Having shrugged off their World Cup semi-final “curse” in brutal fashion to end a three-year drought, Ashleigh Gardner says Australia are playing the “best cricket they have in a long time” ahead of Sunday’s final at Lord’s.
Australia’s back-to-back semi-final exits in Dubai at the 2024 T20 World Cup and Mumbai at the 50-over equivalent a year later were a distant memory at The Oval on Tuesday, with Sophie Molineux’s team steamrolling the Windies by eight wickets.
Now, Australia’s women have a four-day lead-in to what will be their first World Cup final at Lord’s, having previously missed out on the decider when the iconic ground hosted finals in 1993, 2009 and 2017.
“It’s been pretty frustrating the way that we’ve ended our campaigns over the last couple of World Cups,” allrounder Ashleigh Gardner said after their dominant semi-final victory over West Indies.
“To get rid of that semi-final curse and now walk into Sunday really confident as a team is super pleasing.
“I felt like this is the best cricket that we’ve played in a very long time.”
Australia’s most recent appearance in a decider was in Cape Town when they lifted the 2023 T20 World Cup.
The majority of the Australians are no strangers to finals, having also won the 2018 and 2020 T20 titles, as well as the 2022 ODI World Cup.
Of their 15 squad members, only Phoebe Litchfield, Georgia Voll and Lucy Hamilton will be involved in a final for the first time.
On Sunday, they’ll be playing either South Africa, who have finished runners-up at the last three ICC senior women’s tournaments across both white-ball formats, or England, whose last appearance in a final was when they lost to Australia at the 2022 ODI World Cup in New Zealand.
“At this point of the tournament, the teams that get here really deserve to be in the position they’re in (but) sometimes the teams that get overawed by the occasion potentially don’t come out on top,” Gardner said.
“I feel like the advantage that we do have in some regard is that we’ve played in a lot of finals, we’ve got a core group that’s played in a lot of finals as well, so making sure that we can tap into that (will be important).
“But both teams are going to be on a level playing field when we get out there on Sunday, whoever it is, so I guess it’s whoever handles that pressure the best, and then just lives up to the big moments.”
Gardner pointed to Australia’s even spread of contributors across the group stage and semi-final as one of their biggest advantages.
No Australian sits atop the of runs or wickets tallies, with the bulk of the wickets split between skipper Sophie Molineux (10), leg-spinner Georgia Wareham (7), Kim Garth (5) and Annabel Sutherland (5).
Ellyse Perry is Australia’s leading run-scorer with 185 including two half-centuries, followed by Beth Mooney (174 with two fifties) and Gardner (147, also with two).
Gardner put that spread down to Australia’s pre-tournament commitment to playing ‘brave’ cricket, saying being timid had cost them at the last two global tournaments.
“We’re not relying on one or two people, so it’s almost like in those big moments, different people are standing up, which is amazing to be a part of (because) everyone’s playing their role when they’re called on,” Gardner said.
“T20 cricket is so fickle, and I think the most pleasing thing is we’ve created this environment, and everyone’s bought into it.
“We’ve got different ways that we want to operate with bat, ball and in the field, and it’s really buying into that, and everyone’s got their individual ways that they want to operate in that.
“It’s just taking the brave option and being able to do that, which potentially in the past we’ve been a little bit timid at times, and to think about those semi-finals, we just didn’t win those small moments, and ultimately that’s what cost us the game.
“Today to go the way that it did, we knew the West Indies were going to throw different things at us, they pose a different threat, but for us it was really cool the way that we finished it off.”
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 beat West Indies by eight wickets
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
