The Aussies have been on a roll.
| Photo Credit: Getty Images
London is cooling down.
You don’t find, at the moment, people travelling with their small, portable fans, or even one of those hand fans that Jane Austen’s heroines from the Regency England would carry to the balls.
The form of the Australian team is only getting hotter at the T20 Women’s World Cup, though. After scoring a comfortable six-wicket win in their last league match against India, the Aussies are all ready for their next opponent.
The West Indies’ route to the knockouts hardly resembles Australia’s. While Australia beat South Africa (by 65 runs), Bangladesh (nine wickets), the Netherlands (98 runs) and Pakistan (113 runs) before facing its strongest rival India, the Caribbeans just scraped through to the semifinal, to be played at the Oval on Tuesday.
Hayley Matthews’ women, in fact, suffered a shock loss in their last match, to Ireland. And that was right after going down to host England. And they haven’t done that well against Australia in the recent bilateral meetings as well. They lost all the three ODIs and as many T20Is when they hosted the mighty Aussies just three months away.
So, the West Indies has nothing to lose. A point Matthews tried to drive home at the press conference on the eve of the semifinal.
She also spoke of how the big guns in the team, like Deandra Dottin, Stafanie Taylor and herself, haven’t fired yet. There hasn’t been even a fifty from them. There cannot be a better platform than this to help their team.
For the Australians, stars big and not so big, have all been delivering. With the kind of talent at their disposal, they are easily the most intimidating side in women’s cricket.
That they haven’t won an ICC World Cup, in any format, for three years should motivate them further.
Published – June 29, 2026 10:30 pm IST
