Australia skipper Meg Lanning says no-one expected to retire in wake of ODI World Cup victory
The newly-crowned world women’s ODI champions have some bad news for any country with thoughts on titles over the next two years - no-one will be retiring.
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There’s no end in sight to the domination of Australia’s World Cup winning outfit, with captain Meg Lanning declaring no retirements are pending and “we’ll be here” when they defend their T20 crown in 2023.
A Commonwealth Games gold medal in Birmingham is next on the calendar for Australia following Sunday’s one-day World Cup triumph in Christchurch during which the champions went undefeated.
Victories were earnt on the back of stellar performances from an experienced core of players aged 30 and over, with Lanning herself turning 30 during the tournament.
Superstar opener and player of the tournament Alyssa Healy is only 32, Ellyse Perry just 31 and, despite retirement talk around 35-year-old vice-captain Rachael Haynes, who finished the tournament as the second-leading run scorer behind only Healy, Lanning was confident the group would stay together to seek more glory.
“Not that I’ve heard off so far,” Lanning said when asked if there was any retirement talk around her group.
“As a group, we continue to drive ourselves to get better. And we’ll certainly sit back and celebrate this one and sort of take it all in because I think it sort of all has been leading to this point for a long time. So we’ll certainly do that.
“But that’s the great thing about the women’s game at the moment is that there’s some really cool tournaments coming up that we’re involved in. Obviously, the Commonwealth Games is something new for us and that I think will provide us with some really good motivation to go there and play really well.
“So we certainly won’t let up, we want to keep getting better.”
The Australians have introduced a swath of young talent in recent times, including teenage fast bowler Darcie Brown, who is a World Cup winner at just 19.
Leg-spinner Alana King emerged during the tournament and at 26 has lots of cricket in front of her, as does 20-year-old all-rounder Annabel Sutherland, who lost her place in the final to Perry.
Tahlia McGrath has become a world-class weapon over the past 12 months and is also only 26, reigning Belinda Clarke medallist Ash Gardner is only 24 and superstar batter Beth Mooney is only 28.
That’s not including those who missed the squad through injury, including 23-year-old fast bowler Tayla Vlaeminck and another spinner, Georgia Wareham, who is only 22.
It’s a core group of players at their peak and striving to get better, with the rest of the world closing the gap on the Australians.
“We’ve got some really good young players within our squad as well who will keep pushing us along and make sure that we get better as well,” Lanning said.,
“So I think we’re really nicely placed to keep getting better. But that’s the great thing about this group is we’re hungry for success. We want to keep getting better and we’ll certainly celebrate this one.
“In the 2020 World Cup, we played our best game on the biggest stage. And I think today we‘ve done a very similar thing. And that’s a really, really impressive thing for our team is to not get scared or fear the big stage and big moments. We want to be part of it.
“And that’s what really drives us.”
Healy stars as Australia wins World Cup
A record-breaking knock from superstar Alyssa Healy has helped Australia snatch the Women’s ODI World Cup trophy back from England and finish a dominant tournament with a 71-run win.
After coming back from a 0-3 start, England had been hoping to write the final chapter in a World Cup fairytale at Christchurch’s Hagley Oval on Sunday.
Led by Nat Sciver (148*), the English batting order waged an unlikely comeback but there was no questioning that the undefeated Aussies deserved to taste World Cup glory, especially after the performance they turned in on the biggest stage.
Australia now holds the Women’s and Men’s T20 World Cup trophies, the Women’s and Men’s Ashes and the Women’s ODI World Cup trophy.
Healy posted a century in the semi-final against the West Indies but saved her best for the last match of the tournament, quite simply embarrassing the English bowlers.
Her 170 runs from 138 deliveries was the biggest individual score ever recorded by a man or woman in an ODI World Cup final and helped Australia to a team record: the highest ever total in a Women’s World Cup final (356).
Back from Test duty in Pakistan, men’s cricket superstar Mitch Starc watched on as his wife rewrote the history books for fun; prior to Sunday, no woman had ever scored two centuries or 500+ total runs in a World Cup campaign.
Healy did both and also broke the record for most boundaries scored in a Women’s World Cup innings.
On any other day, Rachael Haynes (68) and Beth Mooney (62) might’ve grabbed the headlines but the pair’s stellar knocks were completely overshadowed by their teammate’s.
“That was pretty special from our group,” Healy said afterwards.
“It’s something that we’ve been working towards for a long period of time. Everyone’s been talking about it for a long period of time.
“So to finally get over the line was pretty cool.”
The English won the toss and sent Australia in to bat — a decision they would have regretted as Sunday’s final wore on.
The opening partnership of Haynes and Healy surged past 100 and the English frustration was palpable.
Dani Wyatt and Nat Sciver each dropped manageable catches that could’ve given the English the breakthrough they so desperately required.
Instead, Haynes and Healy combined for 160 runs before Haynes misjudged a Sophie Ecclestone delivery that was caught at point by Tammy Beaumont.
Healy approached her 100 cautiously but let loose from the 40th over, scoring a staggering 45 runs from her last 19 deliveries.
The record-breaking innings finally came to an end when Healy ventured out of her crease to play an Anya Shrubsole delivery, only to be stumped by her rival wicketkeeper Amy Jones.
She left the ground to a standing ovation. The Christchurch locals knew brilliance when they saw it.
“Today was just truly wonderful. For ‘Midge’ (Healy) to do what she did was just amazing to watch,” Ellyse Perry said of her teammate’s innings.
“To finish the way we did today, from an Australian perspective, was just awesome.”
England needed to go at better than seven runs an over and when Megan Schutt claimed the huge scalps of Dani Wyatt (4) and Tammy Beaumont (27) early, the task became even more daunting.
But the challengers weren’t going down without a fight.
Nat Sciver was England’s best with the bat the last time these sides met and things were no different on Sunday.
She brought up her half-century and then her century to prove herself as England’s best batter of the tournament and send a warning shot to Australia that the contest was far from over.
Ironically, it wasn’t the gargantuan total that proved the issue for the English, but the early loss of wickets.
Sciver lacked a steady partner-in-crime, and as her teammates began to fall around her, the Aussies were home.
Perry back in action
Aussie superstar Ellyse Perry recovered from back spasms just in time to play in the World Cup final.
She missed Australia’s last two matches but at the toss, it was revealed Perry would take Annabel Sutherland’s place in the Aussie XI.
Perry admitted she had raced against the clock to be fit in time.
“It was pretty close in the end. I owe a huge amount of gratitude to our medical staff,” she said.
“Equally, it was a really hard one because someone had to miss out. Annabel is an absolutely great mate of mine and so to see that happen too was really tough.
“From a personal perspective, it was a wonderful, wonderful chance to be involved.”
Australia didn’t end up needing to rely on Perry’s experience as Healy, Mooney and Haynes took centre stage with the bat. Perry made 17 not out with the bat and was not called on to bowl.
As has been the case all tournament, the Aussies had others capable of stepping up.
Originally published as Australia skipper Meg Lanning says no-one expected to retire in wake of ODI World Cup victory
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