Australia may have won all five of their group-stage matches, but they know they cannot take West Indies lightly when the two teams meet in the first semi-final of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup at The Oval, London, on Tuesday, June 30, 2026.
Australia all-rounder Ash Gardner said the West Indies have many match winners and enough experience to make life difficult for any team. Even though Australia are unbeaten in the tournament, Gardner believes they will have to play their best cricket to reach the final at Lord’s on Sunday, July 5, 2026.
“They’ve got a lot of class and a lot of firepower within their team,” Gardner said. “Also, a lot of experience, obviously led brilliantly by Hayley Matthews, who’s a player that can take away a game pretty quickly. But then you look at someone like Deandra Dottin, she’s a threat in all three phases of the game. She’s a fantastic player.
“I’ve had the privilege of playing with her, and I guess just seeing how she goes about her cricket, she’s so fearless in the way that she approaches it, which sometimes can be quite scary because she can flick a switch pretty quickly. But then just to see the, I guess, inexperience as well that they’ve got and that rawness that they’ve got within their side. So yeah, they definitely pose a different threat.”
Australia enter the semi-final after completing a perfect group stage with five wins in five matches. Their final group game was a six-wicket victory over India at Lord’s on Sunday, June 28, 2026. That win also ended India’s hopes of reaching the semi-finals.
Ash Gardner and Ellyse Perry played key roles in that successful chase. Perry scored another half-century and continued her excellent form. She is now Australia’s highest run-scorer in the tournament with 183 runs from five innings and is also the fourth-highest run-scorer overall.
Gardner praised Perry for continuing to improve after such a long international career. She said Perry’s hard work and attitude inspire everyone in the Australian dressing room.
“She’s like a red wine,” Gardner said. “I think that’s, she’s just someone that’s gotten better and better. And I think of just the evolution of her game. She’s known that the global game has gone at such a fast pace and that doesn’t settle or slow down for anyone. So, she knows that she needs to keep up with that pace.
“And I guess just to watch the way that she approaches the game, the mental side of things, and just being able to be really brave. I feel like sometimes that can be quite hard at times when you feel like you don’t have that confidence, but she’s someone that always tries to take the game on.
“For someone with so much experience and so much willingness to keep evolving, it just shows younger players like me that there is no real ceiling on that stuff. And yeah, she’s a fantastic leader within our group, within that space, but then just generally as well.”
Australia will play their first match of this tournament at The Oval, so they have only a short time to understand the conditions before the semi-final. Gardner said the team will prepare quickly and enjoy the big occasion. “I guess we can do our homework in terms of how we’re going to approach a new venue, a fast venue, one that’s really nice to bat on.
“So, for us, it’s being able to do that quickly because we’ve got a day to do it. And then a really quick turnaround and then just get really excited for what the occasion is.”
The first semi-final between Australia and West Indies will begin at 2:30 PM local time on Tuesday, June 30, 2026, with the winners moving one step closer to lifting the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup trophy.
Loves all things female cricket