Australia Women took an unassailable lead in the multi-format series after winning the 2nd ODI of the Ashes series. While thoroughly not dominating in nature, Australia did enough to make them comfortable with strong phases of play throughout the game.
Ellyse Perry was star of the show with three wickets giving away just 12 runs and scoring a crucial 40 runs to win the game. The game ended her poor patch with both bat and ball in the shortest format of the game after the star all rounder was kept fairly quiet in the T20I series.
After choosing to bowl first, Meg Lanning’s women rewarded their captain’s call with quick four wickets in the first 20 overs. If it were not for Sophie Ecclestone’s 32 runs, England would have been in a much worse position. They managed to put up 129 runs with Ecclestone’s and Amy Jones’ help but could not make enough of their batting line up. Tahlia McGrath bowled exceptionally well alongside Perry and scalped three wickets for just 4 runs in her 3.2 overs.
Coming into bat, it was not easy going for Australia as they lost their first two wickets under 20 runs. Alyssa Healy held on from one end for a while but was dismissed in the 15th over of the game with the score reading 49 runs. However, useful contributions from Ellyse Perry and Ashleigh Gardner made sure that Australia did not collapse and they won the game by 5 wickets and just a little less than 15 overs remaining.