Mighty Aussie Women

 

The Men from down under are generally discussed at length but their female counterparts also deserve every bit of discussion, analysis and praise that they are getting. They were on a mission in South Africa and have created history by doing a T20 World Cup hattrick for a record 2nd time. Doing this on the back of the triumph at the Commonwealth Games is even more commendable. It is astounding as to how a team can be so utterly dominant for such long periods of time. The hosts were simply no match for the professionalism and superiority in skill of the Aussies. And by saying that, I am not belittling the South African team, but the Australians operate at a different level altogether.

Whenever Australia-W participate in any series/tournament, I don’t think any other team has a chance to lift the silverware. That is the reputation that they have created over the years. Barring a few aberrations here and there, the team is almost unbeatable. Thankfully, the Indian Women have contributed to some of the above aberrations, but the occurrence of them is so rare that I can’t really count them as a threat for the Aussies. Even in the recently concluded T20 World Cup, they went through the tournament unbeaten. India did come close to packing the Aussie bags but that is all they could do honestly, just come close. As much as I have loved watching the Indian Women’s team improve and excel, there are some obvious issues, but that discussion is for some other day. Today this space is dedicated to the undebated World Champions.

This team reminds me of the West Indies in the 70s and 80s. Or even Ricky Ponting’s Australia of late 90s and the 2000s. That team was of Ricky Ponting, and similarly this team owes a lot to their leader, Meg Lanning. Lanning is undoubtedly a legend of the game already and she is just 30. She now holds the record for most ICC trophies by a Captain i.e., 5, going past Ponting’s 4. Winning 4 T20 World Cups and 1 ODI World cup as Captain is no joke. And it seems like she scores runs for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

But just like any other successful Captain, she could not have done all that without her supremely talented and hard-working bunch of girls. The group that she has is just stupendous. The names and their stature are daunting enough. The batting and the bowling is absolutely relentless.

The opposition bowlers can never rest or take it easy against this batting line up which starts with an opening pair like no other in Alyssa Healy and Beth Mooney. Healy is one of the most aggressive batters and Mooney is extremely consistent. They play fearlessly from the first ball itself and that puts a lot of pressure on the opposition. The reason they can play in such a way is because of the batting that follows. The middle order is made of players like Ellyse Perry, Ashleigh Gardener, Grace Harris, Tahlia McGrath who can hit boundaries at will. Perry is a legendary all-rounder, and she is always contributing. If not with batting or bowling, then with her amazing fielding which was on display in the Semi Final and the Final. Gardener and McGrath are big names in the international circuit although being relatively young. Harris is new to Int’l Cricket, but her strike rate is above 175 which is insane.

The bowling has experience in Megan Schutt and Jess Jonassen while bright young players like Darcie Brown and Georgia Wareham complement them exceedingly well. There is almost no weak link in the bowling and hence unless you put them under pressure, they will make you sweat for every single run. They even have players like Alana King and Annabelle Sutherland who can walk into this team very easily. Hence there are no worries about their bench strength.

The magnitude of their dominance is evident from the fact that they have lost only 3 T20Is since winning the T20 World Cup of 2020, which shows how relentless and consistent they have been. I am in awe of this team, and it excites me to watch them play the way they play. All the other nations will have to work extremely hard to match them skill wise, consistency wise, professionalism wise. But until then, the greatness is all theirs to enjoy.

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