"I don't think anyone expected us to come this far" says Stafanie Taylor

In the post-match press conference, player of the first semi-final Alyssa Healy and the losing captain Stafanie Taylor spoke to the media.



Healy was well-pleased with her sides efforts in the match, saying, "I think just really proud of the girls' effort. I think it was one tricky wicket out there, and the way we just fought, fought really hard with the bat. And the ball was just executed again and again. And really proud of that win. That meant a lot to the group."



The pitch in Antigua was quite unfamiliar for the side and proved to be a tricky one to adapt to for both teams. On this, Healy commented, "couldn't just swing through the line like I have been in the last sort of six weeks. So it was -- that left a bit of fluff, I like to call it, on top of the wicket, and just sort of gripping the ball and made it quite tricky for the batters. So you really had to play smart, and we'll take a lot out of that going into the final. But I think our bowlers watched that unfold and bowled it perfectly after." Australia did well to reach a total of 142 and Healy commended her teams middle order on that, led by Rachael Haynes. " I think I said, when I got out that if we can get 130, 140, we're right in this game, knowing that our bowlers would execute when called upon. I was quietly confident but at the same time we still had to bowl well and I think they did a fantastic job.



"I think our middle order are fantastic about that," she further added. "They really grind out the runs when need be, especially on a tricky wicket like that. It wasn't easy to start out, but for her to come in and find the boundary a couple of times and sort of nudge that score up with Elyse Villani and Ellyse Perry towards the end. I think we're probably not that crucial in the end but in saying that it was sort of a real momentum builder leading into our bowling innings."



The Australian's were no doubt pumped up by their win, with Healy admitting this victory ranked highly in their wins. "I'm really proud of that win. I think to come here to the West Indies, to play in front of a crowd like that that's 99 percent going for the West Indies, we sort of thrive off that, we love being the underdogs in Australia. We don't get to do it too often. I think being the number one ranked side. For us to come here try to take a trophy off the West Indies was always going to be really difficult. So for us to go out there and play such a good performance today it was really special."



And while the crowd in Antigua may have been supporting the home team, the Australian squad has their fans back home. On their support, Healy commented, "Aaron Finch left us a really lovely message this morning wishing us luck. And we feel the love from home. It's been on really good terms over there. I think it's 7:00 in the morning in Sydney. So all of our mates have been texting after every game. We feel the love from back home. Sometimes it's nice to be so far away minding our own business. But I think for all of Australia to be sitting there behind us means a lot."



Taylor also emphasised upon how much the support from the crowd meant to the team. "I would like to thank the guys for coming out in Guyana and St. Lucia and here. I thought that was fantastic coming out and supporting women's cricket. It's the first time we've ever gotten this big crowd and I just want to thank everybody for coming out," she said.



While the Windies' campaign comes to a disappointing conclusion, Taylor was not too critical of her sides performance in the match. "In my opinion," she reflected, "I just believe that we didn't give ourselves a chance. Spent some time at the wicket. I believe that this wicket was the -- a great opportunity to do that, spend some time on the wicket; it was a bit slow. But I find that in the second half I find the ball was coming out a bit better. So I believe if we spent time on the wicket it would have been different."



She focused on the positives of the tournament, noting "the crowd support was good. I thought that we've come a long way. I don't think anyone expected us to come this far and that's a big plus. I thought we played some good game of cricket. Our performance was fantastic. Our bowling, have ever seen such bowling. And the fielding was really good. I haven't seen anything like it. So I thought our own performance was good. Just today we were a bit off in the batting."



Taylor finished the conference with encouragement to young girls to join the sport. "Seeing that the game was exciting, I encourage young girls to come out. I'm sure there was -- there's been a lot of young girls who came out this evening to watch our game. We need more young girls coming through. So if you're out there playing, just come out and punch in and play," she said.