Three T20s remain - each worth 2 points
1st T20
England Women 132/9 (20 ov)
Australia Women 134/4 (15.5/20 ov)
Australia Women won by 6 wickets (with 25 balls remaining)
Australia retained the Women's Ashes with an emphatic six-wicket victory over England in the first Twenty20 international in Sydney.
Victory gave the holders an 8-4 lead in the points-based series, meaning England can only draw 8-8 if they win the final two T20s.
England lost Heather Knight second ball and were 16-4, but Dani Wyatt's maiden fifty helped them to 132-9.
Beth Mooney hit 86 not as Australia raced home with 25 balls to spare.
Having won the 50-over World Cup in fine style at Lord's in July, England's preparations for the Ashes were hampered by the two warm-up matches being washed out and they found themselves 4-0 down in the series after losing the first two one-day internationals.
A draw in the one-off Test kept the series alive into the T20s, but there was a bizarre start at the North Sydney Oval after Australia chose to field.
Knight edged to wicketkeeper Alyssa Healy, who also took off the bails, but was temporarily reprieved as the umpires consulted, only to be sent to the pavilion again when the method of dismissal had been determined.
Key batter Sarah Taylor was adjudged lbw in the next over, with no review process in place to question whether the ball might have gone over or missed leg stump.
Ellyse Perry, international footballer and double centurion in the Test, was on a hat-trick in the fifth over after two more catches from Healy, with one outstanding effort millimetres from the turf at full stretch.
But Wyatt gave the innings much-needed impetus with some clean hitting down the ground.
However, the 26-year-old was halfway down the wicket when sent back by Fran Wilson in the 16th over and could not regain her ground.
England mustered a further 32 runs after her dismissal, but Mooney set the tone for Australia's chase with a four and a six in an opening over from Katherine Brunt that cost 14.
Wyatt gave England a glimmer of hope when she raced around the mid-wicket boundary to pouch Healy's hook in the fifth over.
But Mooney continued to dominate with a second six off Brunt and the fluent left-hander made the highest score by an Australian on home soil in women's T20 matches, striking the winning runs in style with her 11th four.
The series concludes with two T20s at the Manuka Oval in Canberra, on Sunday at 03:35 GMT and Tuesday 21 November at 08:10.
'We were always playing catch-up' - what they said
England captain Heather Knight: "We were always playing catch-up. I am really proud of Dani Wyatt and how she fought to get us back in the game.
"Credit to Australia. Beth Mooney played an outstanding innings and took the game away. Everything we tried we couldn't get her out."
Australia skipper Rachael Haynes: "It was so nice for the team to come out and play like that. We started well with the ball but fell away. For Beth Mooney to come out and make a statement like that was fantastic.
"I couldn't watch. I was pretty nervous, the most nervous I have been watching cricket. There was a lot composure in the middle and Mooney took control of that."
Former England seamer Isa Guha on BBC 5 live sports extra: "Australia have won the big moments - that's something England haven't been able to capitalise on when they've been on top."
2nd T20 (07:30 GMT, SUN)
England 152 for 6 beat Australia 112 by 40 runs
The Ashes may have been lost but England gave themselves a chance of salvaging a Twenty20 series victory with a comprehensive defeat of Australia in the second match at Manuka Oval in Canberra, driven largely by the efforts of Nat Sciver, Katherine Brunt and Jenny Gunn.
Australia's power in the shortest format had been emphasised by Beth Mooney's innings in their thrashing of the visitors in the first T20 at North Sydney Oval, the result that ensured they would retain the urn. But England's busy approach with the bat was followed up by a sharp display in the field, which absorbed a swift opening by Mooney and Alyssa Healy then ushered the collapse of the rest.
Brunt's allround display was outstanding, adding 2 for 10 from four immaculate overs to an unbeaten 32 that featured a pair of sixes. But she had plenty of assistance, notably in the form of Sciver's top order contribution, and Gunn's persistent line and changes of pace that gave her four wickets. Sarah Taylor, too, was useful with the bat and then typically polished behind the stumps.
Batting first in the Sunday afternoon fixture, England looked to be stuttering slightly when Dannelle Wyatt and Tammy Beaumont were both out inside the first seven overs while scoring at little more than six an over. However Sciver and Taylor were able to not only form a partnership but also advance the scoring rate in a manner that put pressure back on Australia's bowlers.
After the captain Heather Knight could stay in the middle only briefly, it was Brunt who dominated the closing overs, combining plenty of hustle between the wickets with the occasional meaty blow. Megan Schutt returned to claim a second wicket in the final over, finishing wiht excellent analysis of 2 for 16 to maintain her outstanding series, but England were comfortably able to pass the 150 mark.
Mooney and Healy began as though they intended to make short work of the target, rattling along to 45 inside six overs before a run out turned the game. Mooney chanced a quick single to mid off, but Gunn was able to aim and throw with pinpoint accuracy to hit the stumps and send the left-hander on her way.
Next over Elyse Villani was brilliantly stumped by Taylor off Brunt, and when Healy failed to clear long on the Australians were in free-fall. Ellyse Perry's innings was ended by a drag onto the stumps, and from there it was more or less a case of mopping up operations for England's bowlers, a task completed with two overs to spare.
The final match of the series takes place at Manuka under lights on Tuesday.
3rd T20
Australia 178-2; England 181-6 – England win by four wickets
• Beth Mooney also hits century for Australia but tourists level series
• Beth Mooney also hits century for Australia but tourists level series
Through the most daring of hands, Danni Wyatt steered England to the least likely of wins, the visitors ending their Ashes campaign by knocking off the highest successful run chase in the history of women’s Twenty20 internationals. In turn, Heather Knight’s side head home having levelled the overall series at 8-8 after winning the last two rubbers.
When England lost three wickets in five overs to begin their response to 178 for two they looked to have given up any realistic chance. The game had a familiar look: the required run rate would rocket as wickets fell. It had all the symptoms of a shocker to never be spoken of again, save for Beth Mooney’s relentless century earlier on.
That almost certainly would have come to pass if not for Australia’s incompetence, dropping Wyatt and Knight four times in total. Awful, inexplicable drops. But batting with the liberty of the reprieved, the pair instead went on to mount an exhilarating and match-winning 139-run partnership in only 75 balls. In the space of an hour, a stinker became a classic.
For Wyatt’s part it was her maiden international hundred, coming only four days after her first half-century for England. It was raised in 56 balls and on 13 occasions the Staffordshire native went through the Australia field, and twice cleared the rope. Footwork and placement defined the knock, which only got better as the chase got deeper. She was fearless in the middle then in shock after play. “It’s a bit surreal,” she said. “I still can’t believe what’s happened. I was just focused on the ball really. I kept telling myself: ‘Focus.’ Then I looked at the board and I was 95. I was, like, ‘Trev [Knight], what’s going on?
Knight was perfect in support, getting Wyatt on strike as often as possible before working up the gears herself, the two getting the ask down to a run a ball with four overs to go. The captain’s half-century was enough to also win her the player of the series award. “It was a really special night,” she said. “I knew the girls would fight hard, we just needed someone to go big and Danni did exactly that. I was perfectly happy to play second fiddle to her, and the way she was striking it. Some of the shots, I had to pick my jaw up off the floor. I thought they had too many [runs] but there is a hell of a lot of fight in this team and to level at 8-8 makes me really proud.”
It never looked viable when Mooney played the most superlative white-ball innings of the series. The 117 unbeaten runs she tallied in 70 balls were faultless and sit second on the list of highest scores made by a woman in the shortest form. By any measure, she deserved to be on the winning team.
Her 17 boundaries and one six tell one story, but this was no slog. Rather, it was a far more precise exercise from the left-hander. After lacing the first delivery of the night past point, Mooney went on to scoop, sweep and pull every ball directed at her body with impeccable balance.
When driving, she did so both conventionally and inside-out with equal ease and ample footwork. Four boundaries from the final four balls, delivered by Anya Shrubsole, emphasised her mastery.
But somehow, on this night, it would not be enough. If looking to apportion blame, the opener need look no further than Alyssa Healy. The wicketkeeper, who has had a fine series with the bat and gloves, dropped both Wyatt and Knight to the most straightforward skied chances. Megan Schutt and Molly Strano put down catches off Knight that were just as bad.
“The word bittersweet was used and that’s a pretty good description,” the Australia coach, Matthew Mott, said of his side winning the main but giving up the T20s so spectacularly.
“It’s just a shame for Beth, who played the innings of her life and just made such a great statement for the group. We can’t hide from the fact we dropped four catches and that freed them up to go pretty hard, and Danni Wyatt’s innings was absolutely outstanding.”
As for Mooney, she said she wasn’t sure “whether to laugh or cry” after the game.
Fair enough. But what she proved, Wyatt too, is that missing the ODI series was no handbrake on dominating the T20s. With a global tournament on the cards a year from now, both now know they can win games for their country.
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