Consolation Twenty20 win for Aussie women over England

England's women were unable to complete a Twenty20 series whitewash when they lost the final match against Australia by 52 runs in Canberra.

Leah Poulton (24 off 12 balls), Jess Cameron (26) Lisa Sthalekar (24) helped the home side reach 153-8.

Charlotte Edwards hit seven fours in her 37 and Lydia Greenway made an unbeaten 32 but England slid to 101 all out and had to settle for a 4-1 win.

Attention now turns to the one-off Ashes Test which begins on Saturday.

Despite the defeat, England skipper Edwards insisted: "I'm delighted with the series win. We've played our brand of cricket and it's paid off in four out of the five matches.

"I'm really proud of the whole squad and thrilled with our achievement of beating the world champions with a relatively inexperienced side. It's the first time we have won a limited over series on Australian soil, so I'm very happy.

"We are all now looking forward to playing the Ashes Test in Sydney and hoping to follow the successful performance of the men out here this summer."

Australia openers Poulton and Meg Lanning again gave their team a flying start, cracking 28 from the first 15 balls of the match.

Lanning was trapped lbw by Laura Marsh, who then ran out Poulton in the fifth over.

Sussex slow left-arm spinner Holly Colvin was the pick of the England bowlers with 2-30, also combining with Jenny Gunn to run out Sarah Elliott, but the top eight Australia batters all reached double figures to propel them to their highest score of the series.

In contrast, only Edwards and Greenway scored more than eight for the tourists.

Marsh was caught in the second over and Danielle Wyatt departed first ball in the next over, the first of three ducks in the innings.

Edwards was out to the first ball of the ninth over and though Greenway hit two boundaries she received little support as the innings ended in the 17th over.

Australia captain Alex Blackwell said: "It was nice to get the win and we'll take some confidence out of that performance as we prepare for the Ashes Test.

"Hopefully we can finish the series against England by taking back the Ashes.

"I thought we showed a lot more intent with the bat and our bowling and fielding was very good, however full credit to England, they take a strong 4-1 result in the Twenty20 series and played some very good cricket."