As Alyssa Healy watched from the sidelines in Dubai last night as her side were knocked out of the T20 World Cup, her face told the story of the unfamiliarity of the scene in front of her.
Australia hadn't lost a T20 World Cup semi-final since 2009. They had never lost to South Africa in a T20 World Cup before yesterday, and had won their last 15 matches in the competition spread across three editions. Yet, when Anneke Bosch kicked into another gear at the end of the 12th over of South Africa's chase, for the first time in years, Australia didn't have an answer.
A four and a six carted over midwicket came off the final two balls of that over, with Laura Wolvaardt following on with a four off the first ball of the next. Bosch completed 15 runs off that over with two more fours, bringing the required run rate down to less than four an over. While the groundwork had been laid in the powerplay, it was that spell of eight balls that sealed Australia's fate. Any side can fall victim to a player like Bosch having a day out when it counts, especially with their regular captain injured on the sidelines. She hit the winning runs to finish unbeaten on 74 off 48 balls, her highest-ever score in a T20I and her second highest strike rate for an innings in which she hit more than 20 runs. Across her previous outings in the tournament, she'd scored 54 runs off 64 balls.
However, there were signs in setting what was clearly a below-par target that this wasn't the clinical Australia winning machine of the last decade. After Grace Harris, opening in Healy's absence, slashed straight to backward point off the first ball of the second over, Georgia Wareham was sent in at No.3. It's a role Australia have used her in previously, both in the tournament and at points in the run up to it, as a pinch-hitter in the powerplay. While it's a move that's come off on previous occasions, it didn't work well for them during the tournament, with three runs off seven balls her yield in the two innings leading up to the semi-final. Equally, while the merits of replacing Harris with another hitter if out early are valid, particularly with the extreme depth of Australia's batting order, against South Africa it's flawed. Marizanne Kapp bowls extensively in the powerplay for South Africa, and it's predictable she'll usually only have one over left at its end on most occasions. Throwing in a batter who or more often than not bats at No.8 or nine to face that rather than backing Ellyse Perry's skill or Tahlia McGrath's consistency doesn't quite add up.
#ICYMI: South Africa ended Australia's 15-year unbeaten run in Women’s T20 World Cup semi-finals.
— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) October 18, 2024
Australia will miss the Women’s T20 World Cup final for the first time since 2009.
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In the middle overs, faced by a disciplined performance from South Africa's bowling attack, Australia did not get their intent right. Having been squeezed for 32 deliveries, when McGrath looked to push the button and attack Nonkululeko Mlaba, she misjudged the pace and holed out immediately. That left the pressure on Perry and Beth Mooney at the back end to go at 10s to set a competitive target. It was only for South Africa's mistakes that they almost managed it, putting on 40 runs off the final four, that and a nine-ball 16 from Phoebe Litchfield. The ease with which she was able to strike, punishing misjudged line and length from Mlaba only made the slowness of Perry and Mooney's partnership look worse, in addition to the decision not to promote her once McGrath was out leaving Australia on 68-3 with eight overs left to bat.
Again, mistakes and misjudgements happen, but what makes the ones Australia made in Dubai so jarring, is that they haven't made them when it counts previously.
Eighteen months ago, in the last T20 World Cup semi-final Australia played, they were again in trouble. India needed 41 runs from 34 balls with Harmanpreet Kaur unbeaten on a half century. But that sharpness in the field, muscle memory of how to win and a unit so well drilled together it's almost mechanical, stood firm. Discipline with the ball and an exceptional fielding performance saw them home in a match Gardner admitted afterwards they had 'no right to win'.
But since then, from the peak of their powers as double world champions, chinks have begun to appear in that iron-clad armour. There was the Ashes series last year, their first without Meg Lanning's presence as captain. Having led Australia for so long, her role in shaping them in her own authoritative, uncompromising image is different to what Healy brings - confidence and Australian brashness. It's perhaps unfortunate for Healy that she's been given a side that couldn't ascend any higher. In that series, despite England being ragged at times, Australia still almost lost a 6-0 lead.
That carried on in the winter when they were put under the pump by Hayley Matthews, unable to defend a 213-run target, before India came to town and took more matches off them. They were again felled by South Africa earlier this year, Wolvaardt unsticking them that time. Of course, Australia have set the benchmark so impossibly high that even one loss in a series seems significant. But putting all of these 'isolated' incidents in context gives them weight.
There are factors you can point to which explain this. In the last T20 World Cup cycle, four players averaged more than 40 with the bat, while only one player - Phoebe Litchfield - did in the 2023-2024 cycle. Gardner hasn't been quite the same force she was across this cycle than the previous, her economy above seven in the last 18 months compared to 5.62 over the preceding three years. There's also the absence of Jess Jonassen, who wasn't picked for this T20 World Cup having been an important force for Australia last time out. You can pick holes in what's gone wrong for Australia in the individuals but, collectively, they've gone from outstanding to very good. That's before you get to the improvements of others.
Equally going out in the knockouts of a World Cup doesn't signal that Australia are no longer the best team in the world. In the tournament as a whole, they still looked the best side, cruising through the group of death. Nonetheless, it still feels like a line in the sand. World Cups and major tournaments are Australia's thing. As good as they've been across the board over the last decade, it's World Cups we measure their era of dominance in. If the last 18 months showed Australia are beatable, yesterday showed Australia are beatable in a World Cup. That particular magic spell they have has been broken.
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