WORLD BEATERS
AUSSIE T20 TRIUMPH
AUSTRALIAN captain Meg Lanning has hailed her World T20 winning side, describing the triumph as the finest moment of her career.
The Aussies thumped England by eight wickets in yesterday’s final at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua, with youngsters Georgia Wareham and Ashleigh Gardner leading the way.
The world’s No.1-ranked team finally has a trophy to show for it. It is Australia’s first major title since 2014.
“It’s definitely the most satisfying win I’ve been involved in, especially after the last couple of years,” Lanning said.
“The last couple of World Cup exits for us hurt our team a lot and we spoke about that as a group and [about] not hiding away from that
“We use that to drive us forward and to make changes and to get that result out there tonight was a combination of a lot of hard work.
“There will be some big celebrations. I think we’ve been waiting for this moment for a long time.”
Key changes included an emphasis on strike rate in batting and more adaptability with the ball, and it was smart bowling that was the winning factor yesterday.
The Australians, despite some shocking errors in the field, bowled England out for 105 on a slow pitch.
THERE’S something beautiful about the young. They attack life without fear.
On the cricket field at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium at North Sound, Antigua, a teenage leggie from Mortlake in western Victoria and a 21-yearold from Sydney’s west steered Australia to World T20 glory.
Georgia Wareham, 19, was playing just her 11th T20 since making her international debut in September last year.
As her more experienced teammates fumbled in the field early in England’s innings, she kept her head and executed a superb direct-hit run-out.
Wareham swooped on a ball at mid-wicket, lined up a single stump, and hit it flush to leave in-form Amy Jones sprawling and short of her ground. England was seriously wobbling at 2-30.
As it turned out, it was just the start of the fun.
In the 13th over she had Lauren Winfield out lbw after skipper Meg Lanning backed her excellent hearing from cover. Lanning picked up a sound a micro-second before the cramped Englishwoman played the ball square. Let’s go upstairs. The replay showed the ball clipping the top of Winfield’s back pad, directly in front of middle stump. Out.
Next ball, Wareham bamboozled Sophia Dunkley with line and length and found a gap between bat and pad on leg stump. Two from two.
The hat-trick ball at the start of her next over was a wide, but England was six batters down and in trouble.
“I didn’t even know I was on a hat-trick, that’s how much the game was a blur to me,” Wareham said last night.
She’s in the Mortlake Cricket Club Facebook group, so she knew her old mob was gathering at the clubrooms yesterday to watch her snare 2-11.
“It’s pretty special,” Wareham said. “It’s surreal. I don’t think it’s all sunk in yet.”
Ashleigh Gardner, 21, also helped to restrict England to 105, taking 3-22 with her off-spin, including drawing the false shot that saw the dangerous Danni Wyatt find Lanning in the covers.
Then with Alyssa Healy gone with 77 runs still to get on a tough, low wicket, the responsibility was handed to the much-hyped big hitter.
She took her time, then went bang, hitting three sixes on the way to 33 off 26 balls.
“I just didn’t want to go out … I didn’t want to be five off 15, play a silly shot and then get out,” Gardner said. “Being a final, it was just amazing to be out there and put in a really good performance with Meg … it was pretty amazing to be out there for the winning runs.”
This youthful mix bodes well for the future.
“To have those young players step up in such a big final just shows how good they can be and really how calm and composed they are under pressure,” Lanning said.