They say that the mark of a champion team is winning on a bad day. Or, they might say that. We’re not sure who “they” are, perhaps the people who invent copy for books of fake Vince Lombardi quotes. But it does sound like the sort of phrase that could be vaguely true and has a hollow ring of wisdom.

Australia’s women proved that imaginary thesis in the second Women’s Ashes one-day international, winning a match that they had absolutely no right to. A mixture of their confidence under pressure and England’s complete lack under the same scenario meant Australia defended a target of 181 with 11 balls and 21 runs to spare, after a poor home batting performance had given the visitors every chance to level the multi-format series on two points apiece.

Teams in the modern game facing high-level opponents with 180 on the board should expect to see it run down, but Australia walked out for the second innings like a team on the offensive. Kim Garth made the early strikes with the new ball, sending back both openers with a bit of seam movement and accuracy at the stumps.

Then it was time for spin to shut the innings down. Alana King’s four wickets included one in her first over and two in her last, at that stage on a hat-trick as England went eight down. But it was her work in between that was equally important, giving up 25 runs from her 10 overs, partnered perfectly as Ash Gardner’s 10 overs of finger spin turned the other way and returned 1 for 23.

England’s most dynamic scorers were squeezed: Heather Knight 18 from 35 balls, Nat Sciver-Brunt 35 from 57, and later Alice Capsey 14 for 35. It meant that as wickets fell, the target was still too far away for the remaining players to lunge for the finish line. All up England faced 206 dot balls. Or if you prefer, including wides and no balls, the whole team scored from 92 deliveries in the innings.

But it was more than just a matter of good bowling, it was about what good bowling produced. After the middle-order big names had gone, a sequence topped by King’s pearler of a leg-break that bowled Danni Wyatt-Hodge first ball, the ineptness of the late-innings effort added an extra layer of highlighter to the gap between the teams. Australia kept swarming as England fell apart.

You could look at Charlie Dean’s attempt to scoop King, a shot that needs pace but was employed against slow leg spin, when the most threatening bowler of the day had five more deliveries at her disposal. The ball travelled about five metres before being caught, exposing Sophie Ecclestone to nick the next one behind. You could look at Lauren Filer’s run out, after another scoop failed from a full toss that Amy Jones should have cross-batted into the stands, then refused a single as the the No 10 hared off.

And you could look at Jones in general, who ended up with a flattering 47 not out on the scorecard, and who her captain praised as “brilliant” for the fact that she “got us close”. But it was her haphazard game sense that caused so many late problems, including the last.

When the eighth wicket fell with 56 needed, there was only one option: Jones needed to score them herself. She has the array of shots and had 70 balls to spare. But at that point having been stodgy by necessity, an innings of 27 from 71 balls, she could not switch to batting with the No 11, twice failing to keep strike late in the over, once giving it up with a single first ball.

Meanwhile the required rate climbed: six an over, seven, nine, 11. It was the 48th over when luck looked to have broken England’s way, Annabel Sutherland delivering a high no-ball that was flicked fine for four. Jones didn’t punish the free hit, nor another full toss that was also called. The latter call was wrong, below waist height as Jones walked out of her crease and up on her toes when the ball reached her, but Sutherland was pulled from the attack.

So with one ball remaining, a free hit, delivered by Tahlia McGrath who had not bowled all day, the moment was ripe for Jones to make Australia pay. Instead she slammed a pull shot to King at deep square leg, then mystifyingly stood watching a catch that didn’t count. Eighth ball of the over, last ball of the over, and Jones didn’t run, leaving Lauren Bell on strike needing 22 from 12.

Even had Jones thought there was a ball to come, they should have taken that run. Of course, Bell was bowled next ball, completing one of the most remarkable episodes of self-destruction to lose an international match. All of this after England’s spinners had produced a top-grade performance, with Ecclestone’s 4 for 35 and Capsey’s 3 for 22 doing much the same to Australia as King and Gardner later dished out. A collapse of 4 for 7 was chastening, with only Ellyse Perry getting above 30. This Australian team doesn’t have many bad days, and this England team couldn’t make a rare one count.