Alice Capsey on the series-winning episode 46: “Sometimes going to come off, sometimes I won’t.”

Australia’s head coach, Shelley Nitschke, says the team has “probably been off for the three T20s” following a 2-1 loss.

Alice Capsey had only scored 17 runs in her previous five T20Is for England

Alice Capsey had only scored 17 runs in her previous five T20Is for England, but she picked the perfect moment to turn things around: in front of a record crowd at Lord’s during a crucial Ashes match. Her 46 off 23 balls helped the hosts to a historic victory and kept them in the multi-format series against Australia, aside from stopping a streak of single-figure scores. In the third T20I match of their series, which England won 2-1 on Saturday night despite rain delays, England defeated India by five wickets with four balls remaining. “The series is still alive, which is amazing,” Casey told Sky Sports. “I sometimes come off in T20 cricket, especially the style I play, and sometimes I won’t. It involves trying to improve and do it more consistently. I’ve been putting much effort into the nets, and the coaching staff has supported me. After scoring 50 in England’s triumph over South Africa in the group stages of the Commonwealth Games over a year ago and 51 off only 22 balls against Ireland at the T20 World Cup in February, Capsey came four short of what would have been her third half-century in T20Is. And against Australia at Lord’s, she gave an excellent example of the style of play that earned her an international debut last summer at the age of just 17, gave England two crucial points, and caused Australia to suffer their first series loss since the 2017–18 Ashes, when they had also lost the T20Is 2-1.

Danni Wyatt’s forceful 26 from 15 had given their run chase a great start, and Capsey entered with England 39 for 2. Jess Jonassen hit a massive six over deep midwicket, then Megan Schutt hit an even bigger one that went over the same spot and into the stands. There were four fours to each of the four corners of the ground in between. She mentioned having the support of the coaching staff, but this England team is betting on themselves to shock Australia, who managed to win the first T20I by a narrow margin of four wickets before falling short by three runs in the second. Ellyse Perry helped Australia from 66 for 3 to 155 for 7 in their allotted 20 overs during Saturday’s match, which England won after chasing down a revised target of 119 from 14 overs. The game was played in front of a crowd of 21,610, a record for a women’s bilateral match in England, with three more sold-out ODIs to come. For the first time since 2013–14, England must win all three of the remaining games: Bristol, Southampton, and Taunton. According to seamer Lauren Bell, who was instrumental in getting Perry out of the third T20I, England is confident they can win. Bell praised Capsey, saying, “She was outstanding tonight.” “She undoubtedly helped us cross the finish line. She wanted to be present when it was all over, so I believe she was devastated. She gave an excellent performance. She was a significant factor in the victory.

Bell remarked of the victory, “It’s definitely boosted our confidence.” We believed we could win after the first two games; we just needed to improve on a few things. Defeating Australia in a series is fantastic, and we can now move on to the ODIs. We now have a great deal of faith in the team. Australia, 6-4, still leads the series, and each ODI is worth two points. Australia’s skipper, Alyssa Healy, claimed that England had “out-braved” her squad before the one-day series, a format in which her team has a winning streak of 15 games. Their head coach, Shelley Nitschke, concurred with Healy’s assessment that the Australians still needed to play their best cricket after they had lost the second T20I at The Oval.

After the loss at Lord’s, Nitschke admitted, “We’ve probably been off again for the three T20s. “I felt that we still hadn’t played our best cricket, even in the first game we managed to win at Edgbaston. Even though we have a short turnaround before the ODIs, which is what we came here to win, we are still in the Ashes series. “We just need to look closer at our strategy and ensure we’re sharp and fixing some of those mistakes when the ODI series begins. We know that we must play excellent cricket to match their level of play. We know it will be a challenging assignment for us. Before the opening game planned for Wednesday in Bristol, neither team announced their 50-over lineups.