Perry, who had already been hit by Charlie Dean, was beaten by Georgia Voll for 23.

If Mooney was Australia’s backbone, England were utterly spineless.

In Canberra, there were glimmers of a batting rejuvenation, but Wyatt-Hodge, Dunkley, and Knight’s aggressive, punchy efforts were quickly overshadowed in front of a more than 10,000-person crowd that quickly distinguished themselves.

In her 38-ball knock, Knight showed some much-needed grit with three fours and a six, but the rest of her line-up let her down.

Capsey and Maia Bouchier were moved up the order in order for Dunkley to replace Maia Bouchier, but the changes did little to lessen England’s suffering.

Knight and Ecclestone’s stand of 29 was the highest of the lot in England’s second-heaviest T20 defeat in terms of runs, but it only felt like it was delaying the inevitable.

Each of Australia’s bowlers took a good all-round performance, and after head coach Jon Lewis acknowledged their superior agility, speed, and power, they also produced more magical moments on the field.

Before veteran Perry performed a stunning dive and a throw with pinpoint accuracy to remove Linsey Smith, newcomer Voll leapt to her right in the middle to remove Ecclestone.

” That was a tough watch, we didn’t play anywhere near our best cricket. In order to ensure we can perform well at the Test match in Melbourne over the coming days, we will need to do a lot of work.

Tahlia McGrath, the captain of Australia, said, “Beth Mooney seemed to be taking a different wicket than everyone else.”

“We are really looking forward to the Test, a day-night match at the MCG, it doesn’t get much better”.

England captain Heather Knight: “We’ve got to draw a line under the T20 series and try and win the one-off Test.