“They are setting the standard for world cricket”; Nasser Hussain believes there is “daylight” between World Cup winners Australia and the rest in women’s cricket; ECB Women’s Cricket Director General Clare Connor reckons ‘the rest of the world is catching up’
Nasser Hussain believes there is “no weakness” in Australia’s World Cup-winning team, while the England and Wales Cricket Board’s managing director for women’s cricket, Clare Connor, says “the rest of the world is is updating”.
Meg Lanning’s team claimed a record-extending seventh Women’s World Cup title with a 71-run victory over England in Christchurch with Alyssa Healy making an impressive 170 from 138 balls.
Despite Nat Sciver’s brilliant unbeaten 148 from 121 balls, England fell short in their pursuit of 357 as Australia showed their dominance in the over-50 format once again.
“They are by far the best team, there is light after them and after the rest,” Hussain said. “There is no weakness on that side.
“Meg Lanning is a brilliant captain. A team often reflects the values of their captain and that is exactly what this Australian team does – they strive to be better, day in and day out. They have won 38 of their last 39 games, simply they keep beating sides.
“They’ve outbowled, they’ve outhit, they’ve outfielded every side for the last two years. It took four weeks to figure out what you could have told them in four days: They were going to win this.”
Hussain also highlighted the plethora of top-quality players Australia have at their disposal, with even some of the team’s biggest names far from irreplaceable.
“It has been an outstanding tournament and an outstanding performance from Australia,” he told Sky Sports. “Not only [in the final]They have won all the games. They have won 40 of their last 42 in this World Cup cycle.
“They are setting the standard for world cricket. They look lean, they look athletic, their skills are perfect and the depth of their cricket is just remarkable.”
“We were talking to Ellyse Perry and you know what? If Ellyse hadn’t played today, Annabel Sutherland would have, and they would have been just as good. And that’s talking about one of the greatest female cricketers to have played the game in Perry.
“The word and the feeling here is that England have done quite well, but quite well is not good enough against Australia.”
Meanwhile, Connor acknowledged that England and the other top teams in the world are not currently at the level of the new world champions and argued that the existing infrastructure for women’s cricket in Australia is a very important reason for this.
“A remarkable performance, almost once in a generation for Australia,” the former England captain told Sky Sports.
“You talk about its depth and the rest of the world is catching up with that depth in terms of national structures, roads, investment, the priority that Cricket Australia has given to the women’s game for a number of years.
“Obviously, you can look at his ability to build partnerships and his skills and his discipline. [but] it’s more about infrastructure, our national competitions, and supporting the next generation of Nat Scivers and Katherine Brunts to accelerate their development.
“Take Tahlia McGrath, for example, she’s already played 40-50 national pro games over 50 years, compared to Sophia Dunkley, who came in and played a similar mid-order role, who played six or seven.
“The learning and exposure that some of the players have had in the Australian setup naturally means they are going to push hard.
“For all of us, that’s inspiring and gives us even more motivation to make sure women’s football, in particular in England, but I’m sure other nations have been looking too, to say that’s the standard.”
“It’s not rocket science and it doesn’t happen by magic. It happens over the years through investment, focus, dedication, resources and culture. That’s what they’ve done brilliantly. That’s which has given this Australian women’s cricket team the platform to start and make that kind of performance.”
While Australia deserved the winners, Hussain praised the tournament as a whole with the conditions created that allowed for a high level of cricket.
“I think it’s been an absolutely amazing tournament,” he added. “Not just close endings, you can have bad cricket and close endings, but that’s not what we’ve had. We’ve had exceptional cricket, exceptional level and the endings have been the icing on the cake.”
“I think you have to give New Zealand Cricket a lot of credit, in a pandemic, with everything you needed to do to get teams and broadcasters out here in Covid.
“Pitching over the years, not just recently, has been very important to women’s cricket. If you can produce a game pitching like that, and at Hamilton, we’ve had over 600 runs and you can see all of their skills.
