WI Women vs Aus Women 3rd T20i: All Eyes on Alana King

Alana King has not only taken wickets in dominican republic but has also taken command of the series. With two matches and two match-changing spells from King, the “dead rubber” description of this game feels disingenuous.

The third T20I for WI Women vs AUS Women (Arnos Vale Ground, Kingstown, St Vincent) will be played on Monday, March 23, 2026, starting at 6.30 pm (USA); 4.00 am on March 24 (IAD). Australia already have the series locked at 2-0, with both matches: Australia batting first, scoring over 160, and the leg spinners first putting pressure on, then closing it off on the West Indies as they attempted to reset.

Can the West Indies find a clean strategy to King before the series shifts from T20s to ODIs?

Deep Dive

Australia’s advantage in this series is not based on either team producing a single big innings, nor on one of the spinners having a successful last over, but rather on controlling the middle of the field; and no one has been more responsible than Alana King. King has bowled in the powerplay, against old partnerships, and closed the door at every opportunity.

The West Indies proved in their last innings that they can score runs at Arnos Vale. That’s more than enough evidence of it than the second inning of the second game.The issue is that the Australians have experienced their best moments before seeing them all collapse immediately as King finds her circumstances in way of using her drift; using her skid; and that faster, bs. wrong-‘un that makes all the batters play from their crease instead of just hitting it normally.

Two spells by Alana King have turned the series upside down. Compared to the first match, when the fielders in the Australian team were on their game as well, with Alana not contributing with any dropped catches, then when the Australians had an opportunity to put the West Indies away, they allowed them to get back into the game by dropping to the floor twice as quickly than they could afford to do so.

In the first T20I, when King was bowling, no Australian could afford to drop three catches off Hayley Matthews during the power-play. Once King returned to bowl, she did not waste her opportunity—she took 3 for 14 as the West Indies went from their smooth start to creating an enormous chasm to achieve their target.

In the second T20I, again, the outcomes were closely matched throughout; therefore, the effects that Kings batting had on both sides of the result was reflected in how much louder her number was compared to any other player in that game after Matthews’s performances.

In both instances, with the help from King, Hayley Matthews provided the West Indies with their second and third chances to stay in their hunt for victory.

Arnos Vale and 164

To use all of the above as a guide to create a statement that represents the sum of everything written about Arnos Vale (i.e. the score was 164 for the first two games of each player).Great pressure on WI Women early in match, while Aust Wmen slowly built-game 1 at Aus. Playing WI late in the build-up to WPL ensured both teams were still sharp as well.

The new venue’s mood shifts rapidly. With a brand new ball, you can hit boundary shots, but when the spinner lands hard length on a surface, player needs more than just slog/sweep/hoping until things go sour.

If you look at cricket there, it feels like same logic in a WPL game in India when you face best legspinner at DY Patil or Kotambi. You’re much more likely to lose because you let the best leggie bowl four overs for 20 runs, than you know you’re going to be behind as you’re making outs.

The batting plan for Australia was to have “164 work well without having an all-round effort.”

Aussies had not had an ideal innings; they got two clean phases within that innings: 1st T20 — Beth Mooney scored 79 off 55 balls and had partnership of 99 with Ellyse Perry gave Aust team strong control after poor start of innings.

Phase 2 was all about Georgia Voll putting together an onslaught during the powerplay in the first 6 overs then Phoebe Litchfield and Perry continued the run rate during field changes to allow both teams to chase tall hill again with great late boost from Georgia Wareham and Nicola Carey.

This was how both teams

To win the first six overs, by all means, West Indies will try to at least get through a set of quiet pictures of scoring to save their wickets. Once the matchups open, they should finish strong towards their goal of scoring runs.

After two chases, West Indies have shown two ways they can chase an innings. In game one, at the halfway mark, they were behind the required run rate because as soon as their middle order went down, they were unable to string together consecutive wickets or runs.

In game two, they started slowly with an unfortunate run out of Qiana Joseph. However once Matthews went on a rampage hitting boundaries consistently, they were well on their way to winning the game. Unfortunately, when King took out the batters who were batting unbelievably well, they lost momentum and ultimately fell short.

From my perspective, West Indies must find a way to chase down the runs without relying solely on one individual having an amazing game. They need to rely on two players to build their partnership(s) and a batting strategy that maintains their required run rate in the 8s regardless of when King finishes bowling her second over.

The best player’s battle

The best player’s battle will likely be the most obvious: King vs Matthews. Matthews has shown that once she is in, she can hit the ball hard and far into the gap against King. However, King has shown the ability to pull Matthews into hitting risky shots-perhaps by drifting into Matthews or changing the pace on her.

The second battle will involve how well Kim Garth has used her early model to put pressure on West Indies players. In game two, she took her first two overs of the powerplay and gave up only three runs while not taking a wicket. By creating this sense of pressure on the West Indies’ players, it made the slow progression of runs for Matthews feel even longer.The third aspect is Mooney’s performance against the West Indian pacers or seamers. In the first match against West Indies, both Deandra Dottin and Chinelle Henry picked up wickets, however Mooney was able to add to Australia’s total due to her ability to find gaps in the field early on and not give her wicket away through being done by the boundary that is so large.

The next competitive “battle” that one rarely thinks about becoming a “battle” until it becomes costly is fielding. Australia dropped two catches in the 1st ODI but won anyway, however the West Indies could not afford to have to drop any because the Opposition is always going to make a total of over 160, therefore West Indies cannot afford extras on top of their total/score.

Selection is another issue

This series also is taking place during a timeframe leading up to another event. The ICC Women’s T20 World Cup starts June 12, 2026 and Australia’s major issue will be to create a balance of spinners not batters however long their batting depth.

Georgia Wareham is long considered a major part of their spin bowling attack; Sophie Molineux, as the captain, returns from a back injury. King is putting pressure on the selectors as they are looking at the availability of leg spinners (2) or four spinners dep. on ground condition (obviously). This is why king’s performances in the ODI were more like an audition than a matchup.

For West Indies, the selection issue is a different one as well. West Indies would like to develop a top 6 that does not struggle against quality spin as well as to have Matthews ready to perform at the World Cup with players that can help her succeed when she has an off day.Likely XIs and winning conditions in either squad

Likely XIs and winning conditions

Australia has used the same match-day squad for both games to-date; the squad, as shown in the most recent ICC squad list for this tour, is based on Mooney, Perry, Gardner, Wareham, King, and their seamers – the same expected XI will be used unless Australia want to use this match as a test for a different role and/or combination of players.

The West Indies again have Matthews, Joseph, Taylor, and Dottin as their main batters; however, they will rely on Fletcher and Ramharack to provide the spin control to prevent Australia from scoring too quickly in the middle overs, as was the case in the first two games. If West Indies change their tactics, the most likely change would be to bring Dottin into the game earlier in the batting order if the powerplay does not get things started quickly enough.

The revised chase line has now been 165 on a total of three occasions at Arnos Vale this series, with Australia achieving this in two of three attempts. If the Windies bat first, they must have something in the range of 155 to 165 at 14 overs (with wickets in hand), or they will be at the mercy of another great legspin performance against them.

If you are planning on calling this one straight, being that they are doing the repeatable things (powerplay stability, controlled legspin in the middle overs and total-par technology), Australia would be considered the favourites. The most likely opportunity for the West Indies to turn this around would be to have a better powerplay with the bat, followed by one big over where Dottin is able to put King out of the game rather than allowing King to dictate the chase.

Key Facts

Australia have posted scores of 164 in both games played, while on both occasions West Indies have chased down a total of 121/6 & 147/4, and while they have succeeded at improving on their middle-overs control, they are still searching for a higher level of middle-overs performance.

The impact of Alana King has been extremely evident through her partnership wickets (3/14 in the 1st T20I and 2/25 in the 2nd T20I), and in particular her dismissals of Matthews who was and Taylor still will be in a position to contribute to a successful West Indies chase.

The West Indies have struggled through tempo. Their slow start in the 2nd game meant that even after Matthews’ counterattack, there still wasn’t enough batting left to finish successfully.

The match time for India is early; 6.30pm local time (AST) on March 23 is 4.00am March 24 in India, which means a coffee cricket start to the game.

In Summary

The WI Women vs Aus Women 3rd T20I may not officially decide the series, but it does have the ability to create storylines. King has already made this tour feel like a significant selection announcement; will the West Indies provide any evidence of their ability to defeat elite-level legspin without completely losing control on the chase?

Follow the opening 12 overs of each team’s batting innings closely, if at the conclusion of the 12th over the West Indies have maintained a reasonable scoring rate and do not have King as a significant contributor, then the end of this match should be a performance from West Indies that no other teams have been able to produce over the past week.