With their semi-final date with the Windies locked in for Tuesday, the Aussies are headed south of the Thames to reacquaint themselves with The Oval
Australia will need to quickly shake off the high of their record-breaking win over India at Lord’s as their attention switches to Tuesday’s T20 World Cup semi-final showdown against the West Indies.
The knockout game at The Oval will begin less than 48 hours after Georgia Wareham struck the winning runs at Lord’s on Sunday to put the final nail in India’s tournament, with the knockout game to be played in the 2:30pm afternoon timeslot that had originally been deemed most suitable for a primetime subcontinent television audience, had India qualified.
It’s a quick turnaround that will also see Australia decamp from their current north London lodgings to fresh accommodation closer to the Thames, ahead of their sole training session at The Oval on Monday afternoon.
If they win and lock in a spot in the final, they would then return to the north, with a four-day gap between games ahead of Sunday’s final at Lord’s, against the winner of Thursday night’s second semi-final between England and South Africa.
The Windies will have had a marginally longer break between games but no extra time to prepare, having spent Sunday travelling from Bristol to London after an anxious wait on Saturday night as they waited to learn whether or not they would advance in the tournament.
Australia last visited The Oval in mid-2023, suffering a three-run T20I loss to England during the multi-format Ashes, and Monday’s session will be a chance to reacquaint themselves with the ground.
“We play on Tuesday, so we’ve got one day (to prepare) … the benefit for us is we’ve played West Indies quite recently, and in a warm-up match before this,” Ashleigh Gardner told cricket.com.au following Sunday’s game.
“It’s going to be a pretty huge 24 hours, so wrapping our heads around what’s going to be a massive occasion, and just being really excited for the opportunity, because it’s so cool.”
Australia and West Indies are familiar foes, having met in six white-ball matches in the Caribbean across March and April, followed by a pre-tournament warm-up game in Cardiff in early June.
The Aussies won all seven those matches comfortably and will undoubtedly retain favourites’ status for the semi-final, having rolled through the group stage unbeaten.
The Windies meanwhile scraped their way into the semi-finals, initially squandering a chance to qualify on Saturday when they suffered an upset loss to Ireland, before New Zealand’s defeat to England ensured they would hold on to second spot in group two.
But with a line-up possessing the talents of one of the world’s best allrounders in Hayley Matthews, backed by the experience of Deandra Dottin and Stafanie Taylor, Ellyse Perry on Sunday declared there was no danger Australia would take their rivals lightly.
Australia’s recent World Cup semi-final disappointments also serve as a reminder that anything can happen in a knockout game: in 2024, South Africa condemned the Aussies to an upset T20 World Cup semi-final loss, and last October, Jemimah Rodrigues led India to a world-record chase in the ODI World Cup semis in Mumbai.
“We’ve played each other quite a lot in the last couple of months … so we’re quite familiar with each other at the moment,” Perry said.
“In World Cups, particularly semi-finals, there’s absolutely no favourites, there’s no foregone conclusions with results.
“They’ve got some tremendously talented and dangerous players with a lot of experience, so it will be a great challenge for us.”
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
Australia’s Group 1 fixtures
June 13: beat South Africa by 65 runs
June 17: beat Bangladesh by nine wickets
June 20: beat Netherlands by 98 runs
June 24: beat Pakistan by 113 runs
June 28: beat India by six wickets
Semi-final 1: Australia v West Indies, The Oval, London, June 30, 11:30pm AEST
Semi-final 2: England v South Africa, The Oval, London, July 2 (3:30am July 3 AEST)
Final: Lord’s, London, July 5 (12:30am July 6 AEST)
Click here for the full tournament schedule
All matches will be broadcast on Amazon’s Prime Video
