Australia were hailed yesterday as among the greatest sporting teams the country has ever produced after winning yet another ICC Women’s T20 World Cup.
Captain Meg Lanning’s side on Sunday beat hosts South Africa by 19 runs at Newlands in Cape Town to lift the trophy for a sixth time in the past seven tournaments.
“Don Bradman had the Invincibles. Meg Lanning has the Immortals,” the Australian newspaper said. “Where Bradman’s legendary team was labelled as such just for one tour of England after the war, the Australian women’s team is now an era of unprecedented world domination.”
Photo: AFP
“It’s a very special effort from this group,” Lanning said after her players proved superior to a South African team that had the backing of a near-capacity crowd of about 15,000.
Opening batter Beth Mooney was named player of the match after making an unbeaten 74 in an Australian total of 156-6.
“I walked off thinking we didn’t have enough runs, but maybe I was a bit hard on myself. It was a really tough wicket,” she said.
Mooney said the Australian players were proud of their dominance.
“Other teams around the world are improving. We are being hunted, but we want to enjoy it for as long as we can,” she said.
The defending champions quickly put the pressure on the South African batters who could score only 22 runs for the loss of opener Tazmin Brits in the six-over powerplay.
“Our powerplay with the ball was excellent,” Lanning said.
South Africa were never up with the required run rate and were restricted to 137-6, despite opener Laura Wolvaardt hitting 61 off 48 balls.
Captain Sune Luus paid tribute to the Australians.
“You guys have been inspirational to world cricket for many years,” she said.
However, Luus said the tournament had been a major boost for women’s cricket in South Africa, with big crowds supporting the home team even after they had lost their first two games of the tournament.
“I think we can be proud of ourselves,” she said.
Luus challenged South African cricket officials and the government to push for girls’ cricket in schools and to improve the club and provincial system, “so we can keep knocking on Australia’s door.”
Australia won all their six matches in the tournament to hammer home their dominance of the format.
Off-spinning all-rounder Ash Gardner was named player of the tournament after a series of consistent performances.
Australia were already reigning 50-over ICC Women’s World Cup champions and they won the inaugural Commonwealth Games gold medal last year.
“It’s a spectacular achievement and one that has been criminally underappreciated in recent weeks,” the Australian said yesterday.
“For this Australian team not to be nominated for the Laureus World Sports Awards is a disgrace and makes a mockery of the once-prestigious awards.”
The England women’s soccer side has been nominated for this year’s Laureus team award, along with five others, including the French men’s rugby team and Formula One’s Red Bull, but Lanning’s world-beaters were overlooked.
The Sydney Morning Herald lauded them as one of the all-time greats.
“They’ve played in a way that has changed the status and perception of women’s cricket forever and made some of them household names,” it said. “It’s almost impossible to deny that when everything that matters is taken into account — achievement, grace, inspiration to a generation and social impact — they’ve put more stakes in the ground than any other.”
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