Ah, these Australian women!

How on earth a team could be this so good. Even in transition, apparently.

Sophie Molineux and her women lifted the Women’s T20 World Cup on a gloriously sunny Sunday (July 5, 2026) afternoon. Expectedly. In style. With yet another dominant show.

They crushed England by seven wickets with 2.5 overs to spare. England’s 150 for four, after being asked to bat first, was never going to be enough against the strong and incredibly deep Australian batting line-up.

A full house, mostly made up of English fans, had come to watch the final at Lord’s. All their loud cheers and all their prayers, could not stop the Australians from winning their seventh title in the tournament, of which this is only the 10th edition.

Opener Beth Mooney led Australia’s with a superb knock (64, 49b, 10×4). She showed her class and experience, refusing England to really come back into the match. It was a well-composed innings, doing precisely what is required in chase like this, in a match like this.

It was her second-wicket stand of 100 off 67 balls with Phoebe Litchfield (48, 35b, 6×4, 2×6) that virtually shut the door on England. The host may have felt it had a chance when opener Georgia Voll played on against Lauren Bell. The seamer clenched her fists in delight. The crowd roared.

It didn’t take Mooney and Litchfield long to silence them. By the time Litchfield fell, bowled by Charlie Dean, Australia was not far from home: only 34 runs were required.

Mooney was trapped in front by Sophie Ecclestone, but it was too late.

Earlier, it took the England captain Nat Sciver-Brunt to get the team out of serious trouble. She remained unbeaten 58 (53b, 5×4). Her unbroken fifth-wicket partnership of 80 with Freya Kemp (44 n.o., 28b, 4×4, 1×6) gave the team a competitive total.

Just two days after playing that semifinal-winning knock against South Africa, Sciver-Brunt had to walk out to the middle in just the second over after opener Amy Jones failed yet again. The England wicketkeeper has had a dismal time with the bat after scoring 53 in the opening match against Sri Lanka.

Jones fell to a sharp, low catch at backward point by Voll off Lucy Hamilton’s second ball. Her opening partner Danni Wyatt-Hodge was in awesome in the group stage, but had failed in the semifinal.

And she disappointed again. She was beautifully caught behind the stumps by a diving Mooney. It had taken a review by Australia to get that wicket though; the umpire had called that ball from Annabel Sutherland a wide, but the replays revealed Wyatt-Hodge had gloved it.

Alice Capsey was determined to support her captain and the duo tried to rebuild the innings. The two were cautious to begin, but the younger partner gave England a much-needed boost when she went after Ashleigh Gardner, hitting her for two fours and a six – the first of the innings – as 16 came off the ninth over.

That helped, but it would not prove enough.

The scores: England 150/4 in 20 overs (Sciver-Brunt 58 n.o., Kemp 44 n.o.) lost to Australia 153/3 in 17.1 overs (Mooney 64, Litchfield 48). 
Toss: Australia.

Player-of-the-Match & Player-of-the-Series: Mooney.

There are talks now here in England of a 1976 style summer. It was so hot, riverbeds and taps dried up.

There is a heatwave now, too, with warnings of extreme heat. All that didn’t stop the Women in Blue from sweating out for hours at Old Trafford on Tuesday.

Smriti Mandhana played more of her pleasing shots, than the ungainly one that cost her — and India — dear against South Africa on the very ground on Sunday. The bowlers attempted to hit the stumps, and succeeded.

They should be able to do more in the upcoming matches, which India cannot afford to lose. After that disappointing defeat to the Proteas, Harmanpreet Kaur’s women are not in an enviable position when it comes to clinching a place in the semifinals from the Group of Death.

Australia, which has played some expectedly dominant cricket, is almost there. The South Africans, after scoring what was their fifth win in the last six T20Is against India, should be less nervous than India, as they have already played — and lost to — Australia and have lesser weights as opponents in the group stage. The Indians, on the other hand, will play Australia in the last league match.

But, before that, they have to think about the match against Bangladesh here on Thursday.

And there are areas of concern. Like the middle-order, for instance.

Smriti and Shafali Verma have given good starts. Even against South Africa, they were shaping up nicely, until Smriti played that forgettable shot against Marizanne Kapp.

Down the order, Richa Ghosh continues to be one of the most feared batters. She has handled the pressure of being the only finisher rather well.

But, the space between the openers and Richa is not a very happy one. The likes of Jemimah Rodrigues and the captain herself have to bat a bit deeper. Given the fact that this Indian side doesn’t have as many quality all-rounders like Australia, the middle-order needs to do more.

When it comes to bowling, Shree Charani needs more support, especially after the unfortunate injury to Shreyanka Patil.

India lost Shafali Verma and Jemimah Rodrigues to stutter to 30 for 2 at the end of the fifth over in their opening Women’s T20 World Cup encounter against arch-rivals Pakistan in Birmingham on Sunday (June 14, 2026).

Verma (6) hit a six off left-arm spinner Sadia Iqbal but the bowler had the last word as she fired one on leg and middle line to cramp the batter who edged it to keeper Muneeba Ali.

Jemimah’s short stay (1) was a struggle and she was out trying to loft left-arm seamer Tasmia Rubab but only managing a skier which was taken by Natalia Pervaiz on second attempt.

However, Smriti Mandhana looked in good touch reaching 20 by the end of the fifth over.

India skipper Harmanpreet Kaur won the toss and elected to bat against Pakistan in their Women’s T20 World Cup opener.

Both the captains — Harmanpreet and her Pakistan counterpart Fatima Sana — expectedly did not shake hands at the toss.

India have included Bharti Fulmali in the eleven for the match.

Teams:

India: Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet Kaur, Bharti Fulmali, Richa Ghosh (wk), Deepti Sharma, Arundhati Reddy, Kranti Gaud, Shree Charani, Shreyanka Patil

Pakistan: Gull Feroza, Muneeba Ali(w), Ayesha Zafar, Saira Jabeen, Aliya Riaz, Natalia Pervaiz, Fatima Sana(c), Rameen Shamim, Nashra Sandhu, Tasmia Rubab, Sadia Iqbal.

Some images linger.

Like Kapil Dev holding the World Cup aloft at the Lord’s balcony in 1983. Like Harmanpreet Kaur teasing her teammates before letting them touch the trophy after the Women’s World Cup final at Mumbai’s D.Y. Patil Stadium last November.

‘Kapil’s Devils’ paved the way for an eventual Indian takeover of the global cricket economy, apart from making the country a superpower on the ground. Harmanpreet’s brave women have given India’s aspiring young female cricketers a moment to cherish, a right to dream.

How Harmanpreet would love to emulate Kapil: win a World Cup at cricket’s most iconic venue. She is unlikely to be satisfied with anything less than that this English summer. India is one of the favourites at the ICC T20 Women’s World Cup starting at Birmingham on Friday.

India cannot afford to look far into the tournament at the moment, though. For, they are in the Group of Death, along with Australia and South Africa. Remember, only two teams can advance to the semifinals.

The Women in Blue may have lost their last two T20I series, in South Africa and England, but not so long ago, they had triumphed in Australia and crushed Sri Lanka 5-0. No one will doubt their class, especially in batting.

India, in fact, will need those batters, especially at the top of the order, to get going, play big shots, and come up with significant scores. The team isn’t blessed with the sharpest or the most experienced of bowling attacks in the competition.

Neither it could claim to have a large number of all-rounders, notwithstanding the redoubtable Deepti Sharma. How India misses the chirpy, smiling, wisecracking Amanjot Kaur, who played an important role in India’s World Cup win. The superstar-studded Indian batting is more than capable of making enough runs so that the team doesn’t depend too much on the lower order. Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma are among the most feared pair of openers in the game.

Smriti may not be going into the World Cup in perfect form, but her experience and success in England should come in handy. She has sparkled at The Hundred and last year scored a 62-ball 112 against England, her first T20I century.

Like Smriti, Jemimah Rodrigues also is familiar with English conditions and she should want to replicate her heroics at the ODI World Cup for India. Harmanpreet can win you matches from difficult situations, while the return from injury of the elegant Yaskita Bhatia is good news — she impressed in the three-match series against England — but the team needs Richa Ghosh to deliver in the death overs.

When it comes to bowling, Renuka Singh should relish the English conditions. Kranti Goud can cause trouble with her pace, while Nandni Sharma looks extremely promising, with her wicket-taking abilities. Shree Charani, who has taken little time to make an impact on the global stage, Shreyanka Patil and Radha Yadav are among the spin options. And, of course, there is the golden arm of Shafali.

Four Indian officials, including match referee G.S. Lakshmi, have been named in the 18-strong all-female list of ICC match officials who will supervise the Women’s T20 World Cup beginning June 12 in England and Wales.

It will be the third straight edition of the showpiece that will feature an all-woman panel, with Candace La Borde, Gayathri Venugopalan, Kerrin Klaaste and Shathira Jakir Jesy slated to make their tournament debut.

Vrinda Rathi and Janani N. are the other two Indians in the umpires’ list.

“This panel of match officials for the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2026 reflects the ICC’s commitment to expanding the scope of representation to all facets of the sport,” ICC CEO Sanjog Gupta said in a press release.

“The ICC takes into consideration a comprehensive, holistic, and evidence-based account while assessing its sports officials and their decision-making performance,” he added.

There are 14 umpires and four match referees who will be used across the 33 fixtures at the World Cup, with nine members of the match officials’ team from the 2024 edition returning for the upcoming event.

Australian official Claire Polosak is the most experienced as she gets ready for her sixth appearance at the tournament having umpired 22 matches previously, while Jacquline Williams and Kim Cotton, who have overseen 19 matches each on this stage, will reach the milestone of five T20 World Cups in England and Wales.

The match referees feature three returning officials — Shandrr Fritz, Lakshmi and Michell Pereira — who were also part of the 2024 edition. The group of four referees will be completed by Trudy Anderson from New Zealand.

India will open their World Cup campaign against Pakistan on June 14.

Panel of Match Officials:

Umpires: Lauren Agenbag, Kim Cotton, Anna Harris, Shathira Jakir Jesy, Kerrin Klaaste, Candace La Borde, Janani N., Nimali Perera, Claire Polosak, Vrinda Rathi, Suzanne Redfern, Eloise Sheridan, Jacquline Williams, Gayathri Venugopalan

Match Referees: Trudy Anderson, Shandré Fritz, GS Lakshmi, Michell Pereira.