Scary detail about Australia's World Cup dominance

Australia holds both World Cup trophies and there’s no end in sight to their plans for dominance.

Australian captain Meg Lanning says there’s more to come from the world champions. Picture: Marty Melville / AFP

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.

Meg Lanning celebrates with teammates. Picture: Peter Meecham/Getty Images

“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.

Australia’s age profile is perfect for long-term domination. Picture: Hannah Peters/Getty Images

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.”

Originally published as Scary detail about Australia's World Cup dominance