Tahlia McGrath produces all-round performance for the ages to secure Women's Ashes lead

As so often over the last three decades of Ashes cricket, it was a McGrath – Tahlia, not Glenn – who swung the momentum of the contest in Australia's direction

Adelaide: England 169-4, Australia 170-1 - Australia win by nine wickets

Australia pulled off the fifth-highest successful chase in women's T20I history at a canter to take the lead in the Women's Ashes series.

Tahlia McGrath smashed an unbeaten 91, with Meg Lanning – opening the batting in the absence of Beth Mooney, who is out with a fractured jaw – providing valuable support after England had racked up 169 for 4 from their 20 overs.

Rustiness was always likely in both camps, given the chaotic preparation that has been a hallmark of the last month. Until a fortnight ago, both teams anticipated the series beginning with a Test match in a week's time, but the T20 leg was brought forward to allow for both teams to have enough time to enter New Zealand and serve a 10-day quarantine period ahead of the World Cup in March.

So, it was little surprise that neither team was at its best in the field, nor that bowlers struggled to contain batters on either side.

After being invited to bat by Lanning, England's top order gave the tourists the perfect start. Tammy Beaumont and Danni Wyatt constructed the highest T20 opening partnership of Lisa Keightley's tenure, with Wyatt's 70 meaning she has already scored more runs in this series than when the sides met in England in 2019.

^{Danni Wyatt made 70 for England (Mark Brake/Getty Images)}

And once Beaumont fell to give Alana King a wicket on debut – ending an eventful knock that included a blow to the helmet via Tayla Vlaeminck's raw pace and a perfectly executed reverse-ramp shot for the first boundary of the contest – they continued to score freely.

Nat Sciver looked in fine touch – with the ball making a tremendous sound off her bat – while Wyatt passed her half century. But as so often over the last three decades of Ashes cricket, it was an over from McGrath – Tahlia, not Glenn – that swung the momentum of the contest.

She removed Sciver and Wyatt in the space of three deliveries with a pair of perfect yorkers, leaving two new batters at the crease and England unable to fully capitalise on the platform they had built. From 141 for 1, they managed just 28 runs in the final 22 balls of the innings.

That leaving out Ellyse Perry doesn't seem like a risk shows just how far advanced the Australian game is over any of its nearest rivals. She was left to sit on the sidelines and watch an absolute clinic in what felt more and more like a passing of the torch from an all-time great to a natural successor, though Perry will undoubtedly have a role to play in the longer formats.

At 26, McGrath isn't the youngster that Phoebe Litchfield is, for example. But in just her 14th international appearance, she played an astounding hand – having already taken three of the four wickets to fall in England's innings – to complete a fabulous individual day out.

^{Tahlia McGrath hasn't been dismissed yet in T20Is (Mark Brake/Getty Images)}

No one was taken down more brutally than Sarah Glenn, who was either too slow or too short and sometimes both at the same time. It was a brutal display of batsmanship from a player in the form of her life. This was her highest international score, having earlier in the evening cracked her best international figures. Her record in T20Is now stands at 168 runs for zero wickets lost.

And England showed no signs of changing that second column. They were shellshocked in the field as McGrath's assault gathered pace, with only Sophie Ecclestone – who claimed the wicket of Alyssa Healy – able to offer any kind of control, having earlier consigned Australia to the highest T20I score they had ever conceded.

Not that it mattered in the end, with the T20 world champions asserting their authority at the earliest opportunity in this multiformat series, winning with 18 balls to spare.