Kit Week: Australia's greatest T20 kits

As we celebrate 20 years of T20 internationals in this year's Kit Week, take a stroll down memory lane to enjoy the weird and wonderful playing kits the Australian teams have sported in the game's rock-and-roll format. 

16. Gun metal grey 

Australia's first men's T20 international on home soil was at the Gabba against South Africa in early 2006 and they didn't wear green or gold. They wore a strip that was marketed as "gun metal grey" and the kits featured the nicknames of players, rather than their surname.

'Marto' (Damien Martyn) top-scored with 96 while we also saw 'Roy' (Andrew Symonds), 'Catfish' (James Hopes), 'Pup' (Michael Clarke), 'Andy G' (Nathan Bracken) and 'Sarfraz' (Stuart Clark) among the playing XI. The grey returned the following season in the one-off T20 against England but wasn't seen again after that.

15. Women's T20 World Cup 2014

Another tournament, another trophy for Australia's dominant women's team. This time, they took a bit more of an experimental approach to their look, with a real deep green at the base of the shirt providing a sharp contrast to the gold pants and sleeves. It's included in the countdown due to its uniqueness.

14. Commonwealth Games

While it was a largely uninspiring design that featured considerable aspects of pale blue, the polarising Commonwealth Games kit receives bonus points as it's the only Australian T20 kit ever to be paired with a gold helmet. The massive player names and numbers on the back, in the Commonwealth Games team's special font isn't the greatest addition. 

However, this outfit brought home a gold medal, which earns it a spot on the list.

13. Women's T20 World Cup 2012, men's away 2012-13

Big points for any kit that lifts a trophy and this very simple strip brought home the T20 World Cup for Australia's women during the 2012 tournament in Sri Lanka. Following that raging success, it became a staple for the Australian men on overseas tours (minus the AUSTRALIA written across the front, of course) for a couple of years after, which included Aaron Finch's world-record 156 against England in Southampton in 2013.

12. The off-green sleeves

In the early days of women's T20s, all white-ball kits were seen as interchangeable, and this is especially true with this classic from the mid-2000s. Countless ODI series were played in this number with off-green sleeves and questionable piping, which included the men's team for their 2003-04 home summer.

But most significantly, it was used in the first-ever T20 played by Australia's women, which saw them sporting this kit in their seven-wicket win over England.

11. Men's T20 World Cup 2014

The Aussie men wore predominantly black kits for three T20 World Cups in a row; 2012, 2014 and 2016.

They had poor results at all of these tournaments. A coincidence? We're saying no. If we had to pick a favourite from those black numbers, it would probably be 2014.

10. Indigenous black

Cricket returned from its first Covid-19 break and Australia upped its game in the fashion stakes with a striking black-based uniform that prominently featured an indigenous centre piece, designed by Indigenous artists Aunty Fiona Clarke and Courtney Hagen. The long sleeves, which were worn by Mitch Swepson, Matthew Wade and Glenn Maxwell with aplomb, were nothing short of spectacular.

9. Men's T20 World Cup 2021, primary strip

All teams competing at the 2021 T20 World Cup in the UAE were required to have two strips for the first time in an ICC tournament, supposedly in the event of a clash. For their main kit, the Aussies went with the basic 'highlighter' number, virtually identical to the threads that resulted in a semi-final finish at the 2019 ODI World Cup. Thankfully they did a lot better with their second kit at the event (keep scrolling).

8. Women's T20 World Cup 2018

How do you keep the Aussie motif without being too boring? Sticking close to the Aussie gold/canary yellow is always a safe bet, especially at the major global tournament. The addition to this kit is very smart; a soft green gradient, a subtle southern cross and some intertwining green lines just to ensure there's enough going on. It's not overwhelming and it's unmistakably Australian. Oh, and did we mention it's another World Cup-winning strip?

7. Men's and Women's T20 World Cup 2024

Australia went for a first by employing a predominantly green strip for the men's and women's T20 World Cups in 2024. The dark bottle green outfit has some indigenous designs on the side panels but is largely a simplistic creation. The Aussies bombed out in both tournaments, costing this a spot higher on the list. It also became the default T20 kit for both sides too between 2023 and 2025.

6. Men's T20 World Cup 2022

Hosting the men's T20 World Cup for the first time, the hosts were keen to impress and produced a memorable outfit to match the occasion. Designers Clarke and Hagen were at it again, incorporating more 'Australian' colours into and around the Indigenous artwork. Unfortunately for the home side the tournament ended in failure to reach the semi-finals, but it shouldn’t detract from what was a superb creation.

5. Women's T20 World Cup 2010

Orangey-gold was all the rage for Australian strips at the end of the decade and this kit is remembered for a golden piece of Aussie cricket history: some Ellyse Perry magic in the final of the World Cup in 2010. Her player-of-the-match performance was capped off by her desperate save off the final ball of the match to deny New Zealand's Sophie Devine, earning Australia the trophy.

Design-wise this kit is far from perfect, has no collar and has the thinnest font possible for the spelling of 'Australia', but it's spot on this list can be largely attributed to its special place in cricket folklore.

4. Women's T20 World Cup 2023

Australia had used some stunning indigenous designs as the focal point of strips in the past but the critique of them had always been the addition of too much black. Aussie cricketers should wear green and gold, not black, right?

The 2023 women's World Cup kit aimed to fix that, going all in on the gold with hints of green and orange. Combining the Aussie gold with a burnt orange was a bold decision but it paid off handsomely. Hard to point out any flaws in this one, especially considering Australia took home the trophy with victory in South Africa. Tick, tick, tick.

3. Men's T20 World Cup 2009 and 2010

Back-to-back World Cups in consecutive years is a potential nightmare for the kit designers, so they came up with a novel solution in 2009 and 2010 – recycle! Because Australia performed so poorly in 2009, not many got the chance to see their bold orange with fluorescent green piping until the following year.

In 2010 performances improved, and thanks largely to Mike Hussey for his brutal semi-final takedown of Saeed Ajmal, Australia made the final, only to lose to arch-rivals England.

2. Men's T20 World Cup 2007

Australia's men had only played five (yes, five!) T20 internationals before they competed in the inaugural T20 World Cup (then called the World T20) in South Africa. They rolled out in the most un-cricket-like kits that were effectively a two-piece ensemble: a grey compression undershirt with a pale gold singlet over the top.

Love or hate the look, it resonated with fans, who also got to see it in home T20Is over the following two summers with Michael Clarke throwing down the stumps and Brett Lee charging in. The 2007-08 season was also part of the era that had the players' nicknames instead of their surnames on the back.

1. Women's T20 World Cup 2020, Men's 2021 secondary strip

Any kit that brings in two World Cups is going to rate highly on this list. It features a pleasant gold-to-green gradient, a southern cross and other subtle design elements. The black floppy hats were a nice addition to this kit too. The women started things off with their incredible win over India at the MCG in front of over 86,000 people after stumbling early in the tournament.

The men then got their chance in the UAE after their 2020 tournament had been postponed due to Covid. Because the Aussies had two kits for this tournament (see No.9), they didn't wear this one in the final victory against New Zealand. But they wore it against England, Sri Lanka, West Indies, Bangladesh and in the semi-final against Pakistan.