England fall short in second ODI as Australia retain the Ashes
Australia held their nerve in a final-over thriller to register a narrow three-run victory over England in the second ODI in Southampton to ensure they will retain the Ashes.
England v Australia, Scorecard
Underrated spinner Jess Jonassen was the hero for Australia, as she put the clamps on centurion Nat Sciver-Brunt and Sarah Glenn in the last over of a pulsating contest as the visitors levelled the ODI series at one-game apiece and edged ahead 8-6 overall in the multi-format battle for the Ashes.
While England can still win the final match of the ODI series in Taunton on Tuesday to claim the 50-over component of the Ashes, they cannot overhaul Australia and the best they can do is level the overall scoreboard at 8-8.
Australia win a thriller in the second ODI!
They retain the Women’s #Ashes 🙌
📝 #ENGvAUS: https://t.co/7clke9Wzqh pic.twitter.com/d6Jw7BfP3h
— ICC (@ICC) July 16, 2023
While disappointed with the knowledge that her team can no longer win the Ashes, England captain Heather Knight knows there is no longer a massive gap between her side and the powerful Australian outfit and thinks this series has proven that.
“It’s got to be the best series that there’s ever been in the history of the women’s game,” Knight said.
“Two sides going toe-to-toe, fighting it out and every game has been pretty close.
“Obviously (feeling) disappointment but real pride as well over the fact we got so close.
“Overall, we’ve put in another thriller of a performance, but the Ashes are gone which is disappointing.”
Video CWC22 02 Apr 22 03:20 The ruthless Australian side | CWC22
It was a clinical Australia performance on Sunday as they retained the Ashes for a fifth consecutive series and it came on the back of excellent efforts from experienced all-rounders Ellyse Perry and Ash Gardner.
Perry paced Australia’s innings with 91 from 124 deliveries as the visitors posted 282/7 and England fell agonisingly short in reply despite a brilliant unbeaten 111* from Sciver-Brunt.
It was the spinners that did the damage for Australia, with Gardner picking up three wickets to go with her valuable 33 with the bat and recalled leg-spinner Alana King (3/44) also picking up her own three-wicket haul as England fell just short in chasing down the big score.
