The second Ashes T20 was washed out on Saturday, with 4.1 overs being bowled as made England 25 without loss, leaving the series 3-1 to Australia going into the third T20 on Sunday.
The match was initially reduced to 14 overs a side after the start was delayed by 50 minutes, before a second shower over the Adelaide Oval put paid to any chance of a result.
The England all-rounder Nat Sciver said her side had come out full of motivation to fight back from their nine-wicket drubbing in the first match of the series. “Batting the way we did, we’re not too disheartened. It made us more motivated for today but we’ll have to take that to tomorrow as well,” she said.
The vice-captain conceded, however, that England’s bowling in the first match had been sub-par. Leg-spinner Sarah Glenn suffered particularly at the hands of Tahlia McGrath, with her three overs costing England 39 runs, while Sciver went at more than 10 an over.
“We were a bit short with the ball in hand and that’s the main focus where we want to improve for tomorrow, being a bit more consistent and hitting our lengths a bit better,” she said.
England had opted for an extra bowling option, with the off-spinning all-rounder Charlie Dean presented with her maiden T20I cap before play – though Dean was left frustrated after failing to make it on to the pitch.
“She’s a great addition to our squad,” Sciver said. “She’ll throw herself into anything whether it’s batting, bowling or fielding. Having another bowling option for us on this wicket was important.”
Australia had suffered a blow with the seamer Tayla Vlaeminck, who clocked speeds of 123kph (76mph) in the first match – extraordinarily quick for the women’s game – sitting out with an injury to her right foot.
Vlaeminck had suffered a stress fracture in the same foot on the eve of the 2020 T20 World Cup, ruling her out of the tournament, but Australia’s captain, Meg Lanning, said the seriousness of the new injury was not yet known.
“It was just [soreness] out of the first game, and we’re still assessing how it is,” she said. “We’ll know a little bit more over the next few days. It’s not ideal.”
There was more encouraging news about the opening batter Beth Mooney, who was in the nets not long after undergoing an operation to mend the fracture in her jaw. “She’s going really well,” Lanning said. “She’s had a couple of hits, which is really exciting for her. It’s nice to see her back.”
Lanning also spoke candidly about the omission of Ellyse Perry from Australia’s starting line-up, making it clear that the 31-year-old will need to up her game if she is to fight her way back into contention in the 20-over format.
“We feel like we can pick players to play specific roles, and Ellyse didn’t quite fit into that,” Lanning said. “We need players who can come in and impact the game straight away. We’ve gone down the path of playing a lot of all-rounders and with our bowling we had other options to go to ahead of her.”