Cardiff: For the second time this month a triumphant Ashes series has ended with a defeat, as the Southern Stars were made to pay for another poor Twenty20 batting performance.
The series-ending Twenty20 match in Cardiff saw England win by five wickets. Nat Sciver (47) ensured the hosts did not again pay for early stumbles when chasing a low total — the Stars made 111 — as they reached the target with three overs to spare. Lydia Greenway (20 not out) hit the winning runs.
WIth England winning two of the three Twenty20s it left the final points margin in the series at 10-6 in the Stars' favour.
The Stars' tinkering with their batting order — promoting Meg Lanning to open instead of Ellyse Perry and elevating Jess Cameron to No.3 — failed to remedy their batting problems.
Lanning started with good intent, scoring from her first two deliveries, but was a second-over casualty, bowled by a superb delivery from Anya Shrubsole.
By the end of the powerplay the Stars were reeling at 4-25, with Lanning (2) being joined in the dressing rooms by Elyse Villani (5), Jess Cameron (10) and Jonassen (0), all to the stifling bowling of Shrubsole. Villani and Cameron were both undone by their aggression, with Villani top-edging an attempted pull and Cameron unable to clear the deep square-leg boundary.
The scalps were a deserved reward for Shrubsole, whose new-ball bowling in the limited-overs matches has been excellent. Across the three one-dayers and three Twenty20s, she conceded only 3.08 runs per over, with the Australians unable to score from three quarters of her deliveries.
The Stars lost only one wicket — Perry for 16 — in the eight overs after the powerplay, but at 5-64 after 14 overs they badly needed to accelerate. The loss of anchor Alex Blackwell in the 15th over for 24, joining Perry in being deceived by a Sciver slower ball, actually helped that goal, because it triggered the arrival of Harris.
The 21-year-old showed why she is reputed to be the one of the biggest hitters, if not the biggest, in Australia. In her first 11 deliveries she thumped three sixes. One came off the bowling of fiery England stalwart Katherine Brunt.
Given Harris also hit a six in the second match of the series, she has all but ensured she will be a key part of the team's plans for next year's World Twenty20, because of her ability to clear boundaries.
Harris was one of four Australians to fall in the last two overs of the innings, with Alyssa Healy the last, for a busy 19, from the last ball of the innings.
Just as the Southern Stars replicated their batting blunders from Hove last Friday the hosts threatened to do the same as they lost three wickets in the first 3.4 overs.
Danni Wyatt, promoted to opener, was bowled for a golden duck by Perry in the first over, while the key bowler from Hove, Rene Farrell, struck twice with the new ball to remove Sarah Taylor (3) and Edwards (8). The former was well caught off an inside edge by Healy, standing up to the stumps, and the latter cut a wide delivery straight to point.
From 3-22, the recovery was led by Sciver, with good support from Brunt. They pair put on 55 for the fourth wicket, so frustrating Stars captain Lanning that she brought herself on. It was an inspired choice as she trapped Brunt leg-before for 17 with her second delivery.
Besides Sciver, the biggest help England got in pursuing the target came from the Australian bowlers. They conceded 16 wides — including two boundaries as Healy was beaten by leg-side deliveries standing up to the stumps — and also a no-ball.
Lanning recalled Perry in the 16th over for the final over of her spell. When she was unable to break the partnership, the feeling that England would finish the series with a win grew stronger, and they delivered exactly that.
The only thing that did not go to plan was Sciver falling just short of what would have been a deserved half-century. She was run out by wicketkeeper Healy's direct hit at the non-striker's end in the 17th over.
Jesse Hogan is covering the women's Ashes with the support of Cricket Australia
