Lydia Greenway helps England's women ease into a 2-0 lead over Australia

Clare Connor, the head of women's cricket at the ECB, is returning to England feeling positive about retaining the Ashes after another Twenty20 win over Australia today. Connor was in Melbourne to see England take a 2-0 lead in the five-match Twenty20 series – the next three games will be played in Canberra, followed by the four-day Ashes Test in Sydney. "I think the team's in a really good place at the moment," said Connor. "We got some momentum from the end of the ODI series going into this Twenty20 series, where we're 2-0 up with three to play. I think there's a lot of belief within the squad and that's come about through winning games in the past week with a very depleted team. "We've had some serious injuries. We had to fly two players home from Perth, Claire Taylor and Beth Morgan, our number three and five batters, while Katherine Brunt, who is one of the quickest bowlers in the world, has not been fit for the past week and a bit, though she should be for the Test. "The injuries are a concern but we're still in good shape in terms of character and courage and playing well as a squad, as we saw here. It's a happy camp and we've seen young players come through from the academy and seize their chance." The captain, Charlotte Edwards, described herself as "delighted and really chuffed" by the result as, for the third time in as many games, Lydia Greenway played a match-winning innings as the tourists cruised home by five wickets. But England are worried by the low standard of their fielding. "The fielding was really poor today," said Connor. "We made basic errors. There was poor catching technique.We looked to catch the ball too low and some of our positioning was not quite right. It was the poorest fielding display I've seen from the team in a couple of years." At one point England dropped a hat-trick of catches, all offered by Leah Poulton. Ironically Poulton fell to a brilliant piece of fielding, a fine reflex catch by Jenny Gunn, whose return to fitness has clearly strengthened the side. In a match reduced to 16 overs per side because of the damp outfield, Alex Blackwell and Lisa Sthalekar managed to score 24 from the final three overs but it was still not enough to present a stiff challenge and England were able to bat within themselves. After playing a key role in the final ODI and the first Twenty20 game, Greenway hit 30 not out to guide England home. She was dropped when she offered a return catch to Rene Farrell, but by then only six runs were needed to win from eight balls. The only hiccup in the England innings came when they lost three quick wickets but Greenway, the top scorer for England in their run chase at Adelaide on Wednesday, held firm. Edwards added: "We've lost some important players to injury but we've been very positive about it and just decided to go out there and give it a go." Shelley Nitschke was the top scorer for Australia with 27 from 30 balls while Danielle Hazell, Holly Colvin and Gunn shared England's wickets.