Australia v Netherlands: Women’s T20 World Cup 2026

By Megan Maurice • June 20, 2026 • Sport

Over-by-over report: Can Australia back up their opening win at the tournament with victory over the Dutch? Join Megan Maurice for updates

7th over: Netherlands 35-2 (de Leede 19, Kalis 2) Wareham comes into the attack for the first time today and de Leede welcomes her by hitting her for a four immediately. She tightens up her line and only gives away three singles for the rest of the over. 6th over: Netherlands 28-2 (de Leede 13, Kalis 1) A third consecutive over from Garth – Molineux is clearly hoping for another wicket or two from her before this powerplay is over. de Leede finds a gap with a lovely cut shot on the second ball of the over and guides it to the boundary for four. It’s a good over for the Netherlands who are finding a bit of rhythm now. Drinks are on the field. 5th over: Netherlands 20-2 (de Leede 6, Kalis 0) Hamilton bowls her second over now and de Leede hands the strike over to Kalis early. Hamilton loses her line a little and bowls a wide, but tidies up well next ball. It’s a tight over from her. 4th over: Netherlands 17-2 (de Leede 5, Kalis 0) Garth returns for her second over. de Leede goes for a ramp early in the over and doesn’t quite nail it, but picks up a run nonetheless. Siegers picks the first boundary for the Netherlands with a cracking shot down the ground. Garth does not look happy about it. So a couple of balls later she takes a wicket. Garth is unhappy about being hit for a boundary and she takes it out on Siegers by sending one crashing into her pads. Siegers reviews, but no luck – ball tracking shows it’s going on to hit the stumps. 3rd over: Netherlands 11-1 (de Leede 5, H. Siegers 4) Molineux comes into the attack and she immediately strikes Siegers on the pads. The umpire isn’t interested, but the Australians decide to review. She’s safe, but only just – it’s umpire’s call, so Australia retains the review. Molineux keeps the ball on a good length and doesn’t offer many opportunities for runs. She nearly picks up a wicket on the last ball of the over, but the ball doesn’t quite carry to Hamilton. 2nd over: Netherlands 7-1 (de Leede 3, H. Siegers 3) Garth opens the bowling from the other end and Siegers finds a nice gap for a single to start the over. Next ball the first wicket falls and Voll gets her chance to show her skills behind the stumps. It’s tight bowling from Garth, but eventually de Leede finds a gap and they run well for three. Voll is very happy with her first caught behind stat, diving to her right to pick up the edge from Molkenboer. 1st over: Netherlands 2-0 (Molkenboer 0, H. Siegers 1) Lucy Hamilton takes the new ball for Australia and we have Voll in wicket keeper – very exciting for me, a person who loves people playing out of position in any sport. Voll picks up the first two balls behind the stumps, which the Australians all find delightful. Hamliton then manages to knock the bails off in her run up and gives away a no ball. Siegers then laps the ball into her own helmet and we take a little break for a concussion test. Fortunately, she’s good to to continue. A big innings for Australia, with some quick scoring and a determination to not let the dot balls stack up. Mooney (74) and Gardner (58) did most of the damage for Australia, but Mooney’s back stiffness will be a concern for Australia. They have Tahlia Wilson available as a travelling reserve, but they can only call on her as a permanent replacement, so can’t just give Mooney a rest for a game or two and bring her in. It shows the value of selecting a second keeper as part of the actual squad, rather than as a reserve. The Netherlands will be buoyed by their ability to take wickets throughout the innings, despite the large score racked up against them. Zwilling finished with 3-52, while de Lange took 2-39. A short break now and then we’ll be back to see how the Dutch go about this run chase and also find out whether we get a random player wicket keeping for Australia or if Mooney will push through. 20th over: Australia 219-6 (King 1, Sutherland 11) Heather Siegers bowls her final over for the match and King gets off strike straight away. Sutherland ups the ante with a powerful cut shot for four midway through the over, then turns around and whacks one behind her that can’t find the boundary, but she darts through for two. Some quick running gets Australia a couple of extra runs to close out their innings. 19th over: Australia 209-6 (King 0, Sutherland 2) Wareham starts the over with a drive for four to bring up the 200 for Australia, but is out next ball. The captain comes to the crease for the first time this tournament and opens her account with a four, then a very well-run three. Zwilling nearly gets Sutherland, but Molkenboer can’t hold the catch, so she takes matters into her own hands and bowls Molienux next ball. Molineux tries to go big, but she exposes her stumps and Zwilling hits the top of off. Wareham brings up the 200 for Australia, then swings big after one too many and catches a top edge. Siegers catches it comfortably. 18th over: Australia 197-4 (Wareham 37, Sutherland 1) Carey is out at the start of the over and brings Sutherland to the crease. She rotates the strike to Wareham, who is absolutely on one an smacks two consecutive fours from the bowling of de Lange. Australia are within touching distance of their 200. Carey plays a very innocuous looking shot for an easy catch to Rijke – she’ll be disappointed to miss out on a chance to score some big runs. 17th over: Australia 185-3 (Wareham 26, Carey 7) The Australian media manager has confirmed that Mooney retired hurt with back stiffness – currently TBC whether she will keep. Which is concerning because the back up keeper in the squad is Litchfield, who is currently out injured. It might mean we get one of my favourite situations in sport – professional athletes playing out of position. Meanwhile Wareham starts this over against van der Woning with three consecutive fours, before rotating the strike to give Carey a chance to face some balls. 16th over: Australia 167-3 (Wareham 13, Carey 2) Silver Siegers is back for her for her third over and Wareham keeps her strike rate ticking over with a well run two before muscling one for four. 15th over: Australia 158-3 (Wareham 5, Carey 1) A bit of a confusing start to this over, as Mooney retired during the drinks break, but it seems like the television coverage cut off the part where anyone mentioned that! Gardner is out soon after, so Australia has two new batters at the crease. A misfield gifts Wareham a four to get off the mark. Gardner falls straight after the drinks break, holing out to Kalis while trying to continue to drive the run rate up. 14th over: Australia 152-2 (Mooney 74, Gardner 58) Gardner is on strike to Zwilling to start the over, looking to bring up her half century. She does it beautifully on the first ball of the over with a front foot drive for four, then follows it up next ball with another one. Mooney gets into the action later in the over with a little flick/scoop combination fro four, followed by a powerful pull for six. Drinks are on the field now. 13th over: Australia 131-2 (Mooney 62, Gardner 49) Heather Siegers returns and Gardner starts aggressively, but she can’t get past the field. Mooney is content with rotating the strike with the run rate already so high. Gardner finishes the over with a four to bring her within touching distance of her half century. 12th over: Australia 122-2 (Mooney 60, Gardner 42) van den Raad returns for her second over. She restricts well for the first couple of balls, then Gardner absolutely smokes one to the boundary between long on and midwicket. van den Raad fights back with a dot next ball, tidying up her line and length, but then Gardner gets innovative with a ramp for another boundary. 11th over: Australia 110-2 (Mooney 57, Gardner 33) Silver Siegers resumes and Gardner immediately finds a single through a defensive shot – the Australians are clearly working on a plan of trying to eliminate as many dot balls as possible. A few balls later she top edges one and nearly loses her wicket, but the keeper completely loses sight of it and it falls safely. 10th over: Australia 102-2 (Mooney 52, Gardner 30) de Lange continues her spell and nearly forces an error from Mooney first ball, but she manages to chip it just over the fielders to fall safely. Next ball she finds the boundary she’s been looking for through a misfield from Silver Siegers, then she turns it around the corner for another four, which brings up both her 50 and the 100 for Australia. 9th over: Australia 90-2 (Mooney 41, Gardner 29) Another new bowler for the Netherlands with Overdjik entering the attack and Gardner immediately smashing her for six. Next ball she’s nearly out, but Molkenboer drops the catch. Mooney hasn’t seen much strike since Gardner came in, but she makes up for lost time with some nicely played shots, although she can’t find the boundary. 8th over: Australia 78-2 (Mooney 39, Gardner 19) Caroline de Lange comes on to bowl now – she was the pick of the bowlers against India. Gardner plays a nice shot back over the bowler’s head, but it’s well-fielded on the boundary to stop the four. They dart through for a few singles and then Gardner finds the boundary she was looking for, with a little inside out shot over extra cover. 7th over: Australia 69-2 (Mooney 38, Gardner 11) Silver Siegers enters the attack now with her quite unusual looking off spin. Mooney takes her for three twos to start the over, but then Siegers gets under her bat and forces a play and miss, which is a little win for her. 6th over: Australia 61-2 (Mooney 31, Gardner 10) Perry is gone first ball of the over and the Dutch are delighted with two wickets in the power play. They take an early drinks break, which gives the Australians time to regroup and get back on track with a new batter at the crease. Gardner starts with a dot – there’d almost a mix up with the running, but she’s safely in her crease. She threads the needle between the fielders with a nicely timed cut shot, but it can’t quite find the boundary. Then she gets a full toss that she manages to flick away to the the boundary and follows it up with another to finish the powerplay. Wow, this is great cricket from the Netherlands! Siegers trips Perry up with her slow pace and gets her hitting straight down the throat of deep midwicket. 5th over: Australia 51-1 (Mooney 31, Perry 1) Zwilling returns to the attack and Mooney starts with a speedy two, before turning the strike over to Voll. Voll finds yet another boundary through her powerful pull shot and brings up the 50 for Australia in no time at all. But next ball she’s out and Perry joins Mooney at the crease. Just as Voll looks to be ramping up the pace, she catches a bottom edge and sends one straight up the air. Molkenboer settles below and takes a very safe catch. 4th over: Australia 43-0 (Mooney 28, Voll 13) Yet another new bowler, with Myrthe van den Raad coming around the wicket to Voll and starting with a dot. But next ball Voll picks up the length, rocks back and pulls it to the boundary for four. And the following ball she does pretty much the same thing. The Australians are really putting some pressure on the Dutch bowlers. The bowlers just aren’t hitting their lengths here and are bowling too short, which Mooney and Voll are very much enjoying. 3rd over: Australia 28-0 (Mooney 24, Voll 4) No spells for the Netherlands here, we’ve got a new bowler in the third over, as Isabel van der Woning enters the attack. She starts with a dot, despite Mooney’s shot sounding delightful off the bat. Next ball Mooney finds the gap for another four – she looks like she is keen to make up for missing out on runs against Bangladesh. Next ball is another four, van der Woning needs to problem solve on the go here. The next ball looks better, but there’s a misfield and it’s yet another four for Mooney. Eventually she tidies up and finishes with two much-needed dots. 2nd over: Australia 16-0 (Mooney 12, Voll 4) Heather Siegers opens from the other end with what is being described as “right arm medium pace” but it is certainly on the very slowest extreme of what you could call medium, at about 77km/hr. Mooney manages a four from the second ball, but Siegers restricts her to three dots early as well, it’s not a style she is used to facing. 1st over: Australia 11-0 (Mooney 7, Voll 4) Iris Zwilling takes the new ball for the Netherlands, with Mooney on strike. She starts with a strong pull shot, which goes to a fielder in the deep, but they dash up and back for two. She finds a gap next ball for the first boundary of the match. Zwilling tidies up and manages a couple of dot balls, which the Dutch crowd celebrates with the excitement of a wicket. Voll opens her account with a four from the final ball of the over. The teams are on the field now for the anthems – not long until the first over! There’s a significant amount of orange in the crowd today – the Dutch will have some great support as they take on the formidable Australian team. A couple of changes for Australia, with Ash Gardner recovering from her ankle injury to return to the side, replacing Grace Harris, and Lucy Hamilton coming in for Megan Schutt. 1. Heather Siegers 2. Phebe Molkenboer 3. Babette de Leede (c) (wk) 4. Sterre Kalis 5. Robine Rijke 6. Frederique Overdijk 7. Iris Zwilling 8. Myrthe van den Raad 9. Silver Siegers 10. Caroline de Lange 11. Isabel van der Woning 1. Beth Mooney (wk) 2. Georgia Voll 3. Ellyse Perry 4. Ashleigh Gardner 5. Georgia Wareham 6. Nicola Carey 7. Annabel Sutherland 8. Sophie Molineux (c) 9. Kim Garth 10. Alana King 11. Lucy Hamilton A predictable decision from the underdogs – bowling first gives them their best opportunity to make a game out of this. Will the decision pay off for them? Let’s find out! Today’s match is at the Rose Bowl and the weather forecast for Southamption is “light cloud and a gentle breeze”, which sounds just delightful. If you want to refresh your memory about Australia’s last game while we’re waiting for the toss, you can read this great report from the always excellent Geoff Lemon. Ellyse Perry will play her 5oth T20 World Cup match tonight, which is quite a milestone! She has played in all 10 T20 World Cups and has only missed two matches in that time – the semi final and final of the 2020 edition in Australia. Don’t forget that you can let me know your thoughts during the game by sending me an email. I’d love to hear from you, whether it’s about this game, another recent game or some tournament predictions! Hello and welcome to another match of definitely my favourite World Cup going on right now. Today we have Australia taking on a very unfamiliar foe in the Netherlands, who are playing in their debut T20 World Cup. In fact, the two teams have never met in the T20 format before. They have played five matches in the ODI format, of which the last one was in 2000, three years before Australia’s opening batter Georgia Voll was born. So to say the teams are unfamiliar with each other is quite the understatement. Australia is coming off the back of a nine-wicket demolition of Bangladesh, where they chased down the required total in less than 10 overs. Meanwhile, the Netherlands suffered a 95-run loss to India, though there were some bright spots with Babette de Leede scoring a well-made 28 and Caroline de Lange taking two wickets with her off spin. I’m looking forward to seeing how all this unfolds – while Australia are the firm favourites, I have seen a fair bit of fight in this Dutch side so far and hopefully we get some of that on show today! So settle in and let’s get into the game.

Source: The Guardian