'I support her 100 per cent': Dunkley refuses to blame Knight Women's Ashes for England's Ashes defeat

England batsman Sofia Dunkley says she is “100 per cent” behind her captain Heather Knight despite Australia's undisputed lead in Monday's Women's Ashes match with four wins in a row.

Australia's 57-run victory in the first T20 took them 8-0 up in the points format, meaning England will retain the Ashes even if they win the remaining two T20 games and the one-off Test cup.

Knight has captained England since 2016 but has yet to win an Ashes series in that period, with the last trophy England won being the 2017 World Cup. The away team has yet to win a single match in this tour so far.

But Dunkley denied Knight was to blame for England's poor performance. “She's done a great job for a long time and she's a big part of our dressing room,” the 26-year-old said. “I support her 100 percent in helping turn this team around.”

Dunkley stressed that if England can win their last two T20 matches and the MCG Test match, they can still draw the series 8-8. “There are eight points left to get and we will do everything we can to get those eight points,” she said.

“We still have a lot to do. All we can do now is come together and do our best for the last three games.

England have suffered batting defeats in every match of the tour so far but Dunkley said it was important to continue her aggressive attacking approach after her 24-ball half-century in Monday's T20 match . “We are proud of our bravery and we will try to do it again,” she said.

Australia won the inaugural T20 despite missing captain Alyssa Healy and senior all-rounder Ash Gardner through injury, which Beth Mooney said was “a great demonstration of our depth”.

“When that happens, we're like a well-oiled machine,” Mooney said. “Although Ash and Mickey are disappointed [Healy] Georgia Voll performed well in the order tonight, Kim Garth has not played a T20 for a while and took two crucial wickets early in the game, while Ala Alana King is back in the T20 side.

“Kim just loves to play. It looks like she's going to take a wicket every ball at the moment.

Mooney has regularly kept wickets in short-term cricket of late due to a series of injuries to Healy, but admitted Australia may need to bring in a player from outside the squad if Healy is unable to don the gloves in Tests. Professional wicket-keeper. “If I had to hold on, I don't think I'd be able to walk again,” she joked.

That could open up opportunities for 31-year-old Georgia Redmayne, who has enjoyed recent success in franchise cricket and has previously served as Australia's backup keeper but has never played a competitive international game.

For now, Australia intends to celebrate their achievement of retaining the Ashes Cup with the minimum number of games played. “There's a lot of excitement within the team to do it this way,” Mooney said.