ENGLAND’S hopes of retaining the Women’s Ashes live on after Sarah Taylor’s half-century led the charge in a seven-wicket victory over Australia at Chelmsford.

Anything other than a win in the first Twenty20 game would have seen England lose the mutli-format Ashes series after the Aussies triumphed in the one-off Test match and two of the three one-day internationals to take an 8-2 tournament lead.

But after the tourists were restricted to 122 for eight, Taylor starred with the bat, making exactly 50 and sharing a pivotal 77-run partnership with England captain Charlotte Edwards.

Both Edwards and Taylor were dismissed before Natalie Sciver and Katherine Brunt got England over the line with 15 balls to spare.

Edwards said: “It was a perfect team performance and one which was achieved under a lot of pressure because we had to win.

“We needed our top players to come to the party and they did so by proving their character and turning in a display like this.

“I’m extremely proud of the way Sarah Taylor played. It was a great effort on her part. Our fielding too was very good but we know the Aussies will come at us hard in our next match at Hove on Friday.”