Australia moved back to the top of the World Cup winners list on Sunday at Lord’s, taking the Women’s T20 World Cup for a seventh time. The result extends a run that has defined the modern women’s game and closes out a brief gap since their last global title.
Beth Mooney did the damage in the final, scoring 64 from 49 balls. She was named player of the match and player of the tournament after saying she was “just woke up in the morning pretty grateful we made it this far.”
Beth Mooney drives Australia
Mooney had already won four World Cups and Commonwealth Games gold before this victory. Her innings gave Australia the control they needed in a final that came with more on it than just one trophy.
Australia have now won seven T20 World Cups out of the 10 ever played, and seven one-day World Cups out of 13. Those numbers leave little room for the idea that a bad stretch has changed the standard. Even with a loss of the one-day title in India last November, the record still points in one direction.
Sophie Molineux and the transition
Before the tournament, questions had been raised about a clumsy captaincy transition and the arrival of younger players. Sophie Molineux was a left-field pick as captain, but she handled tough overs and made good changes in the field while the squad moved through the competition.
Georgia Voll opened the batting aggressively, Phoebe Litchfield settled next to her, and Lucy Hamilton offered left-arm pace when the fielding restrictions were in place. Kim Garth became the most relentless seamer in the competition, Georgia Wareham topped the strike rates at 182, and Annabel Sutherland looked beyond the emerging tag.
Australia’s depth stays intact
Nicola Carey has come back from a hiatus, while Ellyse Perry and Ash Gardner keep winning matches when they are needed. Players also made a point of namechecking Molineux in interviews on the day, and Cricket Australia had already used a mock address to the nation from the Lord’s Long Room in the lead-up to the final.
That leaves the simplest reading of Sunday: Australia still have the depth, the old hands and the new roles to keep winning, even after the gaps of 2024 and 2025. For everyone watching the World Cup winners list, the team that just added another title is still the one setting the standard.
