Women's Ashes 2015: England Twenty20 win keeps series alive

Women's Twenty20 international, Chelmsford

Australia: 122-8 (20 overs) (Perry 30, Sciver 2-18)

England: 125-3 (17.3 overs) (Taylor 50, Osborne 2-22)

England won by seven wickets

England kept their hopes of retaining the points-based Women's Ashes alive with a seven-wicket win over Australia in the first Twenty20 at Chelmsford. 

Needing to win all three T20s to retain the urn, Sarah Taylor's 50 set up the comprehensive victory as the hosts chased down 123 with 15 balls left.

The 26-year-old shared a 77-run second-wicket stand with captain Charlotte Edwards, who made a valuable 39.

Australia, having been put into bat, were restricted to 122-8.

A brilliant fielding display by England saw three players run out, while Natalie Sciver took 2-18.
Taylor, who had failed to fire with the bat in the Ashes series so far, looked back to her bristling best, playing a series of impressive ramp shots in her 12th T20 half century.

Despite the loss, the visitors require just one victory from the remaining two T20s at Hove and Cardiff on Friday and Monday respectively.

Captain's view

 

 England Captain Charlotte Edwards on Sky Sports

"A perfect performance from us under extreme pressure. I asked for character and we certainly showed that tonight. The atmosphere here, everyone here gets behind us and it's nice to keep our unbeaten run going. We didn't want to go too much into the Test match, we had a good week at Loughborough and I knew we needed our big players to come to the party. That's character from Sarah Taylor and I'm really proud of her. We've got two massive games, if you're not doing anything in Brighton on Friday please come down! "

Australia Captain Meg Lanning on Sky Sports

"We couldn't get the momentum we wanted, we kept losing wickets and 122 was never going to be enough. We were out-fielded by England but we're going to try to get that win at Hove, though we're going to have to play a lot better. The ground's an interesting shape which took a while to get used to, but the crowd came and supported England well - we like to play in front of big crowds."

Player of the match

 Sarah Taylor - England Wicket Keeper

"It was nice to contribute, we talked a lot about pride and the performance we put in was brilliant - all the girls did us proud. "

"We're going to go to Hove and try to play the same way. We've always got to look forward and that's what we're doing. I just hope every single one of us can take the form into the next game. "

Women's Ashes 2015
Date	Game	Venue	Winner	Pts available
21 Jul	1st ODI	Taunton	Eng (4 wkts)	2 (Eng 2-0)
23 Jul	2nd ODI	Bristol	Aus (63 runs)	2 (2-2)
26 Jul	3rd ODI	Worcester	Aus (89 runs)	2 (Aus 4-2)
11-14 Aug	Test	Canterbury	Aus (161 runs)	4 (Aus 8-2)
26 Aug	1st T20	Chelmsford	Eng (7 wkts)	2 (Aus 8-4)
28 Aug	2nd T20	Hove	-	2
31 Aug	3rd T20	Cardiff	-	2