It's definitely the most satisfying win I've been involved in: Meg Lanning

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It's definitely the most satisfying win I've been involved in: Meg Lanning

Meg Lanning with the World T20 trophy. ©ICC

In the post-final press conferences England's captain Heather Knight and coach Mark Robinson spoke to media, while for Australia, skipper Meg Lanning answered the questions.



"It's definitely the most satisfying win I've been involved in, especially after the last couple of years," reflected Lanning on the win. "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."



She further elaborated on the culture of the group, crediting it largely for the teams success. "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. The group's in such a good spot. We all enjoy each other's company. We really care about each other... we're lucky to do what we do." Lanning said.



A big positive for Australia has also been how their youngsters stepped up on the big stage. On Georgia Wareham, one of those youngsters, Lanning commented, "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."



Including younger players in the squad has been a common theme in this World Twenty-20. We saw India, New Zealand and South Africa all back younger players coming through the ranks. Another such team was England, who included three uncapped players in their squad. On those players, Knight said, "I'm definitely proud of how the girls performed. Proud that we made it to another final. We came in with a very inexperienced side, and some of those players that came in, like Sophia Dunkley, Kirstie Gordon, have stepped up and performed outstandingly. And that's really an exciting thing that made it a real positive for us to take forward."



After England's loss, Knight reflected on her sides match, commenting "Obviously disappointed to lose a World Cup final. You put all the preparation in, probably didn't play our best cricket tonight. We just kept sort of losing momentum in the innings, I guess, with those wickets. Never really got sort of the big partnership together that's going to push us on. And turned out not to be a competitive score and be heroes and was going to chase the game. Obviously at that point we didn't have enough points on the board."



Despite the loss though, coach Robinson emphasized upon the success the team had experienced in recent times. "We've done well and in some ways getting to this final was a huge achievement, I think. It hasn't been a smooth ride. St. Lucia was tough. It's interesting, all the top run scores have come from the other group and that reflects the wickets and everything," said Robinson. "And tonight we just couldn't get any momentum. It was a bit of frustration because it's the one that got away a little bit because Australia was jittery, you saw that in the field. But it was just an overridden first half of the game by everybody -- probably the officials, the fielders and the batting team."



He further added, "And then you under-par, you're just chasing shadows. Heather did brilliantly. She's got to keep extra fields in the ring and what you want to try to do in any circumstance is to try and get the wicket. But the team consistently showed great character and have done for a period of time. And that's the main thing. We took a young team, we were missing a couple of players, we felt had enough to win this match today but it wasn't to be. And as I say, huge congratulations to Australia. They've had an outstanding three months."
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