‘Hunted’ Aussies salute again, sealing unparalleled success

Shortly after her team lifted the T20 World Cup trophy for a sixth time, Beth Mooney was asked what tips she might give another team, if she were hypothetically hired to advise them on how to beat Australia.

"It's a good question … just don't turn up - it's too hard, don't bother going," a very much tongue-in-cheek Mooney responded.

The opener was of course joking, but as Australia scripted another chapter of what has been an unparalleled history of success at major tournaments, other teams would surely have been pondering that exact question.

Sunday’s 19-run triumph was Australia’s third consecutive T20 World Cup title, and their sixth overall from eight editions across the last 14 years.

They have won every tournament on offer since the 2018 T20 World Cup in the West Indies, including the 2020 event in Australia, the 2022 ODI World Cup in New Zealand and last year’s Commonwealth Games gold medal in Birmingham.

Image Id: 4D5002B18FFD4C7CA4C4C5C0FE9BABC6 Image Caption: Ellyse Perry and Alyssa Healy celebrate another T20 World Cup victory // cricket.com.au

That success has only fed Australia’s hunger to achieve more, Mooney said.

"The good part about the game at the moment is every team's evolving at a rapid pace and the game's evolving at a rapid pace too, so I'm really excited for what's to come and the challenges that are ahead of us.

"As many as there is out there, I think," she said when asked how many more titles this current Australian group might have in them.

"We don't get tired of it. Something we speak about as a group is making sure we're always evolving along the way.

"I think we've seen in this tournament there are teams around the world getting better and better as the years go on and we know that we're being hunted.

"People are looking at us for what we do and how we go about it, so certainly it won't last forever, but we'll enjoy it for as long as we can and hopefully we can keep piling up those trophies."

Australia’s fully professional international and domestic set-up, which includes the pathways provided by the WBBL and 50-over WNCL, have been the key to creating a virtual conveyer belt of talent that has helped them cover retirements and serious injuries across the past five years.

Asked to reflect on where South Africa can hope to make up ground on Australia going forward, Proteas opener Laura Wolvaardt – a frequent import in the WBBL – pointed to those professional pathways as the benchmark her nation needed to strive for.

Image Id: B86A3215D2034210B989E9D430093247 Image Caption: Wolvaardt with her Adelaide Strikers teammates post-match // cricket.com.au

"I think if you look at our structures and our setup, there's still massive differences," she said.

"The depth that they have in their cricket is incredible.

"If they lose one player, they can replace them with a carbon copy of another player.

"We don't really always have that luxury ... I think they're years ahead of us development wise. We can't deny that fact."

For Shelley Nitschke – who won her first ICC trophy as head coach on Sunday after being part of the 2018, 2020 and 2022 triumphs as an assistant – Australia’s success and determination to keep improving will help drive the game forward more broadly.

While some corners of the cricket community have bemoaned Australia’s dominance as boring, she prefers the school of thought that they are forcing other nations to act or get left behind.

Image Id: 4F293D7940AA43F2B80CF14473AE9F76 Image Caption: Shelley Nitschke doused in champagne by Alyssa Healy in victory celebrations at Newlands // Getty

"The fact is that we are getting pushed," Nitschke said of the rest of the world.

"We were playing South Africa here in their first T20 World Cup final.

"The game just continues to grow and our challenge is to evolve with it.

"I think it's great that we keep winning and I hope we do keep winning, but we certainly know that as the game grows, we need to keep moving with it.

"I think that's the challenge for every team."

For South Africa captain Sune Luus, Sunday’s maiden appearance in a major tournament final was just the first taste of what she hopes will be a new era for the team.

Less than an hour after the final ball, her mind was already drifting ahead to the next event, the 2024 T20 World Cup in Bangladesh next September and October.

"We got a sniff of how a final is, and the feelings and the nerves … and I feel now we have a heartache of not winning a final, so I think at next year's World Cup, when we get there again, it's not going to be a big thing for us anymore (to make one)," Luus said.

"Now it's just for us to really look at that final and say, ‘okay, cool, how are we going to get through the final and be (winning) on the other side of that?’

"I think this was a massive opportunity for our girls, they did extremely well and gave Australia a good run for their money.

"And I think we obviously look at Australia’s structures and want to see how we can do that best in our country as well ... we can only try and get better and better to knock on those doors to eventually beat them."

ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2023

Australia squad: Meg Lanning (c), Alyssa Healy (vc), Darcie Brown, Ashleigh Gardner, Kim Garth, Heather Graham, Grace Harris, Jess Jonassen, Alana King, Tahlia McGrath, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Wareham

Australia's T20 World Cup 2023 fixtures

Feb 11: beat New Zealand by 97 runs

Feb 14: beat Bangladesh by eight wickets

Feb 16: beat Sri Lanka by 10 wickets

Feb 18: beat South Africa by six wickets

Semi-finals

Feb 23: Australia beat India by five runs

Feb 24: South Africa beat England by six runs

Final

Feb 26: Australia beat South Africa by 19 runs