Australian T20 World Cup winner reflects on record breaking night as 2020-21 pre-season looms

With a new pre-season alongside her Tasmanian Tiger teammates on the horizon, Nicola Carey still pinches herself on being part of the biggest crowd for a female sporting event on Australian soil.

Nicola Carey, member of the Australian and Tasmanian women's cricket teams, at Blundstone Arena. Picture: NIKKI DAVIS-JONES

NICOLA Carey has had plenty of down time to reflect on the historic night for female sport in Australia.

The T20 World Cup winning all-rounder can still picture the scenes from the final at the MCG on March 8 against India — where an incredible 86,174 fans packed the stands in what was the biggest crowd ever for a women’s stand-alone sporting event in the country.

From the tingles from the national anthems to seeing former player turned commentator Lisa Sthalekar “bawling her eyes out”, even three months on it still seems a touch surreal.

“It does seem a little bit crazy, obviously there was a lot of hype before it and then when you are going through the tournament, it was so fast paced you didn’t really have time to think about it,” Carey said in an interview with the Sunday Tasmanian.

Nicola Carey in action during the 2020 ICC Women's T20 World Cup final at the MCG between Australia and India. Picture: MARK STEWART

“Now it’s all done and dusted you do sit back and think ‘that was bloody crazy’.

“Is that ever going to happen again in my playing career? It was an unbelievable moment.

“Even thinking back to the national anthems and looking out at the crowd, I could even see Lisa Sthalekar, she was bawling her eyes out on the sidelines.

“Players like that paved the way for us girls and where the game is at the moment, so for them to sit back and watch that and be so overwhelmed with emotion and really proud of where the game is, I thought that was really cool.”

Little did Carey know the world would be turned upside down less than a week later.

Just five days after the buzz at the MCG, the Australian men’s side played New Zealand in an ODI at an empty SCG as the full fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic began to materialise.

The remaining two matches of that men’s series — one which was slated for Blundstone Arena — were cancelled, while all the winter sporting codes in the country were put on hold.

“During the World Cup I wasn’t paying too much attention to what was going on, we were so focused on what we needed to do,” Carey said.

Nicola Carey celebrates with Beth Mooney of Australia dismissing Deepti Sharma of India during the ICC Women's T20 Cricket World Cup Final. Picture: CAMERON SPENCER/GETTY IMAGES

“We didn’t realise how bad it was and then when everything started shutting down a week before, I started thinking ‘so much planning went into this and imagine if it got shut down because of the coronavirus’.

“We were so lucky that so many things sort of went our way during the tournament, even the weather in the semi final.

“It was actually pretty unbelievable when you look at the lead-up of events to even that day, and then you look at afterwards a week later the men playing in an echoing stadium with no one there, which was strange to watch.”

Now as Australia begins to emerge from the other side of the coronavirus shutdown, Carey is looking forward to getting stuck into a solid pre-season.

Although the 26-year-old joined Tasmania last year, international commitments limited her time with the Tigers, making her feel almost like a new recruit when the group assembles for the first time on Monday.

“With the international schedule last season it was quite hectic and even with camps and things like that, it takes you in and out of the group every few weeks.

“I didn’t spend a good stint here until the Big Bash and even then, that is quite a hectic tournament as well.

“I am actually looking forward to having a solid pre-season for a start and just being around the group for a longer period of time, getting to know everyone.

“We do have a couple of new recruits so to get around them and the rest of the girls, it will be nice to spend some time here.”

It is shaping up as another big summer for Carey, who has established herself within the national white ball teams.

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Australia hosts three ODIs and three T20Is against trans-Tasman rivals New Zealand in September and then three ODIs against India in January, one in Hobart, before attention turns to the 50-over World Cup in New Zealand in February.

“Now I have sat out for a couple of months with off season you start to miss it, you start to forget what happened last season in a way and you get excited for the upcoming season.

“This one is no different … I don’t know what the summer will look like if any games will get cancelled or it becomes a reduced season or whatnot but so far it looks good and really positive.”