LONDON: There will be no clear-cut favourites when England Women take on Australia Women in the final of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2026 at Lord’s on Sunday. This will be the Ashes rivals’ first meeting in a T20 World Cup since 2018, when Australia won the final by eight wickets to claim their fourth title.

Both sides are unbeaten, with No.1-ranked Australia topping Group II before brushing aside the West Indies in the first semi-final, while No.2-ranked England won Group I before steamrolling South Africa in the second semi-final at The Oval.

While Australia will take inspiration from winning six of their previous seven Women’s T20 World Cup finals, including victories over England in 2012, 2014 and 2018, England will take comfort from the fact that they won their only title when Lord’s hosted the final in 2009. Furthermore, Charlotte Edwards, who captained England to that inaugural title, will be in the dugout as head coach, providing the guidance and experience that have made her England’s most successful women’s cricketer.

The winners will receive an unprecedented USD 2.34 million, while the runners-up will collect USD 1.17 million. By comparison, England earned just USD 70,000 from a total prize fund of USD 400,000 after winning the 2009 tournament, underlining how far women’s cricket has progressed over the past 17 years.

In this competition, Australia defeated South Africa by 65 runs, Bangladesh by nine wickets, the Netherlands by 98 runs and Pakistan by 113 runs in the group stage before beating the West Indies by eight wickets in the semi-final. England, meanwhile, defeated Sri Lanka by 87 runs, Ireland by four wickets, and both Scotland and the West Indies by 38 runs before overwhelming South Africa by nine wickets in the second semi-final.

England’s Danni Wyatt-Hodge is the tournament’s leading run-scorer with 294 runs. She is also one of only three batters to score a century, alongside South Africa’s Tazmin Brits and Sri Lanka’s Chamari Athapaththu. Australia’s leading run-scorer is Ellyse Perry, who has amassed 185 runs, including two half-centuries.

Australia captain Sophie Molineux is the leading wicket-taker from either side with 10 wickets, while England’s Sophie Ecclestone has claimed nine.

World No.1 batter Beth Mooney has scored 174 runs and is 10th on the tournament’s run-scoring charts, while England’s Charlie Dean, ranked second among T20I bowlers, shares fourth place on the wicket-taking list with the third-ranked Ecclestone.

This will be the fourth women’s World Cup final at Lord’s. England defeated New Zealand by 67 runs in the 1993 50-over World Cup final, while the two sides met again 16 years later in the inaugural Women’s T20 World Cup final at the same venue, with England winning by six wickets. England also featured in the 2017 Women’s 50-over World Cup final at Lord’s, defeating India by nine runs.

The first ball of the final will be bowled at 6:30pm (Pakistan time), with a capacity crowd expected to celebrate not only the two finalists but also the remarkable growth of women’s cricket.