Women's Ashes: Charlotte Edwards wants to stay as captain

England
The final T20 between the teams is at Cardiff on Monday at 10:30 BST

Charlotte Edwards wants to carry on as England captain despite her team losing the Women's Ashes.

Chasing 108 in 20 overs to keep the series alive heading into the final match on Monday, England collapsed to 87 all out at Hove on Friday.

Australia took an unassailable 10-4 lead in the multi-format series, but Edwards said: "I feel I have a lot to contribute to this team.

"This is not the time to walk away from English cricket."

The 35-year-old added: "I don't think one bad series defines me as a player or captain."

Australia had not won the Ashes since 2011 - their only success in 12 years - but they have dominated England this summer.

Women's Ashes series results

They won the one-day international series 2-1, registered a 161-run victory in the only Test and are now level at 1-1 in the Twenty20 series.

Speaking to Test Match Special, Edwards, who has scored one half-century in seven innings this summer, added: "The best team have won the Ashes. We haven't put them under pressure enough.

"We have batted poorly and allowed their bowlers to bowl at us. Credit has to go to Australia, they have played much better over the three formats."

John Etheridge tweet

Australia's "future of aggressive players"

Former England batter Ebony Rainford-Brent agrees the best team won the Ashes and is predicting a bright future for Australia.

Their star player has been 24-year-old Ellyse Perry, who is their leading run-scorer (647) and wicket-taker (20) across all matches on tour.

"Australia have deserved it, well done to them," said Rainford-Brent. "They have outplayed England throughout the tournament, out-skilled and out-captained them.

"Australia are a lot more aggressive in every single aspect of the game. They are building a future of aggressive players.

"They are investing in players who clear the ropes. Their top seven or eight look like they can hit every single ball out of the park."

On the future of Edwards, she added: "Charlotte has been inflexible, it doesn't look like she's been inventive. Meg Lanning has out-captained her all series.

"That's the first time it's been noticeable. She has been surpassed and she needs to think about freshening up."

Mitchell Starc tweet

Australia were "always confident"

Australia had never won the Women's Ashes after it switched to a contest over all three formats, so skipper Lanning was naturally delighted.

"It's nice to get our hands back on those Ashes," said 23-year-old, who became the youngest Australia captain to win the Ashes, male or female.

"We came here with a really good squad and we were confident we could win them again.

"I'm sure we'll have a good celebration but we want to finish the series with a good performance in the last T20 in Cardiff on Monday."

Alison Mitchell tweet