India gets the cash as Aussies face uncertainty

THE 15 women cricketers who represented Australia at the World Cup will return from England without the trophy and their jobs after their campaign ended in the semi-final.

Brought undone by Harmanpreet Kaur’s magnificent unbeaten 171 off 115 balls, Australia fell 36 runs short of India’s total of 282 in a match reduced to 42 overs a side because of rain.

India will meet England in the final at Lord’s tomorrow.

However, the $230,000 prizemoney should help the players now they are no longer contracted to Cricket Australia and a new memorandum of understanding is still unsigned.

The players had signed extended contracts for the tournament, but on return home they will be in the same holding pattern as the rest of Australia’s first-class cricketers.

“It’s going to be quite inter- esting for when the girls head back home and we’re hit with reality a bit,” said Elyse Villani.

“We’ve been letting it go on in the background, not paying too much attention to it.

“I think it’s going to be pretty interesting when the girls get back. Hopefully the ACA (Australian Cricketers Association) and CA (Cricket Australia) are pretty close to a deal.”

The players had decided not to discuss the ongoing pay dis- pute to prevent it being a distraction during the World Cup.

Villani and captain Meg Lanning said they would get a full update about the talks.

“Our team’s done a really good job of it, both the players and the staff, and we haven’t spoken about it since we’ve been over here,” Villani said.

“We’ve made a really conscious effort with it. I haven’t thought about it and I don’t think other players have.”