Perry and Lanning lead Australia to comfortable victory

They notched up their fifth victory of the tour, taking a 12-2 lead with one game left to play, and ensuring they will leave with the T20I honours as well as the overall series win.

England faced an uphill battle from the very start as Amy Jones was dismissed by Ellyse Perry for a two-ball duck as she tried to drive a wide ball over the packed covers but only managed to toe-end it. Beaumont and Wyatt took 11 from Perry’s second over, thanks in part to four overthrows as a shy at the stumps was insufficiently backed up, and the Australian all-rounder was taken off and not brought back for the rest of the innings.

Tammy Beaumont’s 43 was at times fortunate, but she used her feet against the spinners well, looking her best when she was hitting straight down the ground. When she was bowled by Jonassen as she tried to reverse sweep a full ball on leg stump, England were in big trouble at 78/4, having also lost Wyatt, who was unfortunate to not connect fully with an attempt to hit Jonassen down the ground, and Sciver, who was unsure whether to scoop or paddle sweep Georgia Wareham’s first ball and was bowled as she did neither.

England struggled on as Wareham also picked up the wicket of skipper Heather Knight who tamely chipped it back for a caught and bowled, further slowing the run rate. Lauren Winfield showed signs of something bigger than she ultimately managed, as she hit a six absolutely bullet straight down the ground, but she was dismissed as she tried to sweep Megan Schutt and picked out the boundary fielder. Sophie Ecclestone provided a late boost to the innings with an unbeaten 17 from 11 balls, including a fantastic drive over long-off for six in the final over, and helped England scramble their way to 121/8.

The Australian innings then got off to a flying start as Alyssa Healy took 14 runs from Georgia Elwiss’s first over, making the most of some poor bowling. England pegged them back though, and Brunt got the breakthrough with her first ball, sending Healy on her way with a sharp bouncer which took a top edge and was caught by keeper Jones.

When Mooney was bowled by Ecclestone in the following over, attempting to pull a ball which skidded on up the hill and crept under the bat, England felt they were in with a chance of recording a first victory of the series.

That feeling was reinforced when Gardner was caught at short third man off Cross in the seventh over. An attempt to guide the ball through backward point resulted in a big edge which flew quickly to Laura Marsh. At 35/3 Australia were in trouble, and some tight running gave England a few half chances to dismiss both Lanning and Perry which they weren’t able to take.

In the end that proved fatal as the Australian captain and all-rounder looked increasingly fluid as their partnership passed 50 in the 14th over. Good running and strike rotation was backed up with some nice stroke-making, especially as Australia looked to finish off the game quickly, taking 12 runs from Marsh’s final over including a six over deep mid-wicket by Perry.Perry took the Player of the Match award mostly for her 47* from 39 balls, becoming the first player to achieve the double of 1000 runs and 100 wickets in T20Is in either the men’s or women’s game. England now go into the final game of the series at Bristol on Wednesday knowing it is their final chance to prevent Australia completing the series unbeaten, a point of pride which they will be sure to target.