Women's T20 World Cup 2026, AUS-W vs PAK-W 21st Match, Group 1 Match Preview

Who’s playing whom

New Zealand face Scotland in the first of the three games on Tuesday, starting at 10.30am local time (9.30am GMT), in Bristol. Both teams have two points from three matches and are meeting for the first time in international cricket. While Scotland have lost their last two games after winning their opener, New Zealand – currently third behind England and West Indies – bounced back from two defeats to keep their slim semi-final hopes alive. It’s a must-win encounter for the defending champions as another loss would all but end their campaign.

In the second game, which starts at 2.30pm local time (1.30pm GMT), winless Ireland meet Sri Lanka, who are placed fifth in the six-team Group 2. Although Sri Lanka are coming off a heavy defeat to West Indies, they may still start as favourites against Ireland, who are at the bottom of the table. Sri Lanka have won four of the five previous meetings between the sides. However, in their most recent encounter in 2024, captain Gaby Lewis’ century helped Ireland secure a memorable win.

High-flying Australia take on Pakistan, who have already been eliminated from the tournament, in the third game of the day, from 6.30pm local time (5.30pm GMT). Australia have won all three of their matches so far, while Pakistan are yet to register a victory. The head-to-head record is heavily one-sided, with Australia winning 14 of the 16 T20Is played between the teams.

Team news and likely XIs

Sophie Devine missed the clash against Ireland due to illness, with New Zealand bringing in Suzie Bates for the first time in the tournament. If Devine is fit, Bates could make way again.

New Zealand (probable): 1 Georgia Plimmer, 2 Izzy Gaze (wk), 3 Melie Kerr (capt), 4 Brooke Halliday, 5 Maddy Green, 6 Izzy Sharp, 7 Suzie Bates, 8 Jess Kerr, 9 Nensi Patel, 10 Rosemary Mair, 11 Bree Illing

Scotland were forced to make changes against England, with Ailsa Lister and Rachel Slater sidelined by injuries. Pippa Sproul and Hannah Rainey came into the XIs as replacements.

Scotland (probable): 1 Darcey Carter, 2 Katherine Fraser, 3 Kathryn Bryce (capt), 4 Sarah Bryce (wk), 5 Megan McColl, 6 Priyanaz Chatterji, 7 Pippa Sproul, 8 Kirstie Gordon, 9 Chloe Abel, 10 Hannah Rainey/Rachel Slater, 11 Gabriella Fontenla

Sri Lanka could stick with the same side, with top-order batter Imesha Dulani, who replaced Hasini Perera, likely to retain her place.

Sri Lanka (probable): 1 Vishmi Gunaratne, 2 Chamari Athapaththu, 3 Imesha Dulan, 4 Harshitha Samarawickrama, 5 Kaveesha Dilhari, 6 Nilakshika de Silva, 7 Kaushini Nuthyangana, 8 Kawya Kavindi, 9 Sugandika Dasanayaka, 10 Nimasha Meepage, 11 Mithali Ayodhya

Ireland made one change for the match against New Zealand, bringing in Lara McBride for Alana Dalzell after the latter’s poor start to the tournament.

Ireland (probable): 1 Amy Hunter (wk), 2 Gaby Lewis (capt), 3 Orla Prendergast, 4 Rebecca Stokell, 5 Leah Paul, 6 Alice Tector, 7 Louise Little, 8 Arlene Kelly, 9 Aimee Maguire, 10 Cara Murray, 11 Lara McBride

Lucy Hamilton made her T20 World Cup debut against Netherlands and returned 0 for 13 from her four overs. She is likely to retain her place. Australia will also hope Beth Mooney, who retired hurt with back stiffness against Netherlands – later describing it as a precautionary measure – is fit to play. Phoebe Litchfield remains unavailable because of a quad injury, with the head coach Shelley Nitschke saying, “Potentially not Pakistan, but we’re hopeful we’ll see her for the India game”.

Australia (probable): 1 Beth Mooney (wk), 2 Georgia Voll, 3 Ellyse Perry, 4 Ash Gardner, 5 Georgia Wareham, 6 Nicola Carey, 7 Annabel Sutherland, 8 Sophie Molineux (capt), 9 Kim Garth, 10 Alana King, 11 Lucy Hamilton

Pakistan made two changes against Bangladesh, recalling left-arm seamer Tasmia Rubab and middle-order batter Saira Jabeen.

Pakistan (probable): 1 Gull Feroza, 2 Muneeba Ali (wk), 3 Ayesha Zafar, 4 Iram Javed, 5 Saira Jabeen, 6 Aliya Riaz, 7 Fatima Sana (Capt), 8 Tuba Hasan, 9 Tasmia Rubab, 10 Nashra Sandhu, 11 Sadia Iqbal

Players to watch

Jess Kerr came into the World Cup on the back of impressive form – 14 wickets in 11 innings this year – but she is yet to make a mark in the tournament. New Zealand’s bowling attack has struggled collectively, with their bowlers taking only nine wickets in three matches – the fewest by any team. In their must-win clash, New Zealand will want the seamer to rediscover her form, as she has gone wicketless in the last two matches.

Sarah Bryce has been one of Scotland’s key batters in the middle order. After falling one short of a half-century against Ireland, she added scores of 4 and 34 against West Indies and England respectively. She will be keen to turn another start into a substantial score and register her first fifty of this World Cup.

Sri Lanka captain Chamari Athapaththu has managed just 33 runs from three matches. After Sri Lanka’s defeat to West Indies in Bristol, she said she felt like a “failure as a captain”. Playing in her 10th T20 World Cup, Athapaththu will be keen to do what she does best – score big runs and help lift her team’s spirits.

Gaby Lewis found some form against New Zealand, scoring 58 after scores of 11 and 0 in her first two innings. Ireland’s batting is reliant on the top order and they will hope Lewis can carry that form into the match against Sri Lanka, with support from Orla Prendergast.

Australia allrounder Georgia Wareham has flown under the radar. She scored 32 and picked up three wickets against South Africa before smashing a quickfire 41 against Netherlands. She has also bowled at an economy rate of 4.65, the best among Australian bowlers to have bowled at least three overs in the tournament.

Sadia Iqbal has been Pakistan’s reliable bowler for the past few years. Since the start of 2024, she has 49 wickets at an economy rate of 6.21 – the most by a Pakistan bowler during this period – and has also bowled the most overs for the team. Five out of her 16 wickets this year have come in this tournament, and with Pakistan still searching for their first win, she may need to step up again alongside Fatima Sana.

Pitch and conditions

Bristol has hosted only one match in the tournament so far, where Sri Lanka were bowled out for 98 against West Indies on Sunday. West Indies fielded four spinners, who combined to take seven wickets. Spin could once again play a significant role on Tuesday. It’s expected to be sunny, with temperatures reaching 33 degrees Celsius during the day.

The Australia-Pakistan fixture will be the final match of the tournament at Leeds, where partly sunny conditions are expected. Two of the four matches at this venue have seen teams breach the 200-mark. If overcast conditions develop, seamers could find assistance from the surface.

Quotes

“Momentum is really important in T20 cricket. Call it momentum, call it confidence. I think once you get your team with some confidence, then it’s a really good place to be.”

Shelley Nitschke, Australia coach, on their three wins

“You see a proper team culture when you lose games and there’s a different morale in the team. When you’re winning everyone’s happy, but it’s how you come together when you’re losing and it’s not going well for you and as a team we’ve been really good. We’ve stayed close. We know that we’re, as a unit, a pretty tight team. The experience of the older ones has really helped as well. Obviously, they’ve had a few World Cups, and not every World Cup’s the same. You can go from winning a World Cup last year to having a disappointing start.”

Izzy Sharp on NZ’s uphill climb

“New Zealand again are ranked above us. We can’t take them lightly. They’ve probably had some close games in this tournament so far, and we will be eyeing up to compete and hopefully win that game. Same with Sri Lanka. We have the potential to win the final two games in this group stage, and for us, the higher we can finish, the better, especially with qualification for the next World Cup coming up as well.”

Megan McColl on Scotland’s ambitions

“We would have liked a couple of lead-in games that weren’t quite as tough, but we knew that, and we knew we had to win one of our first two games, England and New Zealand. We were quite confident we could match it up with West Indies. So we achieved that (against New Zealand), and then we failed today (against West Indies) really badly.”

Jamie Siddons on where SL see themselves

“Even though we are eliminated, we are still in the competition; we have two matches left, so we will try to execute our plans, especially batting properly in those two matches and trying to rectify the mistakes we have been making in the last three games.”

Pakistan captain Muneeba Ali

Srinidhi Ramanujam is a sub-editor with Cricinfo

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