England cricket captain Heather Knight has admitted the umpires made the right call to take players off the ground on Thursday night, despite initially refusing to shake their hands after Australia’s victory. The Aussies claimed their fifth victory in a row in the women’s Ashes series, keeping alive their dream of a clean-sweep heading into the third T20 and Test match.

However Thursday night’s second T20 ended in controversy when umpires took the players from the ground with England needing 18 off the final five balls. Knight was at the crease and batting beautifully, making 43 off just 19 balls.

But she was left disgusted when rain stopped play at the crucial stage, and threw her bat in frustration. The England captain clearly believed play should have continued despite the downpour, but the umpires would have been concerned about the potential of the Aussie bowlers slipping on the wet pitch.

The match never resumed because of more rain, and England finished six runs short of where they needed to be on the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method. Knight was left furious when umpires informed her and Aussie captain Tahlia McGrath that the match was over, and was spotted refusing to shake hands with them.

The failure to shake hands was labelled “pathetic” and “classless” on social media, and summed up the tourists’ frustrations amid a series from hell. Many pointed out that England were happy to leave the field earlier in the innings when they were ahead on the DLS system.

Heather Knight admits umpires made correct call

Once she cooled down, Knight admitted the umpires were right to stop play. “It was the right decision by the umpires,” she said. “I was really in the zone to try and win us that game, and obviously frustrated that we were going off, but it wasn’t at the umpires at all. It was pretty wet, even when we were running it felt pretty slippy and it was quite hard to attack those twos. So yeah, it was the right decision, 100 per cent.

“It was brilliant game of cricket. I felt like I could get us over the line. I felt really set, and I had some really good boundary options on a very good cricket wicket. It was an awesome crowd and they deserved a finish, and you could hear the frustration from the fans that that we were going off, and the game wasn’t able to reach its conclusion.”

Aussies intent on clean sweep in women’s Ashes

Australia have already retained the women’s Ashes, leading 10-0 on points after sweeping the three-match ODI series and two T20s so far. The ODIs and T20s are worth two points each, while the Test match to come is worth six – meaning England can’t win the series.

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Standing in as captain for the injured Alyssa Healy, McGrath made 48 to lead the way for the Aussies after they were sent in to bat on Thursday night. Australia made 5-185 after another dominant display by opener Beth Mooney (44).

Not content with the series so far, McGrath is hungry for a clean sweep in the remaining two games. “It’d be pretty special to us,” she said after the game. “We’ve been hungry for a while and looking forward to these Ashes for a very long time. We’ve been playing some really good cricket, but still feel like there’s areas to improve.” Healy (foot) and star all-rounder Ash Gardner (calf) both missed the second T20 and their participation in the rest of the series is in serious doubt.