Kent and England captain Charlotte Edwards was left disappointed as England Women were defeated by Australia in the 2012 ICC Women’s World T20 Final.

Australia were put into bat and made 142 for four from their 20 overs. Meg Lanning and Alyssa Healy got Australia off to a flying start with 47 off the first six overs which proved costly for the England seamers.

Holly Colvin was pick of the England bowlers with figures of 2-21 and broke the opening partnership with the neat caught and bowled of Lanning. Danielle Hazell was the other wicket taker for England as she bowled Healy in the 11th over. England allowed Australia to set a competitive target and player of the match Jess Cameron capitalised hitting 45 off the 34 balls she faced.

Player of the tournament Charlotte Edwards (28) and Laura Marsh led the attack for England who believed a repeat performance of the sides’ group stage match, when England chased down 144, was possible.

Despite starting slowly and Marsh being caught and bowled in the fifth over, Edwards and Taylor accelerated before both wickets were accounted for by the tenth over.

Jenny Gunn and Hazell capitalised on loose balls from Julie Hunter in the 18th over to put England right back in the game. But despite Hazell’s valiant effort of an unbeaten 16 off 13 and scoring 11 off the final over with Colvin, England finished four runs short.

Charlotte Edwards said after the game: “Obviously we are all disappointed, we wanted to be lifting that trophy tonight.

“Australia were better than us today, we were under par with the ball and the first six overs of their innings was probably the difference between the two teams. Our lack of discipline up front proved costly for us.

“We were confident we could chase that target down, we did it before in Galle and back all our batters, but we lost wickets in clustered and made it harder for ourselves.

“I’m disappointed to have lost, but I’d much rather play in an exciting final and we saw some great shots played today, I think it was a great spectacle for women’s cricket and we’re all proud to have been part of that.

“We’ll go away and put this game to bed and then turn our focus to preparations for the ICC Women’s World Cup.”