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Australia have won the Ashes outright after sealing victory in the second T20 in Canberra amid a controversial finish as England fought to seal a tight rain-affected run-chase.
The hosts won by only six runs under the DLS method and now go 10-0 up in points to keep alive the prospect of a series whitewash.
However, as the officials had pulled the players from the field with five balls remaining, the England captain, Heather Knight was seen remonstrating with umpires before reluctantly walking off. England needed an unlikely 18 to win, but Knight - on strike and unbeaten on 43 - clearly felt she could have pulled off the result.
It was the second time rain had intervened: earlier, England had been two runs ahead on Duckworth-Lewis-Stern when the players were forced from the field due to rain, 8.4 overs into England’s run-chase. Danni Wyatt-Hodge and Sophia Dunkley continued to put the pressure on the Australian fielders after the resumption, sending the wet ball through their hands and flying to all corners of the ground.
But six balls after bringing up her half-century Wyatt-Hodge finally picked out mid-off, and Megan Schutt struck again in the same over, moving the ball in to take out Dunkley’s off-stump. Knight might love batting at Manuka Oval – she has hit two hundreds and four half-centuries at this ground – but 87 from the final 42 balls proved a step too far even for her as the rain grew heavier, and her half-century stand with Nat Sciver-Brunt for the fourth wicket went in vain.
The decision to foreshorten the match by five balls looked even stranger given that the umpires had earlier kept the players on the field despite thunder and lightning around the Manuka Oval: with five overs bowled and 41 runs on the board, England openers Maia Bouchier and Wyatt-Hodge made off in the direction of the dug-out, knowing they were ahead of the DLS par.
The umpires called them back, and Bouchier sent up a leading edge to bowler Annabel Sutherland in the next over after failing to properly connect with a scoop shot, putting England behind on DLS at the conclusion of the sixth over.
Dunkley followed up her onslaught in Monday’s T20 by smashing Ellyse Perry for a four and a six down the ground, before her slog-sweep for four pushed England ahead on DLS just as the umpires called a halt. With the rain falling hard, England must have been keeping their fingers crossed for an abandonment; instead the hard work of the groundsmen handed them a second opportunity to chase the runs.
Earlier, Australia had wobbled to 114 for five, but a dominant 71-run stand from 35 balls between Tahlia McGrath and Grace Harris helped them recover to post a match-winning 185. Sophie Ecclestone has come under fire in recent days after she refused an interview with Alex Hartley, apparently in retaliation for Hartley’s criticism of team fitness standards, and the spotlight was once again on the left-arm spinner for all the wrong reasons in Canberra, after her 19th over proved the most expensive of the Australian innings, going for 18.
Australia were again without captain Alyssa Healy, already ruled out of the third T20 with a foot injury, and Ash Gardner, who is being assessed daily after sustaining a calf strain and may yet return for the final T20. Both Healy and Gardner have been named in the Australian Test squad, though if Healy is ruled fit she will play as a batter only, leaving Mooney to keep wicket.
Here, Mooney also took the gloves, after earlier striking 44 off 31 in a display of powerplay dominance which left fellow opener Georgia Voll almost completely starved of the strike. Mooney was eventually stumped coming down the track to Ecclestone, while Bouchier ran out Voll after a good diving stop in the deep and held a catch on the ring to see off an underwhelming Perry. Combined with two wickets from Charlie Dean in her first over, England were on the hunt.
But Australia again leaned into their extensive batting depth. Harris used her sheer brute force to pump consecutive sixes off Sarah Glenn, before some poor England ring-fielding and a shelled catch by Dean at long-off allowed McGrath to pummel Ecclestone’s penultimate over for four boundaries. The absence of Lauren Bell, who could only manage one over at the death after earlier having to leave the field due to illness, only added to the disarray.
