2020 T20 World Cup triumph hopefully will have lasting legacy, says Matthew Mott
Australia women’s team head coach Matthew Mott is hopeful that the legacy of his team's T20 World Cup win earlier this month will last long despite the COVID-19 pandemic intensifying. The virus has, thus far, killed at least 18,000 people and has infected nearly 425,000 people around the world.
As many as 86,714 showed up to witness the final of the recently-concluded ICC Women’s T20 World Cup at the MCG on March 8. Had it been a few days further down the line, it might well have been called off along with the other global sporting events amid the COVID-19 outbreak. But Mott and Co. got lucky, according to him, and was able to celebrate a memorable fifth title-triumph in front of the second-highest audience for any women's sporting event.
"Looking back, we were three or four days away from missing (the final) and it would have been incredibly disappointing with the amount of work that went in behind the scenes to basically fill the MCG, the game it turned out to be, and the celebration of women's cricket. Hopefully, for a lot of people it's a lasting memory of live sport for a little while," Mott said on Tuesday, reported Cricbuzz.
Having lost the opening match of the tournament against India, the Aussie women fought back and won all the matches en route the final. On the day of the ultimate showdown, the very same Indian side did not stand a chance, surrendering in a comprehensive manner (by 85 runs). Mott hopes that their triumph will inspire the upcoming generation — both girls and boys — to take up the sport.
"I do think the images and the way we played, the adversity we came up against - the players have become heroes for a whole new audience and it's a male audience as well as female. We're not just inspiring young girls, we're inspiring young boys as well and the next generation will be so much better for that experience we went through," Mott added.