Australia firm T20 World Cup final favourites but wary of South Africa

T here have not been many times since Australia won the last T20 World Cup at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in 2020 that the team has looked beatable. Since that memorable win in front of a record crowd, Australia has only lost three T20 internationals - two to New Zealand and one to India via a super over in late 2022. Australia have always been a dominant team, but that win seemed to set them on a course of becoming near-indestructible.

There are also not many ways to beat Australia. Opposition teams must feel trapped in a horror movie at times - they manage to take quick early wickets and dismiss the openers cheaply, only to have more batters rise up and take on the game. They smash the frontline fast bowlers out of the match, only for captain Meg Lanning to pull an ace from her never-ending list of bowling options.

Australia has not lost a semi-final of a T20 World Cup since the tournament’s first iteration in 2009. They are big game players, born for the world stage. And yet, during Thursday’s semi final against India there were times when they looked beatable. While their batting was solid and they started well with the ball, taking three wickets in the first four overs, India refused to let them cruise to victory. Ellyse Perry and Tahlia McGrath only bowled one over each, going for 14 and 13 respectively. Of the seven bowlers used, only Darcie Brown had an economy rate of under six an over.

Although India did not manage to pull off the win in the end - losing Harmanpreet Kaur to an unfortunate run out in the 15th over when she was dominating the game played a big part, as did late wickets from Jess Jonassen and Ash Gardner – they did what so few teams have managed to do in the last three years: they unsettled the