Australia’s women confirmed their place in life’s list of inevitabilities, not far behind death and taxes, with a resounding seven-wicket win over England to claim their seventh T20 World Cup out of 10.
Set a below-par 151 to reclaim the title they lost to New Zealand two years ago, Sophie Molineux’s side romped home with 17 balls to spare, to end England’s perfect record in home World Cups and extend their trophyless sequence to nine years.
Given the resources the ECB have poured into the women’s game, it is another blot on their increasingly inky copybook.
Worse, England have now failed to beat Australia in a knockout match since the semi-final of the 2009 T20 World Cup, the last time they lifted the trophy.
For all the progress they have made under the coaching of Charlotte Edwards since the Ashes whitewash of 2024-25, they are still miles behind their oldest rivals.
And great though the Australians are, English disappointment here lay as much as in the margin of defeat as in the defeat itself.
Australia celebrating lifting their seventh women’s T20 World Cup crown on Sunday
Australia romped to a seven-wicket victory over England in the women’s T20 World Cup final
England could only set their opponents a below-par 151 to claim victory at Lord’s
England’s only real hope of beating the tournament favourites was to get on the front foot from the start, and stay there. But Amy Jones’s dismal run continued when she skewed Lucy Hamilton to backward point in the second over, before Danni Wyatt-Hodge – having become the first woman to tick off 300 runs at a T20 World Cup – was skilfully caught down the leg side by Beth Mooney off Annabel Sutherland.
On a slow pitch, and against suffocating bowling, strokes in anger were few and far between. Alice Capsey took two fours and a six off Ash Gardner’s first over, and Freya Kemp later let loose with an unbeaten 44 off 28 balls.
But England’s problem was the impossible importance placed on the wicket of Nat Sciver-Brunt, who with Heather Knight had rescued a top-order collapse in the semi-final against South Africa.
Knight went cheaply this time, trapped lbw by Kim Garth’s slower ball, and Sciver-Brunt – perhaps still feeling the after-effects of a calf injury that had needed the intervention of nuclear magnetic resonance therapy to hasten her recovery – was unable to throw off the shackles.
Her unbeaten 58 gave England a sniff, but it also used up 53 balls and left others to do the heavy lifting.
‘We were outplayed today by a classy Australian side,’ said Sciver-Brunt. ‘You saw their experience in a huge final. We were short of a par score on that wicket. It felt tricky to gain momentum with the bat. When the pressure is on, their bowlers hit their mark.’
Lauren Bell struck early, bowling Georgia Voll off the inside edge in the second over, but that was as high as English hopes were allowed to rise.
Beth Mooney hit an accomplished 64 off 49 as the Australians completed a successful chase
By the time the precocious Phoebe Litchfield was bowled by Charlie Dean for a 35-ball 48, she and the experienced Mooney had put on 100 in 11 overs of one-way traffic.
And when Sophie Ecclestone overturned an lbw shout to get rid of Mooney for an accomplished 64 off 49, Australia needed only 11 more. A late controversy over whether Ecclestone had caught Ellyse Perry low down at mid-off was as dramatic as things got as the Australians completed the highest successful chase in a women’s T20 World Cup final.
The pity was that a packed Lord’s crowd, including a busy pavilion after MCC chief executive Rob Lawson’s plea to members to fill their seats, did not get the final that might have given this competition the last-gasp boost it needed.
It had started with the Ben Stokes saga in full swing, and only a day after the opening game in the football World Cup, and has been unable to emerge properly from the shadow of either.
An England win would have made up for all that but, not for the first time, they came up against one of the most formidable teams in any sport.
