	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

ICC WOMEN'S WORLD T20

November 24, 2018

Meg Lanning

North Sound, Antigua and Barbuda

Australia - 106/2, England - 105

Q. Congratulations, Meg. Asked you yesterday whether it was the best lineup in your career. Retrospectively was that the finest Australia can play?
MEG LANNING: I think I'd have to say yes to that. It's definitely the most satisfying win I've been involved in, especially after the last couple of World Cup exits for us, hurt our team a lot.

Q. Meg, I asked you yesterday whether it would be the best moment in your career. And retrospectively was that the finest moment you've had as a cricket player?
MEG LANNING: I'll have to say yes to that. It's definitely the most satisfying win I've been involved in, especially after the last couple of years. The last couple of World Cup exits for us hurt our team a lot. And we spoke about that as a group and not hiding away from that fact. But I think that the biggest thing has been that we've been able to learn and really grow as a group.

Win, lose or draw today we are really happy where we are as a group. Our culture is fantastic. And we're just really enjoying what we do. And I think we showed that out there tonight. And, as I said, it's definitely very satisfying to sit here as T20 champions.

Q. Georgia Wareham was outstanding, how did you think of bringing in Georgia.
MEG LANNING: Look, she's fitted into the team seamlessly. The stage of international cricket hasn't daunted her at all. And the way she played today I guess we took a little bit of risk selecting her. Obviously she hasn't played domestic cricket for that long. But we saw some real potential in her and the way she's carried herself throughout the tournament has been amazing.

And to stand up on such a big stage today just showed what a great player and person she is. And, yeah, it's certainly nice to see her do well.

Q. What does it mean obviously for the future with her and Gardner looking ahead to the 2020? You've got a youthful list.
MEG LANNING: We've been able to add to our squad over the last few years. We've gone with youth, I guess, and some players who have performed well in WBBL. I think that's provided a really great platform for us to select players from. And to have those young players step up in such a big final just shows how good they can be and really how calm and composed they are under pressure.

That's what we've spoken about as a group, being calm and making sure we held our nerve longer than the other team. To be led by the younger players today I think is a great credit to the group and the way that we're operating at the moment.

Q. Your captaincy, coaching Gardner out there, how different is your batting style to, say, 12 months ago?
MEG LANNING: Look, I don't know that I've changed too much I guess, but now with our batting lineup that we've got I feel like I can play a lot more freer, and I don't -- I can just go out there and play rather than feel like I've got a lot of responsibility. I think over the last year or so we've really, we're not relying on one or two players anymore, and I think that probably found us out a little bit in the couple of World Cups previously. We understood it's about playing your role on the day and I had full confidence that everyone in that group today was going to play their role and could stand up if needed. So for the team to embrace that, especially in the T20 format where we've got eight opening batters, but everyone was willing to sort of sacrifice their own game to try and win the game for the team and I think that's why we're standing here today as champions, because everyone was willing to be selfless and really just do what they can to win.

Q. How important has Alyssa's form been in taking that pressure off of you?
MEG LANNING: Healy, she's had an amazing tournament. T20 cricket can be fickle and up and down. But for someone to play so well so consistently throughout this tournament is amazing and a great credit to her. She's put in a lot of hard work over the last year or so to get herself into a really good shape and really good spot mentally. And for me the biggest thing was I just saw a smile on her face all the time and that's what we speak about as a group. Enjoying what we do. And I think she led the charge in that regard and I'm really happy that she's done so well throughout this tournament, because she's a really important part of our group and she definitely led the way for us throughout.

Q. How much is this a victory of the system? How much of your win is reliant on the system, the WBBL, the women's structure, the professionalism?
MEG LANNING: Look, there's no doubt that being professional allows us to put everything we can into becoming better cricketers and better people off the field as well. And we're very lucky that we've got the support network behind the scenes to allow us to do that. The support staff that we've had on this tour. And back in Australia have really just allowed us to go out there and play. Cricket Australia has supported us wonderfully well over the last five years. Not just the last little bit. And we just love what we do. I guess it's a job but, gee, it's a good one to do.

Q. And the fact that we have seen a much more expressive Meg Lanning in this tournament, how much does it have to do with that?
MEG LANNING: There's no doubt that I think that's had a massive impact on the way I look at the game. That timeout for me was extremely difficult. Harder than I thought it was going to be. But now that I'm back in it I'm enjoying being a part of it. The group's in such a good spot. We all enjoy each other's company. We really care about each other. As I said, we're lucky to do what we do. We feel privileged to be in the position we are.

I've really enjoyed being back around the group and being able to lead this team to success after a really tough couple of years for this group. There's no doubt that we were hurting a lot after those World Cup losses and we use that to drive us forward and to make changes and to get that result out there tonight was a combination of a lot of hard work.

Q. Some brilliant fielding, moments some shakier ones. How did you prevent it from being contagious on the field, so to speak?
MEG LANNING: Look, we didn't have our best day in the field. But I think the good thing was that we didn't let it affect our whole game. And we spoke about that as a group heading in that if something didn't go our way that we needed to react really well and keep our body language positive and make sure we're looking forward. So I thought we did that really well. I thought all our bowlers did a great job to take wickets throughout that was the important thing for us, was to try and keep making them have to start again and our bowling unit's been very, very good over the last year or so. And in changing in their pace and bowling variations and I think that was really effective tonight.

Q. Was it nerves at the start?
MEG LANNING: Oh, look, there's no doubt we were all very nervous heading into the game. As England would have been as well. And that's a good thing. I think if you're not nervous heading into a World Cup final then you probably it's probably something wrong with you.

That's just part and parcel of the game. We tried our best. People make mistakes. And the way we reacted to that was excellent. We didn't let it affect the way we bowled or the way we batted, which was great.

Q. For a team that just went four of the five World T20s, what's next for you in terms of some aspect you feel you should improve on?
MEG LANNING: Look, we want to be a very consistent cricket team. And I think we have done that over the last few years without the success at world tournaments. So hopefully this win is sort of the start of something. I've got no doubt that this group is capable of something special. We've really put together an amazing squad and support staff to be able to move the game forward and be part of the women's game, which is going to grow so much over the next couple of years. The T20 World Cup is in Australia in 2020, which is going to be massive. So I think we've shown that we can be the world's best team. And it's nice to get the World Cup success here. But we're very keen to make sure we're very consistent and continue to win as many games as we can.

Q. How surprised were you that the wind was as comfortable as it was?
MEG LANNING: It didn't feel that comfortable. At the halfway mark, to be only chasing 106, we were confident but we knew we had to put together a really good partnership and once you sort of do that you sort of break the back of the chase and the opposition, I guess, if you don't give them the most wickets, you able to get on top. We had trouble chasing small totals in the past but tonight we were so determined to get it done. And it was great to finish it off in style, which I think it was well-deserved tonight.

Q. How do you celebrate tonight?
MEG LANNING: There will be some big celebrations. I think we've been waiting for this moment for a long time. And as I said it's very, very satisfying win. And we'll celebrate accordingly. I think this group's worked extremely hard to get the success and you don't know what's going to happen in the future. So we're going to make the most of it and enjoy each other's company.

Q. Stepping back from the win tonight, it's been a tough year for Australian cricket, more broadly. How satisfying is it that you're able to deliver this trophy back to the country such a positive story after what's been trying for the game more broadly?
MEG LANNING: We've spoken about that as a group and making sure that we're carrying ourselves really well and enjoying what we do and really showing what we're about as a team and yes, it has been a tough time for Australian cricket, but we felt that we could really lift the spirits by playing the way we do being ourselves and enjoying what we do. And the success came along with that and hopefully there was a lot of people watching back home and hopefully we've been able to make them proud because we've enjoyed putting on a show for them, playing on the world stage and we're just looking forward to getting home now and celebrating what's been a great tournament, which we've all loved being involved in.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297