With five Australians making up the core, here’s how our 2020 T20 World Cup team of the tournament stacks up
Annesha Ghosh10-Mar-2020Beth Mooney (Australia)
After clinching the 2019-20 WBBL title for Brisbane Heat and the tri-series title for Australia in January-February with match-defining fifties, Beth Mooney shepherded Australia with a chart-topping tally in a breakout T20 World Cup. Named Player of the Tournament for her 259 runs – the most for one player at any of the seven editions of the T20 World Cup – her three fifties in six innings, including a most opportune one – a 54-ball unbeaten 78 in the final against India – were pivotal in Australia’s run to their fifth T20 world title.Shafali Verma (India)
Her strike rate of 158.25 was the highest among the top 50 run-scorers at the tournament, her 163-run tally the most among the Indians. The youngest member in runners-up India’s squad, Verma, 16, was the rock in a floundering line-up that was buoyed by her brisk 20-plus scores through their four-match undefeated streak in the group stage when most of their more established batters failed to break out of the batting funk. Verma’s nine sixes in the tournament were joint-most with Alyssa Healy’s.ALSO READ: Women’s cricket in hyperdrive – Records from the T20 World Cup Alyssa Healy (Australia, wicketkeeper)
Much like her team, Alyssa Healy saved her best for the last. Bookending her up-and-down campaign with fifties against India, the Australia opener, on route to her match-winning 37-ball 75 in the final, struck an 83 against Bangladesh during the league stage and brought her belligerence best in the title clash, where she got to her fifty in 30 balls, the quickest in an ICC final by either men or women. With second-most dismissals behind the stumps, Healy is the best fit for wicketkeeper-batter on this team.Meg Lanning (Australia, captain)
For the captain of a home team in a T20 world tournament billed as the biggest ever, Meg Lanning set the benchmark for how to rally a side far from their best in the group games, and one intermittently pegged back by injuries to as many as three key players in the Australian side. With star allrounder Ellyse Perry ruled out of the tournament just ahead of the knockouts, the leader in Lanning channeled the world-beating batter in her with match-winning run-a-ball 49 not-out in Australia’s thrilling win against South Africa in the rain-shortened semi-final. The knock, Lanning’s best in the tournament, was indispensable in Australia’s title-winning campaign and yet another testament to her distinction as one of the best captains of all time. Heather Knight (England)
Rain in Sydney robbed England of a well-deserved chance to make a second straight T20 World Cup final, but that they featured in three consecutive world tournament knockouts since Heather Knight took over as captain is, to a great extent, down to her. At the T20 World Cup, Knight finished fourth on the run-scorers’ table, on the back of two emphatic fifty-plus scores, including an unbeaten 108 against Thailand. The century, one of only two made in the tournament, earned Knight the distinction of the first England woman cricketer to make three-digit scores across all three formats.Laura Wolvaardt brings up her half-century•AFP Laura Wolvaardt (South Africa)
“She’s been brilliant; she’s my pick of the tournament as well,” said South Africa captain Dane van Niekerk about the 20-year-old Laura Wolvaardt, minutes after her side fell five runs short of making the final despite the latter’s unbeaten 41. Wolvaardt, the second-highest run-scorer for South in the tournament after Lizelle Lee, stood out with her dream-like driving and resilience under pressure, her match-winning 53 not-out against Pakistan a highlight in their table-topping run in Group B in the league stage. Nat Sciver (England)
A key cog in England’s middle order, Sciver hit a purple patch at the tournament, smashing three fifties in the league stage, her average the best among the top 15 run-scorers. With Knight, she was involved in a 169-run third-wicket stand in their side’s 98-run win against Thailand. Apart from emerging as England’s most prolific batter in the tournament, Sciver also bowled a combined 10 overs in four games at an economical 5.40 runs per over, returning 2 for 5 in the game against Thailand. Jess Jonassen (Australia)
Her best returns in the tournament came in the final, but in the five games prior, too, the experience of left-arm spinner Jess Jonassen held Australia in good stead. She picked up at least one wicket in each one of them, and her identical figures of 1 for 28 in two hard-fought wins against New Zealand and South Africa included the wickets of the big-hitting Rachel Priest and Chloe Tryon respectively. The latter came in a clutch phase in the semi-final as Jonassen defended 19 off the last over to help seal Australia’s berth in the final.ALSO READ: T20 World Cup takeaways: Australia’s lead at the top Megan Schutt (Australia)
In a tournament dominated by spinners, pace bowler Megan Schutt whizzed past them all to the top of the wicket-charts, riding on 4 for 18 in the final against India. After picking up two three-fors in Australia’s four league-stage wins, Schutt upped the ante at the MCG, striking third ball into India’s chase to have opener Verma caught behind for just 2. Sprinkled across two spells – her 12 dots in 19 deliveries in the final included – in a double-wicket 18th over set up Australia’s successful defence of 184. It was only fitting that Schutt’s dismissal of Yadav would mark the final wicket to fall in the tournament and seal Australia’s first home T20 World Cup win.Sophie Ecclestone (England)
No bowler in the T20 World Cup could better left-arm spinner Sophie Ecclestone’s average (6.12) and economy. On the back of her eight wickets in England’s four completed games in the tournament, Ecclestone, still only 20, reached a career-high No. 1 ranking among bowlers in women’s T20Is. Her 3 for 7 against West Indies in England’s last group game extending her streak of picking up at least one wicket in consecutive T20Is to 18.Poonam Yadav celebrates•Getty Images Poonam Yadav (India)
India’s premier bowler since 2018 and their leading wicket-taker at the T20 World Cup, right-arm wristspinner Poonam Yadav set the tone for India’s impressive campaign with a momentum-shifting 4 for 19 against the hosts in the tournament opener at the Sydney Showground Stadium. She followed it up with a three-for against Bangladesh and picked up a wicket in each of India’s last three games, including that of Rachael Haynes in the final, the latter having suggested earlier in the tournament that Sydney Thunder, the WBBL side she leads, might like to have a wristspinner like Yadav in their ranks.12th player: Hayley Jensen (New Zealand)
New Zealand suffered a second straight league-stage in the T20 World Cup, but Hayley Jensen emerged among the bright spots in their campaign. The pace bowler’s economy was second-best after Ecclestone’s, and among her two three-wicket hauls, the second one, against a low-scoring match against Bangladesh, was her career-best returns which averted a likely upset and kept New Zealand in contention for a knockouts berth until the final league game of the competition.
