England Women complete Ashes thrashing of Australia Women with third Twenty20 win

By comfortably winning the third Twenty20 international with seven wickets and 3.4 overs to spare, England Women completed their drubbing of Australia Women to win their multi-format Ashes by 12 points to four.

While the Test was drawn in Australia’s favour – with two points for each side – England won the one-day series 2-1 and the Twenty20 series 3-0, sealing the first multi-format series for either gender.

Australia had overtaken England as the leading country for women’s cricket by winning the last 50-over and 20-over World Cups.

“A bit more self-belief,” was what England’s captain Charlotte Edwards said was the key difference, which was particularly evident when England twice chased down their target. “And we’ve won the key moments.”

The third T20 international did not make a good advertisement for women’s cricket because Australia’s batting was poor. The attraction of 20-over cricket lies in big hitting, and Australia could hit only five fours, even though the boundaries were 10 yards further in than for the men’s match that followed.

The best features of the game were England’s fielding, the wicketkeeping on both sides, Australia’s pace bowling and the batting of Lydia Greenway who followed her match-winning 80 – the highest for England in a T20 – in the second international with another unbeaten innings of 35.

Katherine Brunt was player of the match, partly for her opening spell but also for a direct hit run-out from deepish cover that set the standard for England’s fielding. There was no unforced error except one when the England captain’s knees let her down.

Australia’s opening bowling pegged England back to 14 for three as they chased only 92, but it was also pacy enough to offer scope for back-foot shots. There have been bowlers who have consistently reached 70mph – notably Brunt, Ellyse Perry and India’s Jhulan Goswami – but Holly Ferling, a willowy 17-year-old, could raise the bar to new heights.

For the moment, the challenge is hitting boundaries when there is little pace on the ball, and Greenway solved it with her similarities to Eoin Morgan as a wristy left-hander who loves to reverse-sweep.

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England v Australia: opener Alex Hales stars as England win second Twenty20 match at Chester-le-Street

England levelled the two-match T20 series by defeating Australia by 27 runs - almost as handsome as the 39-run margin that Australia had enjoyed at the Ageas Bowl.

England owed their win to a fine opening stand of 111 by Alex Hales and Michael Lumb, and to an all-round improvement in their attack, which stopped Australia hitting as many boundaries as England had: T20 can be as basic as that.

Hales contributed half of England’s 26 fours and sixes, whereas Australia managed only 19. In the first game, thanks to Aaron Finch, Australia had outscored England 37-29 in boundaries.

“The guys adapted to the conditions really well,” England’s T20 captain, Stuart Broad, said about England’s recovery from their thumping by Finch, who had taken batting in T20 internationals into a new sphere with his 156 off 63 balls. Broad led from the front this time by dismissing Finch with his bouncer when he had scored no more than five.

“Both batting performances have been exceptional,” said Broad of England’s two-match series, before admitting: “We still need to nail our skills a bit more with the ball.”

There had been a case for England bringing in Michael Carberry in place of one of the openers, as Carberry had been the leading boundary-hitter – and therefore run-scorer – in the county 20-over competition.

But the selectors kept faith, Lumb and Hales delivered, and Carberry will have to take his chance in the 50-over series against Australia that begins on Friday at Headingley.

On a cool and very windy afternoon at Chester-le-Street, against an Australian team with only one serious spinner, Lumb and Hales were more than sufficient. They had merrily thrashed 74 from the opening seven overs before spin appeared in the form of Fawad Ahmed, the asylum-seeker from Pakistan who was fast-tracked to Australian citizenship.

Lumb soon fell to Ahmed, top-edging a sweep, but their stand had equalled England’s highest against Australia. Hales ploughed on to the highest T20 score for England against Australia but, if a criticism has to be made, he slowed down as his innings wore on rather than accelerating as Finch had at the Ageas Bowl.

Hales reached 64 off 40 balls, which was fine going, but hit ‘only’ 30 more runs off his last 21 balls, and 18 off his last 12.

The start to Luke Wright’s innings was another area for improvement. Hales and Lumb each hit their first boundary off their fifth ball.

Wright did not hit his first boundary until his 12th ball, and in the process he allowed Glen Maxwell - a part-time off-spinner - to squeeze in an over that only cost six runs.

But at least England had wickets in hand for their final assault, having lost only Lumb in the first 16 overs. Although Fawad was cleverly kept for the 20th over, and took two wickets for eight after bowling his first three overs for only 17, England came close to 200 on a pitch that offered more to the bowlers than Southampton’s belter.

In addition, when England’s bowlers had succumbed to the Finch-hitting, they had bowled far too much of a normal length: only one yorker in the first 15 overs, by which time Finch had taken the game away. Here England’s pace bowlers mixed up their lengths much better and prevented a flying Australian start – or finish.

Once Broad had bounced out Finch, Morgan contributed some excellent fielding at point, running out Shane Watson with a direct hit and catching James Faulkner over his shoulder.

Joe Root bounced back from his one over for 27 in the previous game, but the pick of England’s bowlers for the second game running was Jade Dernbach.

Dernbach has been through a lot of turmoil at Surrey in the last year, but he has returned to his most productive bowling here, taking six wickets in the two games.

Here Dernbach backed up his captain as a senior seamer should, and did not get sidetracked into petty squabbles with the non-striker.

If there had been a player of the series on each side, it would have been Finch for Australia, for smiting pace and spin, to off side and leg side, off front and back foot; and Dernbach for England.

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England swept aside as Australia's Aaron Finch fires the highest international Twenty20 score in history

At some point there was bound to be an Australian backlash and it arrived on Thursday night in the substantial form of Aaron Finch, who blasted his way to the highest score in international Twenty20 cricket.

Finch, a one-day specialist, made 156 off 63 balls, striking 11 fours and an incredible 14 sixes in an onslaught that delivered Australia’s first victory of the year in any form of cricket.

England conceded the second highest score in Twenty20 internationals and the most sixes in an innings – 17 in total – as they were beaten by 39 runs.

Gone were the boos and moans of the Oval Test, with these two sides providing an entertaining match as a quick pitch perfectly suited to Twenty20 cricket yielded 458 runs, with England making a credible fist of an impossible run chase to record their second highest score in this format.

Even blood was spilt at one point with Joe Root top edging a pull off quick bowler Josh Hazelwood that became stuck in the grille of his helmet. Before protective headwear, he would have been left resembling Mike Gatting in 1986 after Malcolm Marshall, a man fondly remembered in these parts, rearranged his features.

But it was still a nasty blow that needed lengthy treatment and far more damaging than anything David Warner could manage in a Birmingham bar. Root’s Australian nemesis was quick with a word, but he should know Root is a tough competitor and he responded with his 90 not out in his first Twenty20 innings for England. Where Australia made 17 sixes, in reply England could only muster four and it was down to Root to prevent a full-scale rout.

“I’m gutted we lost the game but we have done OK today,” said captain Stuart Broad. “We’ve got a good group together with a bit of consistency. There is not a lot of cricket between now and the World Cup but we have a batting line-up that, in the last five games, have scored 200 twice.”

Finch could be held up as an example of Australian cricket’s muddled priorities. He is a Twenty20 specialist with a string of big money IPL deals, but a first-class batting average of just 29. However, it is not hard to see why Finch has a decent living on the go in Twenty20. Built as though he has spent as much time in the gym as the nets, he has immense power and many of his sixes flew several rows back into the crowd. “Every time you go out there in Twenty20 cricket you try and slog it and every now and then it comes off for you,” he said.

Finch looked likely to break Richard Levi’s record for the quickest Twenty20 international hundred when he reached the 90s off only 36 balls. But he moved from 91 to 99 in singles before becoming the first Australian to make a Twenty20 international hundred, reaching the landmark off 47 balls, two slower than Levi.

His next 50 came off only 13 balls, Danny Briggs was smashed for three sixes in four balls, and he scored at such an eye-catching rate that Shane Watson raced to 37 off 16 balls almost unnoticed. Watson played some of the best shots of the innings, hitting powerfully down the ground in making 37 and adding 101 for the third wicket off 41 balls. Jade Dernbach, whose three for 34 were respectable given the overall carnage, bowled Finch off the inside edge as the Australian innings lost its fizz in the final few overs.

England were never really in the hunt and at one point slumped to 42 for four when Eoin Morgan was caught at extra-cover. But Root and Ravi Bopara provided a fightback, adding 95 for the fifth wicket and nudging the rate up to nine an over at one point. They were just one run behind Australia’s score at the 11-over mark but needed a daunting 15-an-over for victory.

It looked all over when Bopara trudged off thinking he had been run out by a direct throw from Warner on 31. Bopara was almost back in the dugout when it was decided by the third umpire that the bails had not been dislodged from the grooves of the stumps before the batsman had made his ground. It made little difference as he soon top edged a pull.

Australia gave England their first look at leg-spinner Fawad Ahmed and, despite conceding 43 off his four overs, he did turn the ball when he gave it some flight.

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England swept aside as Australia's Aaron Finch fires the highest international Twenty20 score in history

At some point there was bound to be an Australian backlash and it arrived on Thursday night in the substantial form of Aaron Finch, who blasted his way to the highest score in international Twenty20 cricket.

Finch, a one-day specialist, made 156 off 63 balls, striking 11 fours and an incredible 14 sixes in an onslaught that delivered Australia’s first victory of the year in any form of cricket.

England conceded the second highest score in Twenty20 internationals and the most sixes in an innings – 17 in total – as they were beaten by 39 runs.

Gone were the boos and moans of the Oval Test, with these two sides providing an entertaining match as a quick pitch perfectly suited to Twenty20 cricket yielded 458 runs, with England making a credible fist of an impossible run chase to record their second highest score in this format.

Even blood was spilt at one point with Joe Root top edging a pull off quick bowler Josh Hazelwood that became stuck in the grille of his helmet. Before protective headwear, he would have been left resembling Mike Gatting in 1986 after Malcolm Marshall, a man fondly remembered in these parts, rearranged his features.

But it was still a nasty blow that needed lengthy treatment and far more damaging than anything David Warner could manage in a Birmingham bar. Root’s Australian nemesis was quick with a word, but he should know Root is a tough competitor and he responded with his 90 not out in his first Twenty20 innings for England. Where Australia made 17 sixes, in reply England could only muster four and it was down to Root to prevent a full-scale rout.

“I’m gutted we lost the game but we have done OK today,” said captain Stuart Broad. “We’ve got a good group together with a bit of consistency. There is not a lot of cricket between now and the World Cup but we have a batting line-up that, in the last five games, have scored 200 twice.”

Finch could be held up as an example of Australian cricket’s muddled priorities. He is a Twenty20 specialist with a string of big money IPL deals, but a first-class batting average of just 29. However, it is not hard to see why Finch has a decent living on the go in Twenty20. Built as though he has spent as much time in the gym as the nets, he has immense power and many of his sixes flew several rows back into the crowd. “Every time you go out there in Twenty20 cricket you try and slog it and every now and then it comes off for you,” he said.

Finch looked likely to break Richard Levi’s record for the quickest Twenty20 international hundred when he reached the 90s off only 36 balls. But he moved from 91 to 99 in singles before becoming the first Australian to make a Twenty20 international hundred, reaching the landmark off 47 balls, two slower than Levi.

His next 50 came off only 13 balls, Danny Briggs was smashed for three sixes in four balls, and he scored at such an eye-catching rate that Shane Watson raced to 37 off 16 balls almost unnoticed. Watson played some of the best shots of the innings, hitting powerfully down the ground in making 37 and adding 101 for the third wicket off 41 balls. Jade Dernbach, whose three for 34 were respectable given the overall carnage, bowled Finch off the inside edge as the Australian innings lost its fizz in the final few overs.

England were never really in the hunt and at one point slumped to 42 for four when Eoin Morgan was caught at extra-cover. But Root and Ravi Bopara provided a fightback, adding 95 for the fifth wicket and nudging the rate up to nine an over at one point. They were just one run behind Australia’s score at the 11-over mark but needed a daunting 15-an-over for victory.

It looked all over when Bopara trudged off thinking he had been run out by a direct throw from Warner on 31. Bopara was almost back in the dugout when it was decided by the third umpire that the bails had not been dislodged from the grooves of the stumps before the batsman had made his ground. It made little difference as he soon top edged a pull.

Australia gave England their first look at leg-spinner Fawad Ahmed and, despite conceding 43 off his four overs, he did turn the ball when he gave it some flight.

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