England remain winless in the Women’s Ashes as Australia won a dramatic rain-affected encounter by six runs in the second T20 to complete an outright series victory.

Set a challenging 186 to win in Canberra, England needed 18 from the last five balls with Heather Knight unbeaten on 43 before heavy rain fell and no further play was possible.

England finished on 168-4, an agonising six runs short of the required score set by the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern (DLS) method.

The result sees Australia take a 12-0 lead in the points-based multi-format series, which ends England’s hopes of a draw.

Rain had also disrupted the tourists’ chase after 8.4 overs, with England two runs ahead of DLS at 69-1, but it eased enough for play to resume with no overs lost.

Knight’s brilliant partnership of 65 in 6.5 overs with Nat Sciver-Brunt kept England in contention throughout before the final result was taken out of their hands and the captain walked off visibly upset.

Opener Danni Wyatt-Hodge’s 52 from 40 balls at the top of the order kick-started England’s brave effort, supported by Sophia Dunkley’s 32, but ultimately they were left to rue a sloppy final three overs of their bowling innings which conceded 48 runs.

They were in the game when the hosts stuttered to 137-5 after 17 overs, only for Tahlia McGrath and Grace Harris to bludgeon their way to 185-5.

McGrath, standing in for captain Alyssa Healy because of a foot injury, smashed an unbeaten 48 from 35 balls and Harris launched three sixes in her 17-ball 35.

Off-spinner Charlie Dean was the pick of the bowlers with 2-28 but she dropped McGrath on 42 on another poor night for England’s catching statistics, with Lauren Bell and Freya Kemp also putting down chances off Georgia Voll and Annabel Sutherland – they were not particularly costly in terms of runs, but it remains a big concern for Knight’s side going forward.

The third and final T20 takes place in Adelaide on Saturday, followed by the one-off Test match in Melbourne on 30 January.