Aussies eye World T20 as drought breaks

The T20 monkey is officially off Australia’s back, but captain Meg Lanning is adamant their tri-series victory in Mumbai is just the first step in a journey she hopes will lead her team to another World T20 title.

Australia’s thumping 57-run victory over England in Mumbai sealed their first piece of T20 series silverware since August 2015, snapping a streak of five-consecutive series defeats.

They could not have done it more emphatically, posting 4-209 – the highest total ever in women’s T20I history – before a near faultless display in the field that kept England to 9-152.

"It was certainly our most complete performance of the tournament," Lanning said after play.

"We spoke a lot about making sure we finished the series off well.

"We haven’t won a T20 series for a while and we were in such a good space throughout the series, so it’s nice to top off all the hard work we’ve done.

"It’s nice to have a win and to do it in the way we did as well."

Australia now have a six-month wait before their next international engagement, a 20-over series against New Zealand in September.

The long winter months will be punctuated by regular training camps at the Bupa National Cricket Centre in Brisbane, where Lanning said her team will aim to build on the foundations they’ve formed here in Mumbai.

"It was a very important series for us, for establishing the way we want to play and getting players into the roles we think suit them the most," she said.

"We saw throughout the ODIs as well, that style of play we want was there.

"It’s irrelevant which format we play, we want to play the same way and make sure we’re trying to push the game forward all the time.

"That will be our driving force over the winter and whatever games we do get to play, we want keep trying to nail it down as best we can.

"This is a good starting point but we know we need to keep improving and hopefully by the time we get to the World Cup we’re in a really good spot."

Australia’s run of three consecutive World T20 titles ended two years ago in Kolkata when they lost to West Indies in the final.

Now, with a chance to win the trophy back, Lanning knows her team must continue pushing their game to new heights.

"I think the game has changed massively even in the last year," she said.

"Having only four fielders out of the circle makes a big difference. We had very batter-friendly conditions here so it’d hard to tell whether that’s going to be the height we’re at (going forward), but people are looking now to take the game on and push the envelope and it’s exciting.

"It’s a great brand of cricket that everyone is playing and it’s great to be part of – it’s fun to play and hopefully a good spectacle to watch as well."

Qantas tour of South Africa

South Africa squad: Faf du Plessis (c), Hashim Amla, Temba Bavuma, Theunis de Bruyn, Dean Elgar, Heinrich Klaasen, Quinton de Kock, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, Morne Morkel, Chris Morris, Wiaan Mulder, Lungi Ngidi, Duanne Olivier, Vernon Philander, Kagiso Rabada, AB de Villiers.

Australia squad: Joe Burns, Pat Cummins, Peter Handscomb, Josh Hazlewood, Jon Holland, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Shaun Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Tim Paine, Matt Renshaw, Jhye Richardson, Chadd Sayers, Mitchell Starc.

Warm-up match: Australia beat South Africa A by five wickets. Report, highlights

First Test Australia won by 118 runs. Scorecard

Second Test South Africa won by six wickets. Scorecard

Third Test South Africa won by 322 runs. Scorecard

Fourth Test Wanderers, Johannesburg, March 30-April 3. Live coverage