Captain Heather Knight urged England to bounce back to draw the “best ever series” after Australia retained the Women’s Ashes with victory by three runs in the second ODI at the Ageas Bowl.

Nat Sciver-Brunt hit an unbeaten 111 in Hampshire but it was not enough to guide England to victory in pursuit of 283 with the hosts finishing on 279 for seven after a thrilling sixth encounter of the multi-format series.

After trailing 6-0 following defeats in the one-off Test and opening T20, England had stormed back to win three matches in a row and keep alive their faint chances of winning back the Ashes for the first time since 2014.

Only victory in the final two ODIs would be enough for Knight’s team, but the tourists proved too strong with Ellyse Perry’s 91 and a game-changing knock of 37 not out from Georgia Wareham, with 26 runs coming off the final over bowled by Lauren Bell, helping Australia make 282 for seven.

Sciver-Brunt was able to produce more heroics against Australia, after she hit 148 not out in last year’s World Cup final, but with 15 runs needed from the last six deliveries, Jess Jonassen held her nerve and England will aim to level the series at 8-8 in Tuesday’s final ODI in Taunton.

“God it was an unbelievable game again wasn’t it? It has got to be the best series there has ever been in the history of the women’s game,” Knight reflected.

“Two sides going toe-to-toe, fighting it out and every game has been pretty close. Yeah, obviously disappointment but real pride as well over the fact we got so close.

“The way Nat played was unbelievable. To nearly marshal the tail in that chase was brilliant, but probably left a little bit too much to do.

“Overall, we’ve put in another thriller of a performance, but the Ashes are gone which is disappointing.”

Before Sciver-Brunt’s third ODI century against Australia, the big momentum-swinger occurred in the final over of the tourists’ innings.

With Australia on a below-par 256 for seven after 49 overs, England would have fancied their chances but Wareham proceeded to hit seamer Bell for three maximums, two over midwicket, and another brace of fours.

The 26-run over went a long way to deciding the latest nail-bitter in the series, but Knight backed her young bowler to learn from the experience.

“No, not for me (the most decisive moment). Lauren has been outstanding at the death for us all series, but she is a young bowler, she will make mistakes and have days like that sometimes where it doesn’t quite go right,” Knight added.

“I think she will learn a lot from that experience.

“There is a one-day series victory on the line and it would be a really good achievement to win the T20 series and ODI series to draw the series 8-8.

“We have to rally around people, it is obviously quite a quick turnaround and there will be some emotion in that dressing room.

“But we head to Taunton tonight, down to the Holiday Inn and we have a day to regroup and go again. I think if we can end the series on a high, we can have huge pride in how we’ve played throughout the series.”

Knight had got England over the line in Wednesday’s opening ODI match in Bristol and admitted it was “horrific” to have no control in this chase.

Reflecting on Sciver-Brunt’s innings, Knight added: “It was kind of written in the stars for her to do it today.

“Unfortunately just a little bit too much but great character by her to get us even anywhere close.

“It was another unbelievably entertaining game of cricket and unfortunately we’ve been on the wrong side of this one.”

Australia spinner Alana King, who claimed three for 44, was delighted to retain the Ashes but insisted they want to win the series 10-6.

She said: “We have retained it, which is awesome but as we have said all along, we have come to win it so we have one more game to win the Ashes.”

Heather Knight wants England to exploit the increased exposure from a seminal Women’s Ashes series, insisting she and her team take a responsibility to inspire the next generation “personally”.

England will try to wrestle the urn from all-conquering Australia’s grasp in the multi-format series, beginning with a lone Test at Trent Bridge where around 15,000 tickets have been sold across five days.

On the eve of the curtain-raiser, Knight senses an opportunity to follow in the footsteps of the England football team, who sent the nation into raptures with their triumphant Euro 2022 campaign.

Doing so will be no mean feat as Australia have not lost to England since 2014, hold both limited-overs World Cups and won gold at last year’s Commonwealth Games, but Knight is in an optimistic mood.

She said: “One of our mantras is to entertain and inspire. In the women’s game, we take it quite personally that we want to promote the game in the right way, get people behind us and inspire them.

“It’s super special and it’s set up to be a really amazing Ashes series that’s probably going to be the most visible series outside of World Cups that we’ve ever had. We’re keen to try and maximise that.

“Women’s sport is just in such an amazing place in the country in the moment and we want to be a part of that. What the Lionesses did last summer, we loved watching it and want to be a part of that.

“We know we’re up against a very good Australian team but we’ve got the opportunity to do something special and part of that is bringing the country with us on that journey.”

A spirited effort by West Indies saw them push England in a keen contest on Saturday night but the visitors secured a victory and with it took an unassailable lead in the five-match rubber.

Deandra Dottin’s 80 not out proved to be insufficient to prevent her Barmy Army Women from going down by eight wickets to Falcons Women in the FairBreak Invitational T20 Tournament, at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, in the UAE on Friday.

The hard-hitting West Indian’s innings came off just 59 balls and included 12 fours and two sixes.

Dottin, alongside England captain Heather Knight (20) and South Africa’s Laura Wolvaardt (17), helped Barmy Army Women get to 152-3 off their 20 overs.

The Falcons then needed only 17.3 overs to get to 156-2 thanks to 76 not out off 49 balls from captain Danni Wyatt.

Sri Lanka’s Chamari Athapaththu and West Indian Britney Cooper were the next best scorers with 41 and 32 not out, respectively.

The 2022 FairBreak Invitational is taking place in Dubai and is an ICC-sanctioned tournament. The inaugural edition of the competition organized by Cricket Hong Kong will comprise six teams that will have players from across the globe.

The first match was played on May 4 while May 9 and May 13 will be rest days. Both the semi-finals are slated to be played on May 14, while the third-place playoff and the final will be held on May 15.

There will be six teams that will be taking part in the inaugural season and there will be ninety players from 36 countries who will feature in the competition. Among these, 40 come from ICC full members and 50 from associate members.

Stafanie Taylor, Hayley Matthews, Deandra Dottin, Britney Cooper, Shemaine Campbelle, and Shamilia Connell are the West Indians participating.