Women's Ashes: Australia beat England by five-wickets to seal Ashes series win

Australia sealed an Ashes series victory with a five-wicket win over England in the second one-day-international in Melbourne.

Having been put into bat, England — at 40-1 after 10 overs — lost six wickets for 28 runs before being bowled out for just 129 in 45.2 overs.

Ellyse Perry picked up 3-12 and Tahlia McGrath continued her fantastic Ashes series by taking 3-4 in 3.2 overs.

Left-arm spinner Jess Jonassen (2-25) took the key wickets of Nat Sciver — who struggled to get going with eight off 25 balls — and England captain Heather Knight, for 18, in consecutive overs.

A steady 39-run partnership between Amy Jones (28) and Sophie Ecclestone (32 not out) ensured the tourists avoided a humiliating score.

England's bowlers faced an uphill struggle, but were offered a glimmer of hope when Australia fell to 18-2 and 49-3 in reply, with captain Meg Lanning bowled by Kate Cross for a duck.

But all-rounder Perry then starred with the bat, hitting a match-winning 40 off 64 balls, and Ashleigh Gardner scored 31 off 34 balls as Australia reached the target with 14.4 overs to spare.

As holders, Australia had already retained the Ashes by winning the first ODI in Canberra and making sure the series could not be lost, but the win secures a series victory with the hosts now leading the multi-format series 10-4 and just the one ODI to play.

England head to the final match of the series — at the same ground on Monday at 23:05 GMT — still searching for their first win of the tour.

Despite the World Cup beginning in New Zealand next month — and having already retained the Ashes — any suggestion of complacency from Australia was quickly quashed with a terrific bowling performance.

Perry, 31, rolled back the years to take her first ODI wickets