After four T20 World Cups spent terrorising bowling attacks alongside Alyssa Healy, Beth Mooney is backing her new partner-in-crime to carry on the tradition.
Georgia Voll will head into her first T20 World Cup as the world’s top-ranked T20I batter – having knocked off second-ranked Mooney to claim the spot in April – just 12 matches into her career in the shortest format.
The 22-year-old Queenslander joined Mooney at the top of the order on a temporary basis in early 2025 in place of an injured Healy, and the role became permanent when the former Australia captain announced her retirement in January.
From those dozen appearances, Voll is averaging 39.5 in the format at a strike-rate of 156.43, with those numbers enough to see her rise from uncapped international to the world’s top-ranked T20 batter faster than any other player in almost two decades.
“This first her first T20 World Cup, she’s put a marker out there to other teams with the way she’s been playing her cricket in the past 12 to 18 months, so really excited to see her take her opportunity at the top of the order,” Mooney said of Voll in Cardiff on Saturday.
“She’s played a lot of cricket before she made her debut for Australia … she played for Queensland and Brisbane at a pretty young age, so I think that’s given her a lot of confidence going into international cricket, and she’s got real clarity on her game and her role as well.
“She’s a real talent, she hits the ball nice and hard, she picks up length really well, so she’ll be a real threat for us, for sure.”
Australia’s T20 World Cup wins in 2018 and 2020 were headlined by the success of Mooney and Healy, who scored more runs than any other opening partnership at both tournaments, while they were second only to South Africa’s Laura Wolvaardt and Tazmin Brits when the Aussies made it a three-peat in 2023.
Overall, Mooney and Healy averaged 50.66 together across four T20 World Cups as an opening pair, producing three century stands and four fifty-run partnerships across 19 matches.
None of those were more famous than their 115-run stand in the 2020 World Cup final in front of 86,174 fans at the MCG.
“For me personally, walking out with someone different in a T20 World Cup is going to be a little bit weird, but fortunately, ‘Volly’ and I have a pretty cool relationship as well,” Mooney said.
“Hopefully we can replicate some of the cool things that ‘Midge’ (Healy) and I did at the top of the order in T20 World Cups and create our own story there … open the batting for Australia in big games, and have a lot of fun doing it.
“We’ve got a pretty cool relationship, just like I had with Midge.
“It’s a little bit bittersweet, and Midge had been part of the furniture of Australian cricket for a long time, (but) it’s really exciting to see the direction this team’s going and hopefully we can come home with a T20 World Cup trophy.”
Mooney meanwhile has made a promising start to her UK campaign, hitting 40, 37no and 25 across the three warm-up matches against South Africa in Arundel last week.
The 32-year-old was the clear standout with the bat across two completed matches, which were split 1-1 with the second washed out after eight overs.
“For me it’s just been about transitioning from the nets into the game and getting back into the contest a little bit more,” Mooney said.
“There’s only so much you can learn in the nets.
“It’s nice to be back out in the middle and problem solving as the games have gone on and implementing some of the stuff I’ve been working on at training.
“South Africa are a tough opponent, and they’ve come a long way in the last couple of years in international cricket, so we know that first game is going to be really important for us.”
The Australia squad arrived in Cardiff on Friday but were restricted to training indoors at Sophia Gardens on Saturday as heavy rain lashed the Welsh capital.
They’ll have a second nets session at the ground on Sunday – minus captain Sophie Molineux, who will be in London for the tournament’s ‘Captain’s Day’ extravaganza that will see Waterloo Bridge closed to traffic for a World Cup festival – ahead of Monday’s warm-up match against England.
ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2026
Australia squad: Sophie Molineux (c), Ashleigh Gardner (vc), Tahlia McGrath (vc), Nicola Carey, Kim Garth, Lucy Hamilton, Grace Harris, Alana King, Phoebe Litchfield, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Voll, Georgia Wareham. Travelling reserve: Tahlia Wilson
ICC World Cup warm-up matches
June 9: v England, Sophia Gardens, Cardiff, 12am AEST
June 11: v West Indies, Sophia Gardens, Cardiff, 12am AEST
Australia’s Group 1 fixtures
June 13: v South Africa, Old Trafford, Manchester, 11:30pm AEST
June 17: v Bangladesh, Headingley, Leeds, 7:30pm AEST
June 20: v Netherlands, Rose Bowl, Hampshire, 7:30pm AEST
June 24: v Pakistan, Headingley, Leeds, 3:30am AEST
June 28: v India, Lord’s, London, 11:30pm AEST
Semi-final 1: The Oval, London, June 30, 11:30pm AEST
Semi-final 2: The Oval, London, July 2 (3:30am July 3 AEST)
Final: Lord’s, London, July 5, 11:30pm AEST
Click here for the full tournament schedule
All matches will be broadcast on Amazon’s Prime Video
