END OF OVER:50 | 5 Runs 1 Wkt | ENG-W: 285/9 | RR: 5.70
- Sophie Ecclestone10 (5b)
- Jess Jonassen5-0-30-3
- Ashleigh Gardner10-0-39-3
4:08pm Lots of smiles on Australia's faces as Healy applauds them off the field. England won't be too disappointed with the finish as well. England managed 87 off the last ten overs and it was largely because of a certain Wyatt, who came out swinging. And it was not all mindless swinging but smart batting that exploited the field-sets expertly. England would feel they lost a bit of fizz towards the end, though, given the platform they had at the start of the 41st over.
But England wouldn't have dreamt of 250 had Knight and Sciver-Brunt not done what they did. They found themselves in the middle in the fifth over of the game with both openers back in the hutch. Thereon, the England captain and vice-captain added a record 147 for the third wicket - the best for any wicket for them against Australia - that set the hosts up for a tall score. Sciver-Brunt followed up her heroics from a couple of nights ago to hit back-to-back ODI centuries - only the second English woman to do so after Beaumont who did it twice (2016 and 2018). Australia's death-over tactics of nailing the leg-stump yorker might have minimised the damage somewhat.
A chase of 286 is a tall ask even by Australian standards. Will they get them to take the ODI series 2-1? Or will England take home both the white-ball series despite conceding the Ashes? Abhimanyu will be back shortly for the start of a riveting chase.
ChrisTaunton: "Not bad overall but Taunton is a small ground and the Aussies will be finding boundaries easily, methinks. But England - take three batters away and we scored nothing." England have a wily Dean in their ranks, so it could well hinge on the middle-overs drill
KL Cross b Jonassen 4 (5m 8b 0x4 0x6) SR: 50.00