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On Thursday, January 23, England Women lost the three-match T20I series of the Women’s Ashes. However, they earlier were whitewashed in the three-match ODI series 0-3 against Australia Women, they continued their losing streak as the Heather Knight-led side lost the second T20I at the Manuka Oval in Canberra by DLS method.
Chasing a revised target of 175 runs, England Women fell short by seven runs with five balls to spare as the umpires called off the play with rain marring the day at the Manuka Oval. With skipper Heather Knight looking in good touch, batting at 43* off 19 deliveries, Australian skipper Tahila McGrath was quick to approach the umpire to inform of the rain getting heavier, thus resulting in the game to stop.
Heather Knight left frustrated after rain mars AUS W vs ENG W second T20I
Hoping to take England Women on the other side, Heather Knight was left visibly frustrated with the rain marring the play on Thursday. With the umpires forcing to halt the play, Knight was helpless as she threw her bat. The video of the incident quickly went viral on social media with the England skipper later clarifying her gesture.
Watch video of Heather Knight throwing her bat in frustration:
Speaking after the completion of the match, Knight admitted that the umpires made a right call. “It was right decision by the umpires. I was really in the zone to try and win us that game, and obviously frustrated that we were going off, but it wasn’t at the umpires at all. It was pretty wet, even when we were running it felt pretty slippy and it was quite hard to attack those twos. So year, it was the right decision, hundred per cent,” Knight said.
Further highlighting on the game, the middle-order batter added, “It was a brilliant game of cricket. Felt like I could get us over the line. I felt really set, and I had some really good boundary options on a very good cricket wicket. It was awesome crowd and they deserved a finish, and you could hear the frustration from the fans that we were going off, and the game wasn’t able to reach its conclusion.”
While the Australia Women have retained the Ashes series, winning the second T20I by six runs in a rain-affected game, they will next lock horns with England Women in the final T20I on Saturday, January 25 at the Adelaide Oval before travelling to Melbourne for the only Test of the series.