Lanning ton secures Australia series win

Australia 1 for 215 (Lanning 103*, Nitschke 70) beat England 8 for 214 (Edwards 90, Knight 72) by nine wickets
Scorecard

Australia's women did what the men spectacularly failed to do by inflicting a series defeat on England as they went 2-0 up with victory in the second one-day international at Perth. An unbeaten 103 from Meg Lanning, her maiden ODI hundred in her second match, ensured the home side made easy work of chasing down of 215 with more than eight overs to spare.

England captain Charlotte Edwards hit 90 to lift England's hopes of levelling the series but their bowling attack couldn't control the Australia batting. Lanning and Shelly Nitschke (70) put on an opening stand of 151 to do most of the work in the run chase before Leah Poulton helped seal victory.

The 18-year-old Lanning hit eight fours and a six during a superbly paced innings which suggested she has a fine career ahead of her. "Meg and Shelley were unbelievable," said Alex Blackwell, the Australia captain. "Shell has obviously been around the Southern Stars squad for quite a few years now and is one of our key players and she was brilliant again tonight.

"Meg is only 18 and playing just her second one-day game, but batted with experience beyond her years tonight and it is a credit to all the hard work she has been doing. She is really benefitting from having the experience of Shelley with her at the top of the order and she's showing that she could be a very good opener for Australia for a long time."

England had been handily placed during their innings as Edwards and Heather Knight (72) added 107 for the third wicket to take the total to 2 for 159 in the 42nd over. But their hopes of a late onslaught were damaged by four run outs as Australia showed their fielding skills.

"I'm pleased to get some runs under my belt and make a good score, but it's difficult to take as we lost the game," said Knight. "We're obviously bitterly disappointed, but we have a lot more cricket to play with another big series ahead and the Ashes Test. We'll rally round as a team and stick together to come back fighting and look to take some momentum into the games ahead."

The one-day series is followed by five Twenty20 internationals, the first two played ahead of the men's matches in Adelaide and Melbourne next week, before the one-off Ashes Test in Sydney.