The visitors put in a woeful batting effort at Adelaide Oval as Australia secured the T20I series 3-0 to leave a whitewash on the cards

Valkerie Baynes25-Jan-2025Beth Mooney stood a class above with the bat before Australia’s bowlers ground a hapless England line-up further into the dust with a thumping 72-run win in the third and final T20I for a 12-0 lead in the Women’s Ashes.Mooney’s unbeaten 94 carried Australia to 162 for 5 on a slow Adelaide Oval pitch where Australia’s second-best score was fellow opener Georgia Voll’s 23. Then the home side’s bowlers, led by legspinner Georgia Wareham’s career-best 3 for 11, demolished the tourists for 90 inside 18 overs, their second-lowest total in T20Is with only two England batters reaching double figures.Related

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Yet again, England were complicit in their undoing with a host of poor shots punished by a merciless Australian fielding outfit before a crowd of 10,291. The result brought the possibility of a 16-0 series sweep tantalisingly close for the home side heading into next week’s day-night Test at the MCG.England made four changes looking to get some points on the board, albeit belatedly and with the Ashes already lost. Maia Bouchier made way for Alice Capsey and an unwell Lauren Bell was replaced by fellow quick Lauren Filer while legspinner Sarah Glenn was replaced by left-arm spinner Linsey Smith. And while the spinners did well to contain Australia – Mooney’s performance aside – defending a modest total proved far too easy for a side which has completely dominated their opposition all series.England spinners keep Australia honestAfter a bright enough start from openers Voll and Mooney, who had struck three boundaries off Freya Kemp in the second over of the match, England’s spinners kept a lid on the Australians, who became mired in a rare 33-ball stretch without a boundary. Capsey entered the attack in the eighth over and struck with her fifth ball as Voll holed out to Danni Wyatt-Hodge at deep midwicket.Then Mooney unleashed two boundaries in four deliveries from Filer to break the shackles. Phoebe Litchfield followed up with four down the ground off the first ball of the next over, from Capsey, and when Litchfield top-edged a reverse sweep over wicketkeeper Amy Jones’ head, it dropped dead between her and two other fielders. Then Litchfield was bowled attempting to sweep one that stayed straight and low from Sophie Ecclestone and Australia were 83 for 2.Georgia Voll took a superb catch to remove Sophie Ecclestone•Getty ImagesMooney magicEcclestone hoped she had Mooney lbw two balls later, only for the DRS to show the ball had pitched just outside leg stump. Mooney raised her fifty in 41 balls and from there loosened up, turning a Capsey full toss through fine leg then clearing point for two fours in three deliveries.When Ellyse Perry chipped Charlie Dean straight to cover, Grace Harris entered and thumped Ecclestone down the ground for the first six of the match. Two balls later, Mooney drilled a four through square leg. Wickets fell around her late, but Mooney kept adding to her tally. She ran brilliantly between the wickets in the final over with Tahlia McGrath, Mooney twice having to stretch to make her ground coming back for a second run and, despite an England review for lbw on the final ball, she kept her innings intact.It was the third time Mooney had reached fifty in her last four innings this Ashes and left her with 303 runs across both white-ball legs of the series, well clear of the next best, Heather Knight, on 172.Everywhere England lookAustralia’s stand-in wicketkeeper for most of the summer due to Alyssa Healy’s injury woes, Mooney took an excellent catch off Capsey’s faint edge, so faint it took a review to secure the wicket, the second to fall in as many overs after Darcie Brown – who came into the side for Kim Garth – had struck with her first ball to remove Dunkley, skying the ball to cover. Now England were 12 for 2, and Annabel Sutherland made it 23 for 3 inside three overs with a beauty that pinged the top of Sciver-Brunt’s off stump.Everywhere England looked, there was an Australian there to make life difficult, as has been the case all tour, and it was Wareham next with two wickets in three balls in the seventh over to send them lurching to 39 for 5 with Wyatt-Hodge holing out to long-off and Amy Jones pinned on the pad attempting a scoop.Freya Kemp gifted her wicket to mid-off for Brown’s second and Wareham claimed her third when Charlie Dean’s top-edge sailed to Alana King at square leg. The only blemish for Australia in the field came when Wareham put down a sitter at deep midwicket off Ecclestone, on 1 at the time.But then Voll took an excellent diving catch to remove Ecclestone and more clinical fielding from Perry to Mooney ran out Smith. Mooney stayed in the action to the last, whipping off the bails as Knight advanced to Tahlia McGrath, her score of 40 England’s best on a sorry looking scorecard.