England lost to Australia by eight wickets after being bowled out for just 96.
Having been asked to bat first, England lost wickets at regular intervals and despite a bit of fight from Alice Davidson-Richards they could never recover, eventually posting their joint second-lowest IT20 total.
Australia were never going to have too many troubles chasing down such a total and they raced to their target, with Ellyse Perry and Meg Lanning unbeaten at the crease.
The tone was set early when England lost the toss and for the first time across this tournament and lost wickets in the Powerplay.
Aggression was their modus operandi – and it’s been a huge part of their success in Mumbai – but on this occasion the big shots went to hand and Australia got their noses in front.
First to go was Wyatt, caught at mid-on in the first over, and she was followed back by Tammy Beaumont – who played some nice shots but was unable to make a big score on her 50th IT20 cap.
Amy Jones, who’d been promoted to open, was caught while trying to pull a short ball and Nat Sciver was the fourth wicket, the victim of a stunner at mid-off by Meg Lanning.
Heather Knight was then trapped in front, missing a full one from Amanda-Jade Wellington, before Fran Wilson and Alice Davidson-Richards – getting respectively their first chances to impress – started to rebuild.
After the flurry of early wickets, England’s eventual total was always going to be less than the kind sides have been scoring across this tournament and when Wilson was caught at long-on to leave England at 61/6 in the 12th they would have needed to reassess once again.
Davidson-Richards kept going and got a bit of support from Jenny Gunn but Delissa Kimmince took two in an over – including the Kent all-rounder – and England limped to 96.
England needed early wickets, and lots of them, and while they did get two – one courtesy of a very fine catch by Jenny Gunn at deep square-leg – they never had enough runs to defend.
Despite the heavy defeat it wasn’t a game devoid of positives for England. Mark Robinson will believe his side can take some good learnings from a chastening day – and Heather Knight said as much in her post-game interview - while it was another opportunity for individuals to impress. Alice Davidson-Richards in particular gave a good account of what she can offer.
England will be straight back into action, facing India tomorrow in their final group match, before taking on Australia in the IT20 tri-series final on Saturday.