The Australian players reflect on their title win and what it means to them
ESPNcricinfo staff14-Nov-20213:12
Moody: Credit to Langer and Finch to galvanise this Australian team
Matthew Wade: Huge [on what does this win mean]. At first, T20 World Cup coming in, felt like a lot of people maybe wrote us off and didn’t expect us to get to this moment. But internally we spoke about how we’re going to be the first team to achieve this for Australia. [It’s] something really, really special.Cricket on ESPN+
Match highlights of the Men’s T20 World Cup final is available in English, and in Hindi (USA only).
[On his innings in the semi-final] When we sit down, I will reflect probably closely on that. I think more than my innings, the partnership, we spoke about me and [Marcus] Stoinis in the rooms when we’re chasing, just saying that we probably didn’t realise that we scored as many runs as we did the other night. And then coming into this game, we felt really confident that if the boys could get off to a good start, then we could contribute at the end, but thankfully Mitch [Marsh] and Davey [Warner] and Maxie [Glenn Maxwell] at the end there did the job for us. As Stoinis said, just so proud of this group. Yeah, we’re stoked.Marcus Stoinis: The key…this group of boys, we absolutely, we actually love each other. It is beautiful. I can’t wait to keep playing with this team. I’m so proud of them. You won’t find bigger supporters of Mitch Marsh than right here and probably his family. We’re so happy for him.Adam Zampa: I just tried to use my strengths to the best of my ability. I knew the wickets were going to be pretty low. I bowled at a good time; we won the toss and bowled first. So it was probably a little bit drier when I was bowling, so I tried to use that to the best of my ability, tried to get tickets when we needed them and tried to defend when we need to do that as well.2:47
Moody: Can’t underestimate Australia as they don’t often play T20Is at full-strength
[On backroom staff] A lot of credit goes to those guys. We’ve been in bubbles for almost two years now. And that takes a toll on everyone, including the staff. Our preparation from their side of things has been great. And it’s their win as well.Glenn Maxwell: He [Zampa] has been a superstar in this format as well as one-day cricket for a long period of time. I’ve had the pleasure of having him at the [Melbourne] Stars and watching him go about his work for a long time. So to watch him bring it straight into international cricket, like there’s absolutely no edges whatsoever. He’s just fitted in so well and last three years as a legspinner, I don’t think there are many better in the world.I was able to give myself a few days off before the tournament to really freshen up and I felt like I was hitting the ball really well. Luckily, that wasn’t really required a whole heap. But it was nice to be out there at the end and get the winning runs.Steven Smith: [This win means] a lot. We’ve worked hard for a long time. This is a trophy that has eluded us for a very long time. So it’s an honour to be out here with the boys and to be able to take that trophy home, it’s exceptional.His [Warner’s] last two weeks have been amazing. A lot of people were writing him off at the start, saying he was out of form but it took one good innings and he was away. Today, I thought he came out with exceptional intent again. Him and Mitchell Marsh, that partnership really set us up for the game. I am really proud of those two boys. I think they’ve had great tournament, both of them.Josh Hazlewood: There’s always pressure, the batters are coming at you from ball one basically. But we started really well, we kept the powerplay to I think around 40. Some pretty good effort there and I obviously got away at the end. But we saw the wicket was pretty good and the exceptional chase from our guys.[On Williamson’s knock] He’s a superb player and he has been for a long time now. Another classical Kane innings really, scored all around the ground and hurts you when you bowl poorly.Justin Langer: I suppose everyone who wins a World Cup says it’s hard to process, it’s hard to put it into words. But this is such a special group of people. I know every coach, every captain says the same thing. But we’ve got some amazing cricketers here, we haven’t had a chance to play together because of different reasons for last 12 months. So when we all got back together, it was almost like a reunion. And they’re such close, there’re so many close relationships there. It’s a very, very special moment for everyone.Mitchell Marsh and Pat Cummins celebrate with the trophy•ICC via Getty ImagesWe knew that when we came back together how much talent we had. That’s for one. I mean, there’s enormous talent in this team. When we’re in the West Indies and Bangladesh leading into this series, there were a few missing pieces. And Mitch Marsh took one of those pieces. And he’s been brilliant. And we also embraced fun. In this situation, where everyone talks about bubble, these guys had so much fun on and off the ground. In this form of the game, actually in the game of cricket, it’s important to have fun and enjoy it, and the guys have done that. I think it was a really important part of our success here.Zamps puts a smile on my face every time because he’s a little bit different. He’s a little hippie, but he’s so competitive, and he’s been so good in this form of the game. We see legspinners have an impact around the world and he’s doing that for Australia now.And Josh Hazlewood, well, he didn’t play the last one-day World Cup because he had some issues with his back. He has come in here, he’s been sublime, so it’s just been a great team effort.Pat Cummins: Pretty pumped. I think once we get back home and get back in there, will it only sink in. A lot of support from back home, like getting up at 1am to watch this game, so a great feeling.It was a good thing playing a little bit of the IPL over here. Even someone like Joshy Hazlewood coming straight from the IPL, here he is seeing to adapt really quickly and I mean, you don’t have to get too funky. It’s just part of what we do again more with the red ball stuff with a few slower balls thrown in there. This is really great, it’s such a complete squad of 15 guys here, so really happy.Mitchell Starc: It’s not been the ideal lead-up, but I think just the closeness of the group, we had a great time here. We’ve had some great times off the field, getting around one another. And I think that showed in the way we played our cricket. We’ve had everyone contribute, guys off the field, on the field, different guys in different games. And we saw that again tonight. So I think that the closeness of the group is what really got us through this tournament, and then hopefully that leads into the summer as well.He [Zampa] has been fantastic. He’s been our best bowler, I think, by far for the last couple of years with the white ball. And he made it really easy for us quickies to work around him. I think we’re pretty confident in what we do and run off the back of each other when Zamps is doing what he does. I think it just makes the bowling group, their role a lot clearer and we can do our job quite easy I guess.
