Australia pin focus on T20WC 2026 after emphatic series win
Spinner Alana King had big praise for Australia captain Sophie Molineux and opened up on the mood in the camp ahead of the ICC Women's T20 World Cup.
Six-time winners Australia are priming themselves for the upcoming ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2026 in England and Wales.
The Aussies mounted a perfect finish to their tour of the West Indies with a 3-0 ODI series sweep. The win followed a T20I series triumph by a similar margin, which comes ahead of the much-anticipated marquee tournament this summer.
Spinner Alana King conceded that with Molineux at the helm, Australia fancy their chances in England and Wales.
"I've loved being here with Soph as captain, it's my first time with her taking the reins and it's just a great character who's leading this incredible team," King said after the third ODI.
"Disappointing no doubt for her that she had to sit on the sidelines for a couple of the games, but she's doing everything she can to be ready to go when that World Cup comes around.”
Molineux has been recovering from a back injury and was rested in the final ODI in St Kitts.
Sophie Molineux provides key breakthroughs to Australia | POTM Highlights | WT20WC 2024
Furthermore, King commended Molineux’s inquisitive nature that adds to her nuance as a leader.
"The best thing about Sophie is she's a people's person, it's just in her nature to get to know people away from the game, and she wants to know people on a deeper level about their game,” she said.
"So she's still learning, she's going to be learning for a bit, because this is still quite new to her, but no doubt that she will look at this series and think what a great opportunity it was to get to know a bit of her players and different conditions and how people have (responded) when pressure's been put on them."
King was the pick of the bowlers for Australia, finishing the series with a five-wicket haul.
Alana King's historic spell | Aramco POTM Highlights | CWC25
Australia leggie Alana King notched the best-ever bowling figures at the ICC Women's Cricket World Cup against South Africa.
In her quota of 10 overs, King conceded a mere 19 runs while snapping five wickets. Her performance helped Australia dismiss the West Indies for 136. In response, the visitors chased down the total inside 19.4 overs with Phoebe Litchfield (68* off 56 balls) emerging as the highest run-getter.
"We're really pleased on how we finished the series," King said after Thursday's win.
"I think the T20s were quite commanding for us and we wanted to continue that momentum into the ODI.
"I think everyone's just now really pleased to have come to the Caribbean and enjoyed a really tough series - the scorecard might have not have (reflected) that at times, but they're a pretty dominating team, and they've got some incredible players, so to win 6-nil is pretty pleasing, and everyone's looking forward to a well-earned rest."
Having won the tournament six times before - their latest victory coming in 2023 - Australia will be eyeing to make history this summer at the Women’s T20 World Cup.
Touted as one of the favourites, Australia are slotted in Group 1 alongside South Africa, India, Pakistan, Netherlands and Bangladesh.