Two stars down, Australia still look the team to beat at the Women’s T20 World Cup
Phoebe Litchfield and Ashleigh Gardner are sidelined by injury, yet Australia have brushed aside South Africa and Bangladesh without a stumble. Their squad depth makes them the side everyone else has to fear.
Jun 17, 2026
Take two first-choice players out of most international sides and they creak. Australia lost Phoebe Litchfield and Ashleigh Gardner to injury this week and then dismantled Bangladesh by nine wickets without appearing to notice. That, more than any single scoreline, is why they still look the side everyone else at the Women’s T20 World Cup is chasing.
They are not even the defending champions. New Zealand took that title in 2024, beating South Africa in the final while Australia bowed out in the semis. Two games into this tournament, though, Australia carry themselves like a team intent on reclaiming what they used to own, and they have the squad to back it up.
The depth is the whole point
Litchfield hurt her quad while making a 24-ball fifty against South Africa, the sort of innings most teams build around. Gardner, who was player of the tournament the last time Australia lifted this trophy in 2023, is out with an ankle problem. Lose both and you would expect a dip. Against Bangladesh there was none: Georgia Voll cruised to 45 not out off 32 balls, and Beth Mooney, herself the player of the tournament when Australia won in 2020, opened up as if the team sheet had not changed at all.
That is the uncomfortable truth for the rest of the field. Australia’s second string would walk into most of these teams. When your reserves are this good, injuries become an inconvenience rather than a crisis.
A bowling attack for every surface
If anything, the bowling looks the more frightening half of this side. In two matches Australia have conceded just 107 and 77, and they have done it by committee. Against Bangladesh, five bowlers shared the eight wickets, with Kim Garth, Sophie Molineux and Ellyse Perry each taking two. Throw in Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Wareham, Alana King and Megan Schutt and captain Molineux has a mix of pace and spin she can shuffle to suit any pitch or match-up.
On slow, early-summer English surfaces, that flexibility might be the difference between a good team and the champions. You can plan for one great bowler. Planning for seven who can all do a job is a much harder evening’s work.
Plenty still to prove
None of this hands Australia the trophy. England are dangerous on home soil, India have looked sharp, and a tournament can turn on one bad hour in a knockout. Beating Bangladesh and South Africa in the group stage is not the same as winning a semi-final under real pressure, and Australia know it better than anyone after 2024.
But here is what gets me about this team. A fully fit Australia would obviously be more dangerous, yet the striking thing is that they do not need to be fully fit to win comfortably. For everyone hoping this is finally an open World Cup, that might be the most discouraging thought of the lot.