Capsey powers England to T20 series win and keeps Ashes alive

Alice Capsey found some timely form to help England to a thrilling victory which sealed the T20I leg for the hosts and kept their Ashes hopes alive.

Chasing a revised target of 119 from 14 overs, Danni Wyatt's 26 from 15 balls started the rain-reduced run chase off brightly but it was Capsey's 46 from 23, including a stand of 68 off 44 balls for the third wicket with Nat Sciver-Brunt that gave England enough of a buffer ahead of some late drama in the form of wickets to Georgia Wareham and Jess Jonassen in the last two overs.

England, playing at Lord's for only the second time since their 2017 World Cup victory, thrilled a crowd of 21,610, a record for a women's bilateral fixture in England, with their five-wicket victory, the first time Australia have lost a series since the 2017-18 Ashes, when they also lost the T20 leg. Australia still lead this multi-format series by six points to four, with England needing to win all three ODIs if they are to win back the Ashes.

Beth Mooney and Ashleigh Gardner both contributed 32 runs and Ellyse Perry was pivotal in adding 34 off 25 balls to help rescue the Australians from 66 for 3 and post a respectable target of 156. That was revised when the rain which had briefly halted play during Australia's innings returned during the interval and delayed the restart considerably.

Wyatt picked up from her match-defining half-century on Wednesday to set England's run chase off to a bright start with six fours on her way to 26. Wyatt, so strong against spin, crunched the offspin of Gardner for back-to-back fours through the covers and crashed Megan Schutt for three more, including a deft steer through deep third so that by the time she edged behind attempting to cut at the end of the shortened four-over powerplay England were 39 for 1. Dunkley skied the very next ball from Darcie Brown down Jonassen's throat at backward point but then Capsey stepped in.

Capsey, who had scores of 3 and 5 in the first two matches, found some fine touch at the perfect moment. She launched Jonassen for six over deep midwicket and after seven overs, the halfway point of their innings, England were 65 for 2. A clever scoop by Capsey to the rope through third brought up the fifty-partnership with Sciver-Brunt and England needed 26 off four overs.

Wareham conceded just four runs off the 11th but then Capsey unleashed a massive six into the stands over deep midwicket off Schutt followed by four down the ground to release the pressure on England. She holed out to Gardner four runs shy of her half-century but her stand of 68 off 44 balls with Sciver-Brunt was decisive. There was to be more drama though, Sciver-Brunt bowled by Wareham with England still needing two runs off the last seven balls and Jonassen trapping Heather Knight lbw with the first ball of the final over. Then Dani Gibson, who made her international debut in the first match of this T20 series, calmly reverse-swept Jonassen for four to seal victory with four balls to spare.

Offspinner Charlie Dean opened the bowling and conceded 10 off the first over, including back-to-back fours through the covers and fine leg by Alyssa Healy. But a switch to the Nursery End in the fourth over yielded a wicket first ball when Dean pinned Healy back in her crease and struck the front pad directly in line with middle stump. Mooney was slow to get going with just four runs off 11 balls after four overs. She broke the shackles somewhat with a sweep off Dean which beat a sprawling Lauren Bell at square leg and then Dean parried a sharp caught-and-bowled chance, which umpire Sue Redfern managed to evade with a sway of the head.

At the end of the powerplay, Australia were 36 for 1 and they were 37 for 2 a short time later when Tahlia McGrath lofted Gibson's back-of-a-length ball straight to Capsey at mid off. By the time she fell attempting to lap Sciver-Brunt only to see her stumps splayed, Mooney had reached 32 from 27 balls, including three fours off Sarah Glenn's first over, twice through midwicket and then down the ground and Australia were 66 for 3 at the halfway point of their innings.

England negated the threat of Gardner on 32 from 25 deliveries with a superb take over head height by Amy Jones off Sciver-Brunt with Perry still settling in. Perry had almost seen her side home with a barnstorming 51 not out from 27 balls in Australia's three-run defeat at The Oval and, after a brief rain interruption with Australia 106 for 4 after 15 overs here, she went on the attack again. Perry pulled the first ball after the rain break, from Gibson, over backward square leg for six and helped herself to 17 runs off Sciver-Brunt in the 18th over, including three fours in four balls, all behind the wicket.

Perry was adjudged lbw to Bell in the 19th over and, given the stage of the game, she called for a review. But with the DRS down, she had to abide by the on-field decision, which replays later showed was the right one. Grace Harris took up the task with an effective 25 from 15 after Bell dropped a sitter at backward point off the first ball of the final over.

Harris was put down by Gibson at long on next ball then capitalised by finding the boundary wide of long on. Sophie Ecclestone took matters into her own hands when she bowled Annabel Sutherland with the penultimate ball of the innings, with Harris run out on the last.