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Haynes disappointed with Aussie effort

The T20I series now heads to a decider on Tuesday and the hosts don't want the Women's Ashes ending in a draw

Australia captain Rachael Haynes is not angry at her charges after Sunday’s 40-run T20I loss, she’s disappointed, and any parent can tell you that is much, much worse. 

After retaining the Commonwealth Bank Women’s Ashes Series on Friday with a six-wicket victory at North Sydney Oval, Australia had a chance to wrap up the T20I series and win the Ashes outright in Canberra today but were outplayed and out-enthused by a determined, spirited England.

Australia’s poor fielding in Sydney followed them to the nation’s capital and after starting the run chase in furious fashion to be 0-42 after five overs, the hosts lost 4-7 in 16 balls to all but end the match in the ninth over of the chase.

It means Australia, who have not won a bilateral T20I series since August 2015, could find themselves drawing the Women’s Ashes on eight points each should they lose the final fixture at Manuka Oval on Tuesday.

Haynes wants none of that, and expressed her disappointment – not anger – when speaking to reporters in the wake of the loss.

"I’d like to think not," answered Haynes when asked if her players found it difficult to get up for today’s match after the jubilation of retaining the Women’s Ashes two days ago.

"We’re playing a game for our country so I’d be pretty disappointed if anyone in the change rooms found it difficult to play today.

"It was a pretty disappointing effort considering the excitement that we came off the other day in retaining it. 

"But I think we have a lot to prove in this format. We haven’t won a T20 series since 2015, so I think the way we approach our cricket in this format, particularly with the World Cup coming up, it’s really important."

Brutal Brunt blasts Aussies in second T20

Having walked in to the post-match press conference straight from the field, Haynes had not yet had a chance to speak to her players after the loss.

But the skipper gave an insight as to what the theme of her message was going to be.

"We expect more of each other that’s for sure," she said. 

"In game one we showed what we’re capable of when we’re on our game. 

"We’ve got plenty left to give as a group and despite the fact it’s been a long tour we want to finish really strongly. 

"We’ll be honest with how we want to play and where we want to improve on but I definitely expect a better effort in game three."

Chasing 153 to win, the home side got off to a flying start through Beth Mooney and Alyssa Healy, whom at one stage combined to hit four consecutive boundaries across two overs and race to 0-42 from five overs.

From the first ball of the sixth over, Mooney chipped a return catch to Danielle Hazell but the Australian was spared – Hazell had overstepped and was called for a no ball.

But it did not matter, Mooney added just one more single before she was run out from a perfect throw from Jenny Gunn at mid-off. 

Unholstered Gunn catches Aussies in the crosshairs

Mooney’s wicket was the catalyst of a collapse of 4-7, which saw Elyse Villani brilliantly stumped by Knight, Healy hole out to long-on and Ellyse Perry unluckily drag a Brunt short ball on to her pads and then the stumps. 

Haynes and Delissa Kimmince put on 25 for the sixth wicket but the task was too much as England’s bowlers refused to relent and finished off the job with two overs to spare.

"If you lose 4-7 in any chase in any format of the game it makes it very difficult," Haynes said. 

"I thought we got off to a really good start with the way Beth and Alyssa came out but we just stalled there through the middle and it really put us on the back foot.

"We bat really deep as a team but unfortunately today I think everyone just left it to someone else rather than taking ownership of it," 

"It was just a little bit disappointing that we didn’t give ourselves an opportunity to get close and get it down to the last overs given the wickets we lost."



While Haynes wouldn’t comment on possible team changes for the third and final match on Tuesday, she did confirm her side will be desperate to win and finish the campaign as the sole victors.

"I’ve said from the beginning there’s lots on the line," she said. 

"Despite the fact we’ve retained the Ashes we still really want to win this series, quite emphatically. 

"We don’t want to finish on eight points each. 

"We want to come away with the winning ledger, we definitely want to win the T20 component of the series as well."