England 186 for 9 (Wyatt 76, Sutherland 3-28) beat Australia 183 for 8 (Perry 51*, Glenn 2-27, Ecclestone 2-35) by three runs

Australia gifted Dunkley a life on 13 when she skied Megan Schutt high to cover and while Tahlia McGrath sat under it, the ball slid between her hands, the most dramatic of a rash of misfields early in England's innings. Wyatt helped herself to back-to-back boundaries off Ashleigh Gardener, over mid-off and threaded through third, and at the end of the powerplay England were 54 without loss in a vast improvement on their 36 for 2 in the opening T20I at Edgbaston, which Australia won by four wickets with one ball to spare. McGrath juggled another chance off Dunkley and her relief was palpable when she held on this time as Dunkley departed for 23.

Sutherland swung the momentum Australia's way when she claimed two wickets in as many balls as England slid from 100 for 1 to 109 for 4. Alice Capsey fell for her second straight single-figure score of the series attempting to hook Sutherland only to send a top edge high towards short fine leg, wicketkeeper Healy moving calmly back to take it. Then Heather Knight, playing her 100th T20I, was bowled first ball, a gem of a cross-seam delivery that angled in from wide of the crease, straightened and pegged back off stump.

Amy Jones survived the hat-trick ball, digging out the yorker on leg stump, but then Sutherland took an excellent diving catch at running round from wide long-on and England had lost four wickets for 12 runs in the space of 13 balls. Ecclestone and Glenn had the crowd roaring, particularly when Ecclestone peeled off 4, 6, 4 off McGrath as England recovered to 181 for 8 and it took a stunning catch by Darcie Brown at short third off Gardner to remove Glenn.

Ecclestone had Gardner out to the simplest return catch imaginable to claim her 100th wicket in T20Is, becoming the fastest to the milestone from just 72 matches as Australia slumped to 75 for 4. After 12 overs, Australia needed to score at 11.5 an over and Dean, the offspinner who came in as the only change for either side after the opening match replacing seamer Freya Davies, bowled Grace Harris to keep England on top. Georgia Wareham threatened with a four followed immediately by two sixes off Dean in the 18th over but, needing 31 off the final two overs, Lauren Bell, who had been expensive, bowled Wareham with eight balls remaining. Australia needed 20 off the last over and while Perry kept fighting to the end, her 51 not out off 27 balls wasn't enough.