All smiles after leading the Australian women's cricket team to its sixth World Cup title, skipper Jodie Fields said it feels good to be one up on the men, who have won the coveted trophy four times.
"It feels good to be one up on the men sometimes," quipped Fields after the Aussie women beat West Indies by 114 runs in the final to lift the trophy in Mumbai on Sunday night.
"But they have always supported us throughout the tournament...Sitting here, it's an unbelievable feeling. It's the sixth time Australia has won the World Cup. To do it in the same year as we won the Twenty20 World Cup, I think it is really special," she added.
"To have been part of this team and winning two World Cups is a great piece of history for Australia women's cricket."
Fields said last year’s tour of India, during which the Aussies emerged triumphant 8-1, gave her team good experience of the sub-continental conditions which came in handy during the World Cup campaign.
"The March tour (to India) was a great preparation for us coming here. We won that series 8-1, so it was good to dominate the series," she said.
Having lost to West Indies in the Super Six stage, Fields said the Aussies wanted to dominate the final.
"We were very disappointed with our last match in the Super Six against the West Indies. We really wanted to go into that match and dominate and go through the whole tournament undefeated. We knew we had to step it up a little and improve our game. To the team's credit, they did that," she said.
The batting hadn't clicked for Australia in the tournament and the captain said the willow-wielders found form when it mattered most.
"I think the batting unit, we wanted to come in and take full responsibility and to our credit we did that. We scored 260. I think that was a great score on the board and in the final, runs on the board matter," Fields said.
Pace spearhead Elysse Perry had missed the entire Super Six stage with an ankle injury and was struggling to bowl her first ball.
Fields said it was tough to leave out the 17-year-old Holly Ferling, who picked up nine wickets in four matches, for Perry in the final.
"That was a really tough call when we went to choose the team, I knew all 15 players could win the game for us. But to leave out Holly (Ferling) was a tough decision. Elysse, she came through on Monday.
"I must admit my heart sank a bit (when she couldn't get her run up right twice) and I thought oh no. But she came with the goods and she is a top level player," she said.
Fields said the side had prepared hard for this World Cup after a disappointing show in 2009 when they were the host nation.
"I was lucky to be part of the 2009 campaign in Sydney. It was a very disappointing campaign for the team at that point. It was a home tournament and we performed poorly," she said.
"In the last four years, there has been a big effort by not only the playing group but the coaching staff and everyone from Cricket Australia.
"So when we turned up for this World Cup, we were in the best shape possible. To everyone's credit we have done that and proved why we are the number one team in the world," she said.
Photograph: ICC/Solaris Images
