Tag: South Africa

The Australian women have emerged as the champions of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2023. The defending champions crushed the South Africans by 19 runs to win the T20 World Cup for the sixth time. With the win, the Australians have won the title for the third consecutive time, creating a world record in the history of international cricket.

Batting first, the Australians rode on Beth Mooney’s fantastic innings of 74 runs in ICC Women’s T20 World Cup. The left-handed batter had a bit of support from Alyssa Healy and Ashleigh Gardner to ensure the team reached a competitive total of 156 runs from their quota of 20 overs. For the hosts, Shabnim Ismail had a wonderful spell giving away just 26 runs from her four overs and taking two crucial wickets.

In the second innings of ICC Women’s T20 World Cup, South Africa didn’t have a great start. The team scored just 22 runs in the first six overs. But with the wickets in hand, the team knew they could capitalize in the middle overs. A 55-run stand between the in-form batter Laura Wolvaardt (61 off 48 balls) and Chloe Tryon (25 off 23 balls) got the South Africans in the chase. However, some clever bowling from the Australians derailed the momentum of the South Africans.

The likes of Megan Schutt, Gardner, and Darcie Brown gave little away as South Africa was left with too much to do in the end. All that the hosts could manage was 137/6, as the Australian bowlers remained calm right through.

Meg Lanning, the Australian captain, had encouraging words for her team. In the post-match interview, the skipper said, “It’s a pretty special effort from the group. All the teams came hard at us, but I’m super proud of the way we kept fighting back. We felt like it was a good score, but we had to put pressure on South Africa.”

The Australian women have lifted the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup trophy a record 6 times (2010, 2012, 2014, 2018, 2020, 2023). Meg Lanning, their charismatic captain, has alone lifted the cup four times.