Australia all-rounder Ellyse Perry said that more than 80 thousand fans at the final of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup at the Melbourne Cricket Ground had created an “absolutely incredible” moment for women’s cricket.
Australia had defeated India by 85 runs after setting a mammoth target of 186 runs courtesy blistering knocks from Alyssa Healy and Beth Mooney who scored 75 and 78 respectively.
“Sometimes I think about that tournament, and particularly about that final, and I don’t even think it was about our team. It was just about the event, the moment in women’s cricket that it created was just absolutely incredible. Hopefully what it does for the sport has a flow-on effect,” Cricket.com.au quoted Perry as saying.
“And I think that was something the team was really quick to acknowledge. All the past players and all the effort that’s been put into developing women’s cricket over the last little bit, it made that whole tournament so much bigger than just the tournament itself,” added Perry who had missed the final due to injury.
However, the 29-year-old expressed no regret for failing to play the match which saw the highest-ever attendance in a women’s cricket match.
“It was more about the sport and women’s sport in Australia and around the world. We all felt like that, whether you were playing or not. This was so much bigger than just one game of cricket or one innings or one spell of bowling from any one individual. It was about the moment,” Perry added.
The Indian team were playing their maiden T20 World Cup final in comparison to Australia’s sixth. And the inexperience of the Women in Blue was exposed to perfection by the home team as they took the steering wheel of the match from the word go.