• England v Australia, 2nd women's T20, Ageas Bowl

Greenway stars as England reclaim Ashes

England 128 for 5 (Greenway 80*) beat Australia 127 for 7 (Lanning 60, Hazell 2-11) by five wickets
Scorecard

Lydia Greenway's innings was full of sweeps and paddles, as England secured the Ashes with a five-wicket win © Getty Images

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Lydia Greenway was England's hero as they regained the Ashes with a five-wicket victory in the second Twenty20 at the Ageas Bowl. The chase of 128 was wobbling badly on 9 for 3, but Greenway showed all her experience with a magnificently paced innings full of deft touches as England secured the two Ashes-winning points with six balls to spare.

For the second time in two days the record for England's highest individual Twenty20 score was broken, with Greenway's unbeaten 79 overtaking Sarah Taylor's 77 at Chelmsford. Fittingly it was Greenway who sealed the match with two reverse sweeps in the final over then a scampered single, which was the signal for an invasion from the England bench.

Australia's 127 for 7 - built around Meg Lanning's 60 - was initially made to look more daunting when three wickets fell inside the first three overs. Heather Knight played around a straight one from Julie Hunter then Sarah Coyte produced a superb over to remove Sarah Taylor - brilliantly held, one-handed in her follow through - and Danni Wyatt.

Then, however, came the moment that could well have decided to the Ashes when Greenway was given a life on 10, a missed stumping off Erin Osborne, which would have left England 25 for 4. Together with captain Charlotte Edwards the pair - who hold 121 Twenty20 caps between them - firstly steadied the chase and then increased the tempo.

Edwards played the anchor role while Greenway dominated the scoring. Laps and sweeps, a hallmark of her batting, featured regularly as she kept finding the gaps in whatever field Jodie Fields tried to set. It was one such delicate sweep - from a delivery around middle and off - which took Greenway to her fifty from 45 deliveries.

By then she had lost Edwards, who found mid-off trying to go over the top and spent the rest of the innings living every delivery in the dugout. Natalie Sciver offered sensible support in a stand of 40 in 27 balls until sacrificing herself for a tight single, leaving Greenway to finish the job, which she did in style.

Australia's innings had struggled for early impetus against accurate bowling from Katherine Brunt, who delivered her four overs straight, while Jess Cameron was run out by a direct hit from Jenny Gunn as she chased the ball in her follow through.

Lanning and Alex Blackwell gave the innings backbone with a stand of 57 in seven overs, Lanning collecting the one six of the innings when she cleared deep square leg off Gunn to go to fifty at a run a ball. Her eagerness to try and get back on strike ended her stay when she was run out backing up when a fierce drive from Blackwell clipped Holly Colvin's fingertips.

The innings closed in rather chaotic fashion with England claiming a team hat-trick in the final over - Danielle Hazell's two wickets sandwiched either side of Fields' run-out by Greenway, who would go on to have a far greater impact on the match.

Andrew McGlashan is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo

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