Australia came into this game with a 6-0 points lead in this multi-format Ashes, and had they won it, they would have moved to 8, enough to retain the Ashes yet again. But thanks to some superb batting from Danni Wyatt and Sarah Glenn, and Sophie Ecclestone’s all-round display, England held on for a dramatic three-run win that put them on the board in the series. Asked to bat first, England finished with 186-9 from their quota of 20 overs. Despite a late flurry of shots from Ellyse Perry, Australia fell just short.
Danni Wyatt’s scintillating half-century
Wyatt, the England opener, smashed 76 off just 46 balls. She took a little while to get off the blocks, but then she played with considerable ease and remarkable timing. England were comfortably placed at the halfway mark, and then things started to go haywire for them. With five overs to go and England in a spot of bother, Wyatt stepped up and smashed Megan Schutt all around the park. Her counterattack helped England gain the momentum that they needed.
The Sutherland Show
This Ashes has been the stage to show what Annabel Sutherland is capable of. From scoring hundreds, to taking wickets off consecutive deliveries to taking brilliant catches, it has been the Sutherland show. When Alyssa Healy gave the ball to Sutherland for her third over, the 13th over of the innings, England were in a good position with 109 runs already on the board and only two wickets lost. Australia needed a breakthrough. Sutherland gave them two, and brought them right back into the match. In the next over, she took a brilliant catch off Tahlia McGrath’s bowling to reduce England to 112-5 – three wickets gone in a span of seven balls and three runs.
England’s high-octane finish
England were 119 for 6 at the end of the 15th over, and it dint look great for them considering the Australian batting line-up. That was when Wyatt tore into the Australian bowlers, taking Schutt for 25 runs, and hitting Sutherland for four before getting out. But Ecclestone and Glenn continued where Wyatt left off. England put on 67 runs in the last five overs. They were helped by Australia’s poor fielding and their generosity with extras – there were 21 of them, and only four England batters scored more.
Healy’s bizarre decision
Healy is captaining Australia in the absence of Meg Lanning, their regular skipper. She has faced a lot of criticism for her captaincy throughout the Ashes series so far. Today was another example of her bizarre captaincy. In the first T20I, Jess Jonassen bowled her quota of four overs for 25 runs and picked up 3 wickets. The wickets were of Nat Sciver-Brunt, Danielle Gibson and Ecclestone. But on Wednesday, Healy used her premier spinner for only one over, even though she went for just seven runs. Jonassen can bowl in the death overs as well as the powerplay, and when the England batters were on song, Healy could have used her lead spinner. Australia lead this Ashes series, but their captain needs to step up.
Perry’s half-century goes in vain
As many as five Australian batters got a start – Healy, Beth Mooney, Sutherland and Georgia Wareham couldn’t converted that into a big one. The top four batters of Australia cumulatively didn’t even match Wyatt’s score, and that’s where they lost the match. Perry took the match right down to the wire and even hit Ecclestone, the No.1-ranked T20I bowler, for two back-to-back sixes in the last two balls of the innings. Perry came out to bat with Australia in a spot of bother, but it didn’t take her much time to start hitting the ropes. Her strike-rate of 188.89 was what Australia needed at that point, but she needed another batter to support her. We saw some clean hitting yet again from Perry, and she almost took her team across the line.
England spinners not letting Australian batters breathe
While Healy completely forgot to use her main spinner, Heather Knight, her counterpart who was playing her 100th T20I, had other ideas. England played three spinners, Glenn, Ecclestone and Charlie Dean, and all three turned out to be effective. They bowled 12 overs, and gave away 103 runs while taking five wickets. They never let the Australian batters settle in, which ensured that the target remained steep.
England’s fielding and extras make the real difference
Australia, on the field, made a number of mistakes, unlike England. The English players know they have to win every game from here on to win the Ashes, and the intent was seen from everyone on the field. Apart from being the better side on the field, England gave away just six extras as compared to 21 from Australia. In what turned out to be such a close game, those extras proved very costly.