England face Australia's history at Lord's in Women's T20 World Cup final

England and Australia meet at Lord's on Sunday for the Women's T20 World Cup final, and both sides arrive unbeaten. England topped their group before beating South Africa by 40 runs in the semi-final, while Australia won their group and then swept aside the West Indies in theirs. It's a repeat of the venue where England won the very first Women's T20 World Cup back in 2009, and England will be hoping the ground brings them luck again.

History, though, heavily favours Australia. This will be the fourth time these two have met in a World Cup final, and Australia have won all three previous meetings, in 2012, 2014 and 2018, each time by a comfortable margin. Australia are also chasing a seventh title overall, which would extend their record as by far the most successful side in the competition's history. England's only World Cup win over Australia in this format came in the 2009 semi-final, on the way to that maiden title.

Individually, England have been carried by Danni Wyatt-Hodge, the tournament's leading run-scorer with 294 runs, while Sophie Ecclestone has picked up nine wickets with the ball. Australia's threat is more spread out: Ellyse Perry has been their key batter, captain Sophie Molineux has led the bowling attack with ten wickets, and Georgia Wareham has quietly been one of the most effective all-round performers of the tournament. Perry has been managing a minor injury but is expected to play.

With a home crowd fully behind them and a chance to end a 17-year wait for another World Cup title, England have plenty of reasons for belief. But Australia's record in these exact finals, against this exact opponent, is hard to ignore. Whichever way it goes, this is cricket's oldest rivalry writing another chapter at the sport's most famous ground.