England won the second T20 of the Women’s Ashes 2023 against Australia in a thrilling contest by just 3 runs that had the spectators at The Oval ground at their edges as some top-notch performances were on the show. Although Ellyse Perry pushed it brilliantly to get across the target, Danni Wyatt was adjudged the Player of the Match for her fantastic 76-run knock-off with just 46 balls that included 13 fours in her account.
After the historic triumph in the one-off test in Women’s Ashes 2023, Australia was all set to push the streak to a level higher. And to embark on the same, Australia won the toss and invited the English side to build and set the scoreboard up.
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Darcie Brown was ready with the new ball as England openers Sophia Dunkley and Danni Wyatt walked out onto the crease to kick the fixture off. Two dots on the first two deliveries but Dunkley looked poised and opened the account for her team as well as for herself with a thick outside edge on the third ball followed by a second on the last ball of the first over.
The second over and the half of the third over saw some good running between the wickets until Danni Wyatt stood up stronger with her first boundary of the limited overs fixture. Her second came on the third ball of the fourth over instilled much power into the partnership and the Dunkley-Wyatt duo contemplated the powerplay with one and two boundaries, respectively.
Just as the English side was building the scoreboard strong with 54 runs in the batting powerplay, Dunkley (23 off 19) felt the jolt for England and had to depart on the fourth ball of the seventh over as Darcie Brown got the breakthrough for her team.
Down the line next was Nat Sciver-Brunt who looked already set from the pavilion and swayed her bat amid the crease-like wind that collected two boundaries in the eight over and another in the following over which was further taken forward by Wyatt with a boundary each in the tenth and eleventh over.
Sciver-Brunt was playing steadily but finally got succumbed with a miss-timed stroke that reached finely to Sutherland’s hands, only after hitting her final boundary of the match on the first ball of the twelfth over in the Women’s Ashes 2023.
Next was Alice Capsey as the second down, who could only hit a four in the same over followed by one by Wyatt before leaving for the dugout in the following over that shockingly witnessed Heather Knight’s golden duck. Amy Jones (3 off 5) too got swept away in the torrential fall of wickets.
But it was Wyatt on the other side of the play who was standing straight at such topsy times of the shivering English batting order who kept the scoreboard moving as she reached her majestic half-century with a magnificent four on the second ball of the fifteenth over. But the same-over also saw one more dismissal of Danielle Gibson.
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Five over in hand and it was Wyatt’s turn to take the innings to some fiery upfront with four back-to-back thundering boundaries in the sixteenth over by Megan Schutt that finally brought 25 enormous runs in a single over of the match. But Wyatt’s splendid journey had to see the end with one more fence-touching stroke before finally departing in the seventeenth over at a marvellous knock of 76 off just 46 balls.
During the two overs post Wyatt’s wicket, Sarah Glenn and Sophie Ecclestone tried to hold it tighter now so that some more runs could be added to the scoreboard and a couple of fours by Glenn, one each in the seventeenth ad eighteenth over followed by Ecclestone turn on the event with two fours and the match’s first six in the second-last over just made things better for England before they both finally departed for the pavilion in the next over, thus adding four more singles on the board to hang the score at 186 at the loss of 9.
Even as England was in their final huddle, Alyssa Healy and Beth Mooney were ready to come in to chase the gigantic score of 186. The first over was delivered by Brunt which came out to be economical as only a couple of singles were at far for the Aussies as both the openers were off the mark.
Healy got off to her first boundary of the innings that also brought the first for her team in the second over followed by a second on the following over’s last ball. Mooney too joined hands with Healy in the upstroke that clinched two boundaries for the former and one for the latter.
Healy was determined to soar high right from the second over of the innings and now in the fifth over she was at her mightiest of the confidence with which she hooked two of Brunt’s deliveries for the chase’s initial maximums. Powerplay concluded and Australia were 58 for no loss as Healy ended the sixth over with two thrashing fours.
But more of the fortunes were left to be unfolded as Glenn brought the breakthrough for her team and departed Healy shockingly at fiercely 37 off 19 balls. And the Australian side witnessed a swift fall of a couple of more wickets as Tahlia McGrath got run out and Mooney handed her catch over to Gibson in the eighth and ninth over, respectively.
Ashleigh Gardner was the next in the queue to end up another of her innings with only adding a four to the score as she walked back to the dugout at just 9 off 8 balls. Australia were 77 for 4 at the conclusion of ten overs of the chase.
With much power and ado, Ellyse Perry tried her best to concede two brilliant fence-touching strokes in the eleventh over in order to pull the score up on the board followed by Grace Harris’ angled sweep down the short fine leg to pocket a boundary, but the latter could not last longer than the third ball of the thirteenth over.
With half of the strength back into the pavilion, Ellyse Perry and Annabel Sutherland thought of trying new things out and gearing the run rate to some valiant pieces despite the incessant fall of wickets which in fact worked for a while but not much. Before departing for the dugout in the sixteenth over, Sutherland contributed fiercely with four top-notch boundaries that were joined by Perry’s one.
Perry, on the other hand, was also trying her bat out that brought two boundaries in the seventeenth over with two singles which further called Georgia Wareham engulfed into the scene as she hooked two consecutive gigantic sixes in the eighteenth over and a few nice running between the wickets with Perry before finally getting bowled out in the nineteenth over.
Jess Jonassen was the last in the lineup to get succumbed by the English bowling attack who contributed a four too in the nineteenth over. Next came the final over where Australia required 20 off 6 balls. But Perry put the fight close to the win thanks to her two consecutive sixes on the last two balls of the twentieth over that also brought her a half-century. Australia summed up at 183 for the loss of 8.
Women’s Ashes 2023: England vs Australia 2nd T20I Brief scores
England 186/9 in 20 overs (Danielle Wyatt 76; Annabelle Sutherland 3-28, Ashleigh Gardner 2-39) beat Australia 183/8 in 20 overs (Ellyse Perry 51*, Alyssa Healy 37; Sarah Glenn 2-27, Sophie Ecclestone 2-35) by three runs.
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