England captain Heather Knight hailed an “awesome” batting display by Alice Capsey after her blistering 46 helped secure a five-wicket victory over Australia in a rain-hit final T20 international at Lord’s to keep alive hopes of regaining the Ashes.
Capsey had made just 17 runs in her last five England innings, but the 18-year-old returned to form to lead England’s revised run chase of 119 in 14 overs after Australia had been restricted to 155 for seven before a rain delay at the interval.
“Alice Capsey was awesome,” Knight said on BBC Test Match Special.
“She probably hasn’t played how she wanted to in the first two (games), but to play like that and take the game on is exactly how we want her to play so I’m really pleased for her.”
Having pulled off a three-run win in a thrilling finale at the Oval on Wednesday, England’s victory saw them take the T20 series 2-1 and reduce the multi-format deficit to 6-4 ahead of the deciding one-day internationals, which start at Bristol on Wednesday.
“We talked yesterday about wanting a series win in the T20s and I’m really proud of the girls and the way we went about it,” Knight said.
“The really pleasing thing is that, when someone doesn’t have a great day, someone else is standing up and we’re able to have a real team performance.”
The Lord’s crowd of 21,610 broke the home bilateral attendance record for an England women’s fixture.
The series could now go the distance, which had looked unlikely after England’s defeat in the Test at Trent Bridge and the opening T20 at Edgbaston.
“The support has been so good, we’ve loved it,” said Knight, captain of London Spirit, who play their Hundred games at Lord’s.
“It is credit to both teams the cricket that has been played and to get people out and momentum behind the series. There is still a long way to go.
“The way we’ve fought back in this series has been really pleasing. We’ve felt like we’re not far away and once we’d got that win it felt like we’d got over that hurdle a little bit. Hopefully we can keep that going.”
Capsey, named player of the match, is in no doubt England can keep the pressure on in the ODIs.
“It has been unbelievable. The series is still alive, which is amazing. It was a great performance,” Capsey said on Sky Sports Cricket.
“It was just about playing to our strengths and putting the Aussies under pressure. T20 cricket, especially the way I play, sometimes I’m going to come off and sometimes I won’t.
“It’s just about getting better and trying to become more consistent at it. I’ve been working hard in the nets and been given a lot of backing by the coaching staff.”
A second consecutive defeat saw Australia beaten in a series for first time since 2017.
Australia captain Alyssa Healy, who was trapped lbw by Charlie Dean for 16 in the fourth over, admitted her side paid the price for another below-par display.
“They played a really good innings. They outbraved us and batted really well,” she said to Sky Sports.
“They played a few shots and took their chances. They played some fearless cricket and got themselves over the line.
“That’s the beauty of the T20 format. When you’re not quite on, you can get pounced upon by teams.
“England have played a really great style of cricket throughout the series and we didn’t quite match that.
“Fortunately, we’ve still got three games of this Ashes series to pick ourselves up. We go into the one-day format, which we absolutely love.”
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