Published: Feb 27, 2023, 05:24 PM (IST)
Edited: Feb 27, 2023, 05:24 PM (IST)
New Delhi: After winning the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup for a record sixth time, Australia captain Meg Lanning acknowledged her side for putting in a ‘pretty special effort’, which saw them go undefeated throughout the tournament, including beating South Africa in the final by 19 runs.
With the title win at Cape Town, Meg also overtook Ricky Ponting for captain with the greatest number of ICC titles. She had previously captained Australia to 2014, 2018 and 2020 T20 World Cup wins and 2022 ODI World Cup title, apart from a gold medal in the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
In an interview with Cricbuzz, Schutt, who has led Australia’s bowling attack over last decade the pacer has been been a part of six of those titles (4 T20s and 2 ODIs), is far from bored of these frequent world titles and winning streaks. She said that calmness as a part of the success for Australia in the semifinal clash against India as well where it seemed like India were running away from the contest.
“They were cruising and we were under the pump. Collectively our last five overs were crucial. Getting a couple of wickets in there but also providing pressure on all aspects, whether it’s in the field, with the ball or even body language out there. Harman said our body language was down. I’ll call bullshit on that. We’re just calm. We don’t panic, we don’t take it out on each other if there’s a misfield or a dropped catch. That’s where we stand out as a team. We’re a team first and we know getting angry about that isn’t going to do about that. So it was a collective effort.” Said Schutt.
As advice to the Indian team, she added, “Stay calm. It was wrong of Harman to follow that after (reaction after being given out). It sets the wrong precedent for those coming after. I know she was calm after that and spoke to Deepti. But the damage was done already by then. Being able to compose yourself in that situation. Of course, you’ve to go through lots to figure that out. We’ve had our own losses. Yes, we win a lot, but we’ve had our own clutch moments that we’ve lost and learned from that.”Schutt added.
The 2023 Women’s T20 World Cup victory came after Meg returned to the sport after a five-month break. Co-incidentally, the victory at Cape Town was Meg’s 100th T20I as captain of Australia. Beth Mooney, Player of the Match in the final with a breezy 74, was thrilled to have Meg, also her coffee and game-day breakfast buddy, back to playing the sport.
