Southampton, June 19 (IANS) Australia will aim to strengthen their grip on a Women’s T20 World Cup 2026 semi-final spot when they face tournament debutants Netherlands in the 14th Group 1 match at the Rose Bowl in Southampton on Saturday.

Australia are up and running after a perfect start with back-to-back wins meaning they sit joint top of Group 1 alongside India in a group featuring all three of last year’s semi-finalists. Already having accounted for a big one when beating South Africa in their opener, should the Aussies prevail over the Dutch and Pakistan then they will arrive in Lord’s for their crunch final group encounter with India in a very strong position. The match offers the Netherlands the chance to measure themselves against one of the pre-tournament favorites of world cricket once again.

This is the nation’s debut at a T20 World Cup but they have already shown plenty of fighting qualities in the face of tougher opposition.

Babette de Leede leads the charge for her nation’s cause from the top of the order, the skipper topping the run-scoring charts for the Dutch in the opening two matches. Taking four wickets to date, Caroline de Lange’s spin attack offers another significant threat in this fixture. It could be said then that the element of surprise is with the underdog, having played little against this particular team before with Australia having found that tough to get too familiar with the Dutch XI – which will no doubt be another way they hope to earn a surprise victory that could be the biggest of the entire tournament. Australia have much the stronger of the form books, to say the least, although it would be entirely premature to declare that it can only be the one result from either the Australian or Dutch perspective.

There is zero history between the two sides in T20 cricket though they met at the Women’s ODI World Cups at intervals between 1988 and 2000 with the Australians taking all of those games by varying wide margins of 255 runs, 173 runs, 10 wickets, 115 runs and 10 wickets.

Australia bring experience throughout, they may not be firing on all cylinders at every stage, but are a settled looking batting unit and they know how to apply pressure on the opposition with their bowling. They may even enjoy having a target, having had to bat first in both their matches so far. For the Netherlands they must restrict any score and have experienced players step up, with de Leede and de Lange both sure to take responsibility on their shoulders when battling it out against the six-time winners.

When: June 20, Saturday at 3:00 PM IST

Where: The Rose Bowl, Southampton

Where to watch: The Australia vs Netherland match will be broadcast on Star Sports Network and live streaming on JioStar.

Squads:

Australia: Sophie Molineux (c), Ashleigh Gardner (vc), Tahlia McGrath (vc), Nicola Carey, Kim Garth, Lucy Hamilton, Grace Harris, Alana King, Phoebe Litchfield, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Voll, Georgia Wareham. Travelling reserve: Tahlia Wilson

Netherlands: Babette de Leede (c), Caroline de Lange, Frédérique Overdijk, Hannah Landheer, Heather Siegers, Iris Zwilling, Isabel van der Woning, Lara Leemhuis, Myrthe van den Raad, Phebe Molkenboer, Robine Rijke, Rosalie Lawrence, Sanya Khurana, Silver Siegers, Sterre Kalis

–IANS

hs/