Kimmince enjoys record night to remember

THE Chronicle speaks to Delissa Kimmince after a record crowd packed out the MCG for the T20 final.

Delissa Kimmince of Australia celebrates with Meg Lanning and her teammates after dismissing Veda Krishnamurthy of India. Photo: AAP Image/Scott Barbour

CRICKET: Warwick’s Delissa Kimmince is on top of the world once again after Australia claimed victory in the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup final in Melbourne.

A monster crowd of 86,174 spectators piled into the MCG, setting the record for highest attended women’s cricket match of all time.

Australia won the toss and elected to bat, a decision that had India behind the eight-ball from the outset.

A devastating first-wicket partnership of 115 from Alyssa Healy and Beth Mooney laid the platform for the Australians to score 4/184.

Kimmince played her part with the ball as Australia looked to secure its fifth T20 world title.

She launched another efficient spell of bowling to finish with figures of 1/17 from her four overs.

Her wicket proved to be a vital one in the 12th over, where she was able to remove Veda Krishnamurthy for 19.

“The only word (to describe the night) is unbelievable,” Kimmince said.

“When 86,000 people flashed up on the big screen while we were fielding, that was the moment I just turned around and smiled to myself and thought how good is this.

“You couldn’t hear somebody from 10 metres away to try and get their attention on the field.”

The importance of the spectacle hasn’t been lost on Kimmince, who said it will go down as one of the finest moments of her credentialed career.

Following on from the game, absolute scenes took place on the field, with the team joining renowned international artist Katy Perry on stage.

“I don’t know how I can manage to put the night into words,” she said.

“The game itself and then singing on stage with Katy Perry are probably two things I’ll never get to do again in my life.

“I can’t think in my lifetime of playing in front of that many people again and I’m never getting on stage with Katy Perry again.

“Doing it on home soil front of family and friends and the people that we’ve grown up with all our lives, it doesn’t get much better than that.”

It wasn’t an easy road to the final for the tournament favourites, having dropped their opening game to India.

Their next moment of angst came in the semi-final against South Africa, where rain threatened to detail their campaign.

The first semi was abandoned, and had play not gone ahead, Australia would’ve been eliminated from the competition.

Kimmince said nerves started to kick in throughout the day, with Australia desperate to get out on the field and get a result one way or another.

“We didn’t start great against India and every game from that point on was a knockout game,” she said.

“Going into the semi with the rain around, I was more nervous about not knowing if we’d play.

“We all said that we just wanted a chance to play. If we got beat, at least we would have known that we had a chance.”