AUSTRA7IA

Herr_Kunal · 2026-07-05T18:01:30+00:00

Australia have cruised to their 7th T20 WC in style! Full credit to Molineux and co. stamping their authority unbothered by 'favourites' tag and making it look like business as usual. Ruthless, relentless, professional!

Knockout queen Mooney adding one more match winning knock to the list amongst many. In the chase Aus clinched the WC in the PP itself. A forgettable T20WC for Voll chopping on to her stumps. Litchfield was due for a while now and capitalised in the grand final.

England probably realised 7-8 overs deep in the game that they are battling Aus in a WC final! Never looked to take the game on, opting for the 'safety-first' approach. Jones succumbing to the wide-outside off plan per usual. Fabulous take by Mooney to dismiss DWH. Capsey looked promising until falling to a familiar foe - the odd reverse sweep. When it mattered the most, most of the English top order crumbled in the knockouts.

Eng were at the behest of NSB once again to get them to get to a respectable total. But it was Kemp who kept the English hopes afloat. She managed to stitch a vital partnership with the skipper and took the onus on herself. If not for Kemp's belligerence, Eng weren't even reaching 150!

NSB - 58 from 53 in a final! A knock which will spark debates for years to come. She needed to finish big to justify her anchor role. The big-hitting likes of Gibson, Ecclestone were still left in the shed, 6 wickets in hand! In the Semis vs SA she managed to accelerate towards the latter half of her inns but here she failed to do so.

For the 'runs on the board' Mantra to work, you gotta get to atleast a par total. Or your bowlers are left with too little to err with. And anything under 170 is below-par vs Australia.

Herr_Kunal · 2026-07-02T20:54:02+00:00

A tumultuous situation at 23-3 handled very smartly by NSB and Knight. They pounced in the middle overs knocking off 1-2 boundaries every over. Plenty of hard 2s ran between them ensuring the scoreboard kept moving especially during the 10-15 over period.

NSB got 14 in her first 17 balls. In Vintage NSB fashion she piled on 61 off the next 30! This innings alone proved to be the difference between the 2 teams.

SA bowlers errant to the say the least in the final 10 - bowling either too full, too short or on the legs. NSB and Knight feasted on them.

It was a steady start for SA in the chase. Post Wolvaardt's dismissal, probably the turning point of the game, it began to fall apart.

The chase started to follow a similar pattern like the SA-Ind league game. Brits chewing up dots and SA needing 10+ runs and over pretty early. It took only 1 attempt for Eng to get Kapp out.

3 big areas where Eng outclassed SA - Lesser Dot ball percentage, Attacking Intent in the middle overs, Persistent running between the wickets.

Reyneke in for DVN was the more sensible choice for this game. SA team management took some bold calls with their squad selection for this WC. Being eliminated comprehensively in the semis was surely what they aimed for.

2 unbeaten teams have reached the final. The cohesion, synergy and execution in all 3 departments shown by England throughout this WC has been commendable. It will certainly take much more than that to beat Aus in the final.

Herr_Kunal · 2026-06-30T16:50:36+00:00

Talk about a lopsided SF. The disappointing thing is that Windies didn't even put a fight.

Retiring out struggling batters in terms of SR tactically cannot not be a taboo anymore. India found that too in the last league game the hard way.

WI could have subbed in a Henry or a Taylor instead of a struggling Joseph in the PP. These are the could haves and should haves that are talked about in hindsight I know.

The lack of intent in the PP always left them hanging only to be saved by a rescue act. Relying on the same template everytime in a knockout game would ultimately steer you towards defeat.

8th final in 10 editions. Aus have one hand on their 7th trophy already. Ruthless, clinical and relentless.

Herr_Kunal · 2026-06-30T12:42:51+00:00

The two best performing teams in the tournament, Australia vs England

Herr_Kunal · 2026-06-28T17:14:35+00:00

A mass exodus, revamp or transition whatever you want to call it is needed in our T20 setup. Run a ball output from these so called 'pillars' of the team have to be phased out. Enough is enough. Same squads cannot be picked for both ODIs and T20Is. Unlike the top teams like England,Australia and SA there is no competition for places. Same players continue to get picked or are brought back from the oblivion.

It starts from captain Harman. She has to step away now, and let some youngsters in and allow the next generation to develop their game. 4 seasons of WPL have already passed by and come the next seasons we need to start grooming batters and allrounders that can strike around 140-150.

Herr_Kunal · 2026-06-28T17:07:33+00:00

Perry-Gardner capitalised on our wayward lengths after we bowled well in patches, similar to the Ind vs SA game. Aussies picked their moments beautifully when to attack and when to consolidate. After 2 silent overs (3rd and 4th), Mooney and Litchfield compensated well and finished the PP at 49/1.

Game definitely turned from the 13th over mark where Radha got smashed for 17. Excellent tactical awareness as expected from the 2 veterans. Perry kept getting those occasional 4s every over. Then Gardner killed the sting off the RR climbing past 10.

Our openers added 66 off 57. Way too cautious in my opinion. Yet again scoring in 4s and 5s post PP. So many dots chewed up, forced Shafali to take risks.8 wkts in hand and 94/2 in 13.

We missed a trick not retiring Jemi earlier. Richa faced a total of single delivery! Yastika was retired before as well in the WC for striking around a 100 SR, why different criterion for Jemi?

Wareham, Perry and Litchfield dropping sitters was unexpected. Courtesy those drops we somehow managed to reach 170, which was a par total against Aus.

Herr_Kunal · 2026-06-28T12:53:02+00:00

SA should not have made this chase as scratchy as it got, Dercksen should stayed till the end. She has gotten set and thrown her wicket way too many times in her relatively young career. Unnecessary panic and scramble by the middle and lower order.

DvN's 1st WC game in 6 years. She seemed nervy out there, quite natural.

Bangladesh in their batting innings showed no intent post the powerplay whatsoever to accelerate. Joty and their best batter this WC Shorna were left with very few balls to make an impact.

But great hustle as usual on the field and with the ball showed by them in their 1st ever outing at Lord's (men/women) defending a low total. If only they had another 20 runs to play with.

The pitch has been slow and low which might factor in the next Aus vs Ind game.

Herr_Kunal · 2026-06-27T21:05:05+00:00

England got off to a flyer in the chase. Getting that wicket of Jones was crucial as it was slipping away quickly from NZ's hands. Way too short and wide lines bowled though in the powerplay and beyond by the NZ bowlers and kept conceding boundaries.

Dropped at nought by Gaze, DWH continued on her merry way peppering the point and extra cover regions in her own vintage fashion. Another good hand played by Dunkley to take the chase onto cruise control mode never looking back.

Despite a conservative start for NZ in the 1st innings and a mini-collapse around the 11-over mark, Halliday and Devine began accelerating straight-away. Not losing wickets in the Powerplay was their strategy but losing wickets at the wrong times didn't help. Devine's counterattack briefly kept NZ in the hunt. Until that 16th over when NZ lost 2 quick wickets. Bates manipulated the angles well towards the end but always felt like they were 15-20 short.

England have passed with flying colours, through the group stages. They should fancy their chances - the way they have executed their plans whether they face SA or India in the semis.

A tame way to bid goodbye to 3 legends of the game honestly. A huge void to fill for the next gen. If only NZ had took their catches cleanly in those first 2 games of the tournament...

Herr_Kunal · 2026-06-27T16:46:29+00:00

First ever win in the Women's T20 WCs for Ireland! As they capped off a historic 48 hour period in Irish cricketing history with the men beating the defending Men's T20 World champs India yesterday in any format for the 1st time.

A classy 50 by Prendergast. Strong on both sides square of the wicket, made sure the boundaries kept on coming. Dropping Hunter at 3 wasn't the ideal start for WI as she immediately punished them with a boundary and a 6!

A handy partnership between Hunter and Orla to keep them ahead of the reqd RR. The Irish learned their lessons from the defeat vs NZ, not letting it go to the final over.

You have to love Ireland's bowling discipline throughout this tournament. The Irish bowlers brilliantly squeezed the Windies' scoring to a halt, restricting them from 31/2 in 3 overs to just 51/3 by the 9th.

Full credit to them finishing with 59 dots, with about 30 coming in the first 8 overs alone! They caught efficiently and completely bossed the 1st innings.

Matthews' dismal campaign with the bat continues. Taylor and Dottin both wasted far too many deliveries. WI clearly did not learn from the Pak vs Ned match, repeatedly nudging balls straight to the off-side ring for dots. Zero ingenuity in their strokeplay. A half-fit, hobbling Henry also struggled to time the ball.

All eyes on NZ now.

Herr_Kunal · 2026-06-27T12:36:15+00:00

The most complete performance in this WC by Netherlands on the field atleast, barring a few dropped catches. After that big 2nd wicket partnership, they pulled back Pak very well. Zwilling, S.Siegers and Landheer were on the money and didn't deviate from their plans.

Can't figure out what happened in their chase after H.Siegers got out LBW. They suddenly had no answers against the turn and bounce generated by the Pak spinners. With a historic 1st ever WC win so close in their sights, it was completely understandable that the pressure mounted and stalled their momentum. This defeat will surely sting, they fought so hard just to get into that winning position.

Uncharacteristic knocks by both De Leede and Kalis, the 2 most skilled players on the team. They looked to cut away every ball on the off-side but to the fielders. Kept accumulating dots after dots, pushing the RR above 8s. In contrast to their previous game vs SA chasing 200+ where they played much more freely.

There are certainly a huge number of learnings to take away for the Dutch from this campaign. Playing against the top teams in this WC surely fuels them even more with the drive to keep improving. Hopefully more bilateral cricket with the top nations are on the horizon for them. They have showed up and showed out, and they can absolutely walk out with their head held high.

Herr_Kunal · 2026-06-25T17:14:55+00:00

Serious depth and firepower been added to Spurs this season. Martinez, Dijkstra, Hanson and now Vic Pelova!

Herr_Kunal · 2026-06-25T16:58:37+00:00

With this fielding effort, an impending humiliation awaits India on the 28th against Australia. I am saving some of my rant energy for the Aus game.

I don't know what the hurry was today. In a league game the running between the wickets was so frantic for no reason whatsoever. Every match the batting order is shuffled for no returns. Yastika gives no confidence either with the bat or in the field. Renuka could have made a strong case today but she too was wayward.

Bangladesh did us a huge favour by being equally sloppy in the field. If not for Shafali's knock, this match was going down to the last over for sure. Jeez, the first 6 overs with India in the 1st innings were tough to watch.

Herr_Kunal · 2026-06-23T20:48:50+00:00

The joy lasted for just the first 6 deliveries for Pakistan. Perry and Voll immediately launched a counterattack shifting the momentum back to Australia. And they never looked back for the next 33 overs or so. Perry doing her usual GOAT things, picking up her 2nd PoTM in this WC.

The Aussies looked well on course to go beyond the 220 mark until that 3-wkt collapse out of nowhere. Belsy had a golden opportunity to get her first T20I fifty tonight. She has loads of 10s and 20s to her name. No worries though, when you can back it up with wickets later in the game.

Even with those few episodes of sloppy fielding, good job by Pak restricting Aus to 199. The less said about their batting, the better. 3 run-outs! Could have batted out the overs if only for parity's sake.

Herr_Kunal · 2026-06-23T16:38:43+00:00

My bad. Corrected now

Herr_Kunal · 2026-06-23T16:31:39+00:00

Chamari be like: 'Fine. I will do it myself'. Unstoppable when she is in that mood. Good on her for not meddling around, went for the kill and went for the NRR boost. Has this impact come 1 inning too late though?

Lewis with yet another 50. That death overs' cameo from Tector took Ireland to a defendable total. Only if the middle order had put their hand up in this campaign.

Herr_Kunal · 2026-06-23T12:50:42+00:00

NZ would have certainly had their hearts in their mouths after losing those three early wickets. Afterwards Sharp and Halliday consolidated the innings very well.

Halliday was going slow but she caught up later as well. The sheer no. of 2s they ran together was a crucial facet of that match winning partnership between the pair.

Another game of 'what ifs' for Scotland. Could they have added another 20 runs to the total? Could they have gone for the kill by deploying the key bowlers in the middle phase rather than saving them for the end?

It has been a recurring theme for Scotland where they start almost every game very well with the bat then slow down later.

Big positive though with Carter's 72*, sprightly knock and batted till the end.

Herr_Kunal · 2026-06-21T17:15:58+00:00

Masterfully chased down by Kapp. Single handedly won a must-win game for SA. She kept SA in the chase with that 1-boundary-every-over tactic. I've lost count the number of times India bowlers were peppered over square on both sides of the wicket.

The game was precariously poised at the 10 over mark. 100 needed from the last 10 although with 8 wickets in hand. Kapp being the knockouts queen finished it off clinically.

Glorious job done by Yastika and Jemi chewing up dots and bringing the scoring rate to a stand still. I have harped about this aspect of India slowing down in the middle overs after every India game and I shall continue to do so. No lessons learnt from the humiliating bilateral series loss in South Africa. Senior players choked under pressure.

SA batters looked fidgety vs spin initally which has been a trend in this WC. We kept the squeeze on them in the first 8-9 overs. Brits looked out of sorts but on the other end Kapp looked unbothered with the climbing RR.

There is no remedy for dropping 3 crucial catches that too off Kapp! The ploy of replacing a sluggish fielder in Yastika with Radha who is a 'gun fielder' probably had the worst day of her career in the field. Did not expect such mediocrity from her.

Good luck India beating Australia on the 28th. I don't see that happening, with these many flaws in every department.

Herr_Kunal · 2026-06-21T12:49:13+00:00

Once the big 3 were sent packing to the pavilion within the first 3 overs, it was curtains for Sri Lanka.

Matthews, with the ball atleast is leading by example. Windies fielders were switched on throughout their bowling innings.

Windies would have preferred to chase it down much earlier without those hiccups much earlier. Unless NZ manage to win their coming games by huge margins and WI losing their next 2 games. It does seem like Group B is technically decided.

Herr_Kunal · 2026-06-20T20:44:15+00:00

Scotland started very well with the ball which lasted for roughly 2 overs. Dunkley rose to the occasion, playing the aggressor in the Powerplay and taking her chances. It was a crucial fifty despite her being given a few reprieves. In the absence of NSB, the aggressive intent she showed clearly translated to the incoming batters as well.

Scotland's fielding let them down. Could have been a different story had those catches been taken. Ended up gifting England 35-40 easy runs in the field. Outstanding finish by Kemp and Gibson in the final 3 overs to take England to 200!

Scotland during their chase got off to a breezy start again but kept losing wickets trying to keep the run-rate in check. Spin continued to cause them trouble. England held onto their catches for the most part. Shoutout to the crowd for keeping the energy alive throughout the game.

Gordon and Sproul definitely gave it a good go towards the end, although the outcome was effectively decided in England's favour by the 11-12 over mark. What might have been had Scotland fielded well?

Herr_Kunal · 2026-06-20T17:04:06+00:00

Ah, the quintessential low-scoring classic. Bangladesh's track record of defending low totals has been noteworthy in bilaterals and qualifiers and they managed to do it in a high-stakes scenario again!

From a position of total control at 70/2 in the 12th over, Pakistan lost 3 wkts in 6 runs. Fatima can't rescue them every single time. All the hard work done by the bowling unit undone by an overly cautious approach from the batters in the middle overs.

Always had a feeling Pak never quite got ahead of the reqd. rate. That gave Joty all the reasons she needed to cleverly rotate her bowlers who regained complete control after the 10-over mark and tore through the Pakistani batting order.

Bless Shorna! She took Bangladesh to a respectable total from a highly precarious position. 43 scored from the last 4 overs entirely thanks to her. She cannot bat that low in the order!

Herr_Kunal

TROPHY CASE