Women's T20 World Cup 2026, AUS-W vs NL-W 14th Match, Group 1 Match Report, June 20, 2026

Australia 219 for 9 (Mooney 74 retired hurt, Gardner 58, Zwillling 3-52) beat Netherlands 121 for 3 (de Leede 56*, Kalis 44, Garth 2-20) by 98 runs

Mooney retired hurt after making 74 from 42 in Australia’s 219 for 6, which equalled England’s tournament record set in the opening match of this edition and set up a 98-run win. Ashleigh Gardner made 58 from 32 on return from injury and Georgia Wareham thumped 41 from 18. Mooney’s issue is understood not to be serious with her decision to retire hurt suggested to be cautionary, but it meant she was unable to keep wicket as the only specialist keeper selected in Australia’s 15-player squad. Australia’s notional reserve, Phoebe Litchfield, was also out injured which meant Georgia Voll had to keep for the first time in her professional T20 career.

Voll took a nice catch as Kim Garth took two early wickets to rock Netherlands chase. Skipper Babette de Leede, in her 100th T20I, and Sterre Kalis dug in to the best of their ability. They were never able to keep up with the rate but Kalis hit Netherlands’ first six of the tournament. De Leede made an unbeaten 56 from 57 and shared in a 96-run stand with Kalis, the equal fourth-highest against Australia in tournament history. Australia bowled tidily but only took three wickets and spilled two difficult chances.

The win puts Australia one step closer to a semi-final berth with just two games to go in group one against Pakistan and India.

The gulf in class was evident from the opening overs as Mooney and Voll hardly took a risk to race to 50 in 4.3 overs. Mooney farmed the strike and did little more than pick off loose balls without feeling any pressure to go aerial. Voll tried a different approach and paid a price, skewing Iris Zwilling to backward point while trying to clear long-on. Ellyse Perry, playing a record 50th T20 World Cup match, fell just three balls later, inexplicably sending a long-hop from Heather Siegers straight down the throat of the only fielder patrolling the rope on the leg side at deep midwicket. Gardner made no such mistakes in the first half of her innings, lofting beautifully over mid-off several times and deftly scooping fine when the field was changed. She did get one reprieve though when she spooned Frederique Overdijk to backward point only for Phebe Molkenboer to spill her first of two sitters in the innings. The second would come in the penultimate over off Annabel Sutherland’s bat. The drop of Gardner proved costly as she raced to 50 off 28 balls after Mooney had reached hers in 30 with records looking set to tumble.

Mooney’s back stiffens, Wareham’s allround worth shows again

With just 26 needed for a century, Mooney’s back tightened while running on the last ball of the 14th over and she headed straight off the field for assessment. Two balls later Gardner picked out deep midwicket in the same manner Perry had done earlier to stall Australia’s momentum. But Wareham grabbed the reins and immediately slipped it back into fifth gear, clubbing eight boundaries in 18 balls. She had a slice of luck with two outside edges off Isabel van der Woning finding the deep third rope. But once she found her groove she showed equal skill going inside over cover and stepping across her stumps to pull leg side. Her innings stood out as Nicola Carey, Annabel Sutherland, Sophie Molineux and Alana King only managed to find the rope twice between them in a combined 15 balls at the end of the innings. Zwilling got some reward picking up Wareham and Molineux to finish with three for the innings.

Garth shines in the gloom

Garth picked up right where she left off against Bangladesh with another new ball masterclass. A textbook outswinger found Molkenboer’s outside edge in the second over. A good length inducker trapped Heather Siegers plumb infront. The opener took a review with her having been lucky to survive an umpire’s call in her favour against Molineux in the previous over. Garth took 2 for 18 from three powerplay overs and it left Netherlands 28 for 2 after six overs with any hope of a freak victory seeming incredibly unlikely.

De Leede and Kalis show fight

As the required rate climbed towards 15, Kalis produced a stunning strike off King. The legspinner tossed her second ball up and Kalis launched her 80 metres over mid-off to indicate that, potentially with more exposure, Netherlands could match it with the world’s best. Kalis and de Leede struggled for fluency against Australia’s frugal attack. But they hung in with some luck. Kalis was dropped twice, firstly by King off Sutherland, a difficult dive full stretch to her left at mid-on, and later by Sutherland diving to her right off Lucy Hamilton in the same spot. The 19-year-old deserved more reward having bowled well in her first T20 World Cup game after replacing Megan Schutt in the XI. De Leede reached 50 off 47 balls to huge applause from the Dutch fans. Kalis fell in the final over trying to clear the rope for her own half-century.

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