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England suffered their heaviest defeat in the Women’s Ashes in the third and final T20, losing by 72 runs as Australia continued their whitewash chase.
Australia made no mistake in the field, taking wickets at regular intervals and maintaining the pressure as England’s batters collapsed as they collapsed to their second lowest total in the format – just 90 points.
In the previous match, powerful strikes from Sophia Dunkley, Danni Wyatt-Hodge and Heather Knight took England to within a small margin of Australia’s total, although the match ended in a fifth successive defeat.
In Adelaide, in front of the biggest crowd of the tournament so far, Knight’s 40 could only see his side avoid the embarrassment of their lowest ever total in international T20 cricket.
Australia was exceptional. Alex Hartley commented: “Australia’s skills are better than England’s, they’re more athletic, they’re better on the field, they’re better in pressure moments”, and that gap has never been was as obvious as during the white final. -ball game series.
Beth Mooney led from the start at the top of the order, outscoring the entire England team by scoring an unbeaten 94 from just 63 deliveries while Australia made a match-winning 162.
For the third T20, the English selectors announced the changes. Linsey Smith and Alice Capsey replaced Sarah Glenn and Maia Bouchier respectively, and with Lauren Bell unavailable due to illness, the side turned to Lauren Filer. But despite these changes and Australia’s points limitation, the gap between the teams did not widen.
Knight herself admitted that England “need to learn a lot from this Australian team” and that has never been more evident.
Australia lead the multi-format series 12-0 and will aim to complete the whitewash by collecting the last four points available by winning next week’s test match.
