Contrary to general perception, even T20 cricket does not have to be all about the boundaries. The final over of Australia’s innings showed that, in a running masterclass staged by Beth Mooney and Tahlia McGrath. It was all the more impressive given Mooney had been out there for the entire innings. It was, staggeringly, the ninth time she has batted through the 20 overs for Australia, nearly one in five of her 51 innings opening when batting first.

It is an absurd record in such a volatile format, in a position that mandates risk-taking from the start. Mooney has never been out in the 20th over when batting first, and only twice in the 19th. Add that to the 14 times she has opened and remained not out at the end of a chase. Mooney is famous for overheating on hot days to the point of needing an ice collar, but she clearly has ice in her veins.

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In Adelaide, she got Australia off to a flyer in the manner you must with most fielders inside the circle. There were three consecutive boundaries off Freya Kemp in the second over, lacing a drive square, then straight, then through the leg side. After Georgia Voll added a couple more in the third over, the score was 28.

From there she worked the field, ran like blazes, always looking for two and sometimes a third, and on a pitch when timing was not always easy, picked the right balls to hit for four. So it came to the last over, England’s best bowler, Sophie Ecclestone, sending it down. Once, twice, three times, Mooney found the gap and hared back for a second, dipping the bat and turning to perfection, no hint of hesitation, twice reviewed for a run out, once at a full-stretch dive, every time making it. McGrath looked cool as a cucumber, Mooney red as a tomato, but even under physical duress she got to walk off unbeaten on 94.

It was fitting that another piece of composure from Mooney, this time in the field, set off England’s drastic collapse and the ignominy of a six-match losing streak on this tour. Keeping to the leg-spinner Alana King, Mooney snared an excellent catch down the leg side and was convinced Alice Capsey had edged a sweep. Insisting on the review, there it was, the tiniest under edge from the angled bat, too small for the umpire to detect.

That was the second wicket, setting off the collapse that reduced England to 39 for five, then 48 for seven, then 90 all out. Heather Knight was the only resistance, the captain has not been able to rally her team but tried her hardest, last out for 40. It is mystifying how England, with the resources and backing at their disposal, have been this uncompetitive against a team that is better than them, but should not be this much better than them.

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England panicked and flailed, with slogs to the infield and missed sweeps on the stumps. Georgia Wareham arrowed a ball into Amy Jones’s pads and would have had Kemp the same way two balls later but for fractionally pitching outside leg stump. Voll took a spectacular diving catch at backward point, after Ecclestone looked like she had looped a ball from Megan Schutt over the top.

Ellyse Perry fielded as spryly as she would have 20 years ago, a one-handed tumbling pick-up with a forward roll and a fizzed throw for Mooney to show fast hands again and run out Linsey Smith. Mooney ended the night with the stumping of Knight, sealing the win by 72 runs.

For Australia, six matches, six wins. For England, flat as a tack, the Test next week will be their last chance to avoid a whitewash. For at least five years, still under-celebrated in a thicket of champions, Mooney has clearly been Australia’s most consistent player. Once again, even with a flushed face, she showed her ability to maintain a cool head. That was exactly what England proved incapable of doing.