Australia Women have won the toss and have elected to bat first against South Africa Women in the third match of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup at Old Trafford in Manchester on Saturday afternoon.
The two heavyweights are billed as favourites and this is the first “Clash of the Titans” with South Africa having won their last encounter – also a T20 World Cup match in 2024 – by eight wickets and 16 balls in the bank.
That was an allround performance from Laura Wolvaardt’s side as Ayabonga Khaka claimed 2-24 in restricting Australia to just 134 for five. In reply, Anneke Bosch stood tall, ending unbeaten on 74 from just 48 deliveries, while sharing in a second-wicket stand of 96 with Wolvaardt (42).
However, that victory was just the Proteas ladies second victory over their Australian counterparts in 11 outings. Their first victory coming earlier in 2024 in Canberra during a 2-1 series loss.
Wolvaardt’s charges have a slightly better win per centage batting first – 52.6 per cent - but when they post a total of 170+, they triumph 80 per cent of the time. When chasing, they tend to succeed 66 per cent of the time chasing 160 and below but anything above 180 and the Proteas ladies fail to chase.
Australia has won the toss against the Proteas Women and has chosen to bat first 🏏
— SuperSport 🏆 (@SuperSportTV) June 13, 2026
Kayla Reyneke makes her #T20WorldCup debut and Shabnim Ismail goes straight into the starting 11 🇿🇦
📺 Stream the match live on DStv: https://t.co/rM90YyQxaw#SSCricket pic.twitter.com/vaZXk7DhED
The Proteas though rely heavily on their captain with Wolvaardt having scored 2764 runs, some 800 runs more than Dane van Niekerk. Wolvaardt has the third-best average with a strike-rate just over 120 runs per 100 balls. If the captain fails, the Proteas women struggle.
Georgia Voll and Beth Mooney will be key for Australia with the pair averaging 44.8 and 53 respectively in the last 10 matches with only Wolvaardt matching Mooney. Sune Luus backs Wolvaardt up – but not enough – having scored 284 runs in her last 10 outings.
The Proteas bowling is on par with Khaka and Nonkululeko Mlaba having claimed 24 wickets between them while Annabel Sutherland and Alana King have claimed 22 wickets with a slightly better economy rate.
The last four encounters between these two foes have been won by the team chasing, with the last victory by runs – 19 to be exact – was achieved by Sophie Molineux’s charges back in February 2023.
Wolvaardt and Co will be hoping that they can go one-step further in this edition of the ICC World Cup, having reached the previous three finals without success, and the Proteas captain believes that they can, having said, “The group really believes that we have the talent in the room to win the tournament."
Australia Women: Beth Mooney (wk), Georgia Voll, Phoebe Litchfield, Ellyse Perry, Ashleigh Gardner, Georgia Wareham, Annabel Sutherland, Nicola Carey, Sophie Molineux (capt), Kim Garth, Alana King.
South Africa Women: Laura Wolvaardt (capt), Sune Luus, Annerie Dercksen, Nadine de Klerk, Marizanne Kapp, Chloe Tryon, Kayla Reyneke, Sinalo Jafta (wk), Shabnim Ismail, Ayabonga Khaka, Nonkululeko Mlaba.