Women’s Ashes 2023: Fightback finally hits the buffers, but England have closed a massive gap

Moments: Heather Knight has been clear all summer about the need to recognise them, seize them, even learn to relax in them, the theory being that while the Australian behemoth might be impossible to go stride for stride with over the course of a series, by picking their battles and timing their strikes, England might just be able to keep pace.

In Southampton yesterday, though, England ran out of moments, of time and, most crucially, of balls, to leave Nat Sciver-Brunt stranded on a quite magnificent 111, the tourists victors in this second ODI by just three runs and the Ashes, finally, gone.

That, having been 6-0 down and on the brink a fortnight ago, it has taken this long for England to surrender the Urn has been little short of heroic, likewise that even set what would have been a record run chase of 283, Knight's team were still in there swinging come the 50th over's final ball. And Sciver-Brunt swung hard, needing four to force a super over but, clearly, wanting the six that would end the game. Out of the toe of the bat, though, the ball would not oblige, bouncing short and into the hands of Annabel Sutherland.

To Sciver-Brunt, slumped over her blade, this must have all felt awfully familiar. This was the third time since the start of last year that she had made an unbeaten century in a losing cause against Australia, more than any other female cricketer has made in defeats against all opposition across the course of their entire ODI careers. The most recent of those, 148 not-out in last year's World Cup Final, had still seen England finish 71 runs short, and so the considerably finer margin here was in keeping with the narrative of a chasm closing, one that will surely still end up as this series' headline takeaway. Whatever gap between the sides remains, however, owes not to Sciver-Brunt's inability to carry her team over the line, but to Australia's sheer depth and quality.

While England, having struck on a winning formula against a side only used to writing their own, stuck by an unchanged side for the third game in a row, Australia leaned on their reserves, recalling Alana King for the first time since the Test that launched this compelling series last month.

The spinner was outstanding, delivering a stunning leg-break to remove form opener Tammy Beaumont in a brilliant spell that also saw Knight and Alice Capsey go in the space of 23 balls. That trio had scored the vast majority of England's runs in the first ODI at Bristol, and with all three gone before the chase had reached even halfway, the onus on Sciver-Brunt always threatened to be too great.

King's return freed the tourists to use fellow spinner Ashleigh Gardner at the top of the innings in a move that looked to take England's openers by surprise. Their slow start in the powerplay, Sophia Dunkley again scratching for form, meant that although that crucial phase of the chase still eventually yielded 62 runs, it was some way short of the flying start at Bristol that ensured run-rate was never a pressing factor in Knight's calculations.

Here, though, it was front and centre, Sarah Glenn's chewing of deliveries at the death proving costly. Where Georgia Wareham had strolled out to hammer Lauren Bell's final over for 26 runs, England's No9 took 35 balls for her 22 and found the boundary only once, leaving Sciver-Brunt, who might have been more assertive in commanding strike, too much to do.

For England, tomorrow's finale at Taunton still offers the consolation of a drawn Ashes and an ODI series win. For Australia, though, the ultimate prize is, once again, secure.