Australia win Women's Ashes series as heavy rain halts dramatic England T20 chase | Women's Ashes

Australia clinched the Ashes title with victory in the second T20 in Canberra, while England struggled to seal victory in a tight, rain-affected chase.

The home side won by just six points under the DLS method and now lead 10-0 on points to keep the prospect of a series whitewash alive.

However, England captain Heather Knight was seen protesting to the umpire before reluctantly leaving when the players were pulled from the field with five balls remaining. England needed 18 runs to win but Knight – unbeaten on 43 – clearly felt she could have claimed victory.

It's the second time it's rained: Earlier, England were two points ahead at Duckworth-Lewis-Stern when the players were forced off due to rain and England were chasing 8.4 points. Danny Wyatt-Hodge and Sophia Dunkley continued to put pressure on the Aussie fielders after their recovery, sending wet balls out of their hands and into all corners of the ground.

But after her half-century from Wyatt-Hodge six balls into the middle, she finally hit it in the middle, with Megan Schutt hitting it again in the same over. Moved the ball in and took out Dunkley's stump. Knight might have loved batting at Manuka Oval – a venue where she has hit two hundred and four half-centuries – but it proved difficult in the final 42 balls as the rain picked up. The 87 balls were too much for her and her half-century with Nat Sciver-Brunt's fourth wicket was in vain.

The decision to shorten the game by five overs seemed even more bizarre because the umpires had earlier kept the players on the field despite thunder and lightning around Manuka Oval: England openers Maia Bouchier and Wyatt combined for five pitched and scored 41 points.

The umpire called them back and Butchier handed the lead to bowler Annabel Sutherland in the next over after failing to catch the ball correctly, leaving England trailing at the DLS at the end of the sixth over.

Dunkley continued her onslaught in Monday's T20 match, hitting Ellyse Perry with a four and a six before she slogged a four-wicket sweep to help England take the lead in the DLS until The referee announced a timeout. England must have been praying for the game to be abandoned as it was raining heavily. Instead, the hard work of the groundskeepers gave them a second chance to catch up.

Earlier, Australia scored 114 for five but Tahlia McGrath and Grace Harris helped them recover with a dominant 71 off 35 balls form, scoring 185 winning runs. Criticism of the team's fitness standards, with the spotlight once again on the left-arm spinner for all the wrong reasons in Canberra, came after her innings of 19 proved to be the costliest of Australia's innings, 18.

Australia are again without captain Alyssa Healy, who is ruled out with a foot injury, and Ash Gardner, who is ruled out for the third T20. Ash Gardner is being assessed daily with a calf strain but may return for the final T20 match. Both Healy and Gardner have been named in the Australian Test squad, but if Healy is ruled fit, she will only play as a batsman, while Mooney will keep the wicket.

Here, too, Mooney took the gloves after a dominant display of 44 off 31 balls that left fellow opener Georgia Wall almost completely out of the bat. Mooney was eventually stumped on the track to Ecclestone, while Butchier knocked Wall down after a good diving stop in deep water and caught the underperforming Pei in the ring. inside. Add to that Charlie Dean's two wickets in the first over and England were looking for chances.

But Australia again leaned into their extensive batting depth. Harris used her sheer brute force to hit Sarah Glenn for six straight before some poor England ring defense and Dean's catch at long-off allowed McGrath to convert Ecclestone's penultimate Knocked down four boundaries. The absence of Lauren Bell, who could only finish one stroke at the death after leaving the field earlier due to illness, only added to the confusion.