Wareham stars as Australia inflict South Africa's biggest Women's T20 World Cup defeat

Australia got their Women's T20 World Cup 2026 campaign off to a winning start, beating South Africa by 65 runs in the third match on Saturday, June 13, at Old Trafford, Manchester. Opting to bat first, Australia posted a good score of 172/8 in their allotted 20 overs, courtesy of a fiery half-century from Phoebe Litchfield, while Ellyse Perry (36 off 26) and Georgia Wareham (32 off 22) also made valuable contributions.

Nonkululeko Mlaba (2/22, 4 overs), Ayabonga Khaka (2/33, 3 overs) and Nadine de Klerk (2/35) chipped in two wickets each for South Africa. In the second innings, the Proteas women were bundled out for just 107 in 16.4 overs, with only captain Laura Wolvaardt (44 off 39) putting up a lone fight.

For Australia, Georgia Wareham emerged as the pick of the bowlers with a three-wicket haul, while captain Sophie Molineux (2/17, 3 overs) and Alana King (2/26, 4 overs) also scalped two wickets each. As a result, Australia inflicted the biggest loss on South Africa in their T20 World Cup history and opened their account in Group A points table.

Top run-scorer of the Match

Top wicket-taker of the Match

Player of the Match

Georgia Wareham was adjudged Player of the Match for her all-round brilliance. She first made a valuable contribution of 32 off 22 with the bat and later scalped three wickets with the ball, dismissing Nadine de Klerk (25 off 22), Chloe Tryon (9 off 13) and Nonkululeko Mlaba (0 off 1). She registered figures of 3/13 in 2.4 overs to help Australia get off to a winning start.

Turning Point

Australia were in a spot of bother at 24/2 after 3.5 overs, following early dismissals of Georgia Voll (0 off 4) and Beth Mooney (7 off 9). First, Phoebe Litchfield’s 23-ball half-century helped her side get back on the track. Later, a 58-run stand off 38 balls between Ellyse Perry (36 off 26) and Georgia Wareham (32 off 22) further rescued their team from a precarious position of 62/4 after 7.2 overs. 

What did the captains say:

Winning Captain, Sophie Molineux (Australia women):  

Yeah, absolutely. We were in trouble there at the start. I think the way the girls bounced back, Kappy and Shabs bowled really well in the powerplay, put us on the back foot. So the way that we bounced back and then climbed over in our bowling innings was really pleasing. (The batters kept going) Yeah, I think so. And that's probably the way we want to play. We've got a top order, middle order there that can play all around the ground. And they bat their best when they take the game on. So it's great to see the girls feel like they can do that and have that freedom out there. (A word on Phoebe) Oh, she's amazing, Pheebs. Extremely skilful, but yeah, you can just see that her confidence and, yeah, her game smarts are just going through the roof now. And she's going to be a really key player for us in this tournament. I'm so happy for her to make a few. (What type of captain are you? Gut feel or analysis and analyst?) I get a lot of help with that. Yeah, I think with our right people in the right place in terms of fielding positions, but I suppose with captaincy out there, you do have to go with your gut a little bit. Yeah, there was a pretty spin-friendly wicket by that innings, so we sort of went with that. But yeah, sometimes it pays off, sometimes it doesn't, but today was a good day.

Losing Captain, Laura Wolvaardt (South Africa women):

Yeah, tough day today. I thought we had a pretty decent first half. I think restricting them to that score was not too bad, but obviously just lost our way with the bat a bit. Yeah, disappointing loss, but I think they bowled really well and pretty much outplayed us today. (You thought 172 was okay on that surface?) Yeah, I thought it was okay. Maybe a little bit above par, but yeah, it could have been worse. So I think we backed ourselves to go with nines [rpo] or whatever it was. But yeah, just lost our way, struggled to get some momentum in the innings. (On Kapp and Ismail) Yeah, awesome to have them back. I think it's been a long time since we had them bowling together in a powerplay like that. So that was awesome to see. And yeah, I think there are a couple of other bowlers stepping up today, which was nice. de Klerk and Mlaba bowled pretty well too. So yeah, I think that that's going well at least. (On her being starved off the strike) Yeah, it was hard to get going. A bit of a frustrating innings. I think, like you said, got stuck on the other end a bit. And then I felt like they bowled pretty well to me later on and closed up my area. So just struggled to get going, and by the time I went out, it was quite late already. So yeah, just disappointed with that. (On Nadine batting at 4 and is that the way forward?) I think so. I think it's nice to sort of stack our lineup like that a little bit, just to have a little bit of power early. Try not to leave it a little bit too late. But yeah, I think she batted well. She has a lot of different options in that powerplay too. So yeah, I think it's nice to have her up the order. (On expecting her side to fight back) Definitely. Still a long tournament to go. I think we'll just put this game behind us as quickly as we can and move on to the next one.