England vs South Africa women's T20: Big-hitter Lauren Winfield helps England to a T20 clean sweep

England 126-6 (20 overs) beat South Africa 118-6 (20 overs) by eight runs

Lauren Winfield on her way to a decisive 74 for England at Edgbaston on Sunday (GETTY IMAGES)

Lauren Winfield struck the only six by an England woman this summer as they completed a 3-0 Twenty20 series whitewash over South Africa at Edgbaston on Sunday.

South Africa improved on their performance in the one-sided matches at Chelmsford and Northampton but overhauling England’s 126 for 6 proved beyond them.

After putting on 59 in 10.2 overs before losing a wicket, they were in touch with the required rate throughout and had a chance going into the last five overs at two wickets down with 45 needed.

But England were excellent in the field throughout.Natalie Sciver ran out Trisha Chetty for 34 with a direct hit from the boundary before Lydia Greenway took a superb catch at deep midwicket to account for the South Africa captain Mignon du Preez as two wickets fell in consecutive balls in the 16th over.

Greenway then combined superbly with wicketkeeper Sarah Taylor to run out Marizanne Kapp in the 17th.

Bernadine Bezuidenhout hit boundaries off the first two balls of the penultimate over but was stumped off the final delivery thanks to more smart work by Taylor, after which Jenny Gunn conceded only four runs from the final over, from which the tourists needed 13.

The 24-year-old Winfield, from York, hit 74 off 60 balls, choosing just the right moment to register her first half-century and highest score for England in any format after the early loss of captain Charlotte Edwards for four. Her powerful striking brought her nine fours and a six cracked over the midwicket boundary off left-arm seam bowler Chloe Tryon.

Edwards was out for the first time in the series when she was caught at mid-on off a leading edge, having scored 62 and 75 not out in the first two matches.

England thus rounded off their international summer with their fifth consecutive limited-overs victory, although captain Edwards feels there is still plenty of room for improvement.

“The players have come back well from the loss of the Test match against India but we need to be more ruthless in this format and we have a lot of work to do to get where we want to be for the Twenty20 World Cup in 2016,” she said.