Meg Lanning-led Australia beat South Africa by 19 runs in the summit clash of the 2023 Women’s T20 World Cup to lift their sixth title in the history of the tournament. The Aussies had to hardly break a sweat in order to defend their title. Beth Mooney played a match-winning knock of 74* (53) balls while pacer Megan Schutt bowled an economical spell (1/23). Ashleigh Gardner was named Player of the Series for her ten wickets in six matches.
The Australians looked happy but not jubilant in their celebrations as if they knew this was coming. But Megan Schutt has strictly denied such claims saying they are not yet bored from winning and want to win more. The veteran pacer also took a sly dig at Indian skipper Harmanpreet Kaur for her ‘body language’ remark about the Australia players. Schutt said that the Aussies’ body language reflects calmness which comes from skipper Meg Lanning.
"Meg is a pretty calm character, that's what rubs on us," she says. "That's what we speak in pre-matches. We hold up our calm in pressure moments. Because there are a lot of those, especially in T20s. Being calm in those moments means you're going to execute better,” explained Schutt.
"They (India) were cruising and we were under the pump. Collectively our last five overs were crucial. Getting a couple of wickets in there but also providing pressure on all aspects, whether it's in the field, with the ball or even body language out there. Harman said our body language was down. I'll call bullshit on that. We're just calm. We don't panic, we don't take it out on each other if there's a misfield or a dropped catch,” the pacer said replying to Kaur’s comments.
Schutt also shared a piece of advice for the young Indian team. "Stay calm. It was wrong of Harman to follow that after (reaction after being given out). It sets the wrong precedent for those coming after. I know she was calm after that and spoke to Deepti. But the damage was done already by then. Being able to compose yourself in that situation. Of course, you've to go through lots to figure that out. We've had our own losses. Yes, we win a lot, but we've had our own clutch moments that we've lost and learned from that."
