Australia's wicketkeeper-batter Beth Mooney delivered the innings of her career on Sunday, July 5, striking 64 runs off just 49 balls, laced with 10 boundaries, to power Australia past England in the final of the ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2026 at Lord's. Her knock anchored a comfortable Australian chase and handed her a place in the record books that no other cricketer, man or woman, has ever reached.
A Fifty That Rewrote The Record Books
With this innings, Mooney became the first cricketer in the history of the game, across both the men's and women's format, to score fifty or more runs in a T20 World Cup final on three separate occasions. The feat pushes her past India's Virat Kohli, a name that until now sat at the top of this particular list. Kohli had managed two fifties in men's T20 World Cup finals, a mark he shares with Sri Lanka's Kumar Sangakkara and West Indies' Marlon Samuels, both of whom also scored two half centuries apiece in the summit clash of the tournament. On the women's side, no batter before Mooney had even managed a second fifty in a final, let alone a third, which makes her achievement stand entirely alone.
Mooney's Finals Ledger: 2020, 2023 And Now 2026
Mooney's habit of rising in the biggest games goes back years. In the 2020 T20 World Cup final against India at the MCG in Melbourne, she played a match winning knock of an unbeaten 78. Three years later, in the 2023 final against South Africa in Cape Town, she once again stood tall, finishing unbeaten on 74. Now, on the historic Lord's ground in the 2026 final against England, she has added a third such innings to her name, scoring 64 to guide Australia to the title. Each of these three knocks came in a final, under the highest pressure the format has to offer, and each time Mooney delivered when her team needed her most.
A 100 Run Stand With Litchfield Sealed The Chase
Chasing a target of 151 runs in the final, Mooney put on 100 runs for the second wicket alongside Phoebe Litchfield, a partnership that took the pressure off the rest of the batting order and set up a straightforward run chase. Backed by that stand, Australia went on to reach the target comfortably, sealing the match by 7 wickets and lifting the trophy at Lord's.
Double Honours For Mooney
Her all round contribution across the tournament did not go unnoticed. Mooney was named Player of the Match for her innings in the final, and was also handed the Player of the Tournament award in recognition of her batting through the course of the entire competition. Her run through the 2026 Women's T20 World Cup was marked by consistency and big match temperament, culminating in the record breaking effort at Lord's that has now placed her ahead of some of the biggest names the format has produced.
