Australia Might Be The Most Dominant Team In Sports As Momentum Builds For Women’s Cricket

The crowd was understandably febrile. You couldn’t blame them. Even though South Africa have long been a cricket powerhouse, this was their first World Cup final in cricket.

The South African men’s team had infamously been paralyzed at numerous World Cups over the years like some twisted hex hung over them. But this emerging women’s team had sought to end decades of misery after upsetting unbeaten England in a tense semi-final much to the delight of the home faithful.

In a tense final against all-conquering Australia, South Africa looked a chance of chasing down a tricky total of 157 when opener Laura Wolvaardt produced a rollicking half-century.

The terraces at Newlands’ picturesque ground, with Table Mountain serving as the backdrop, were rocking as they dared to dream of an almighty upset. But it wasn’t meant to be with a gallant South Africa falling short by 19 runs as the tears flowed for a nation still searching for a first World Cup trophy in cricket.

It was no shame to lose to Australia, who captured their second three-peat of titles with only a shock defeat to West Indies in the final of 2016 sandwiched in between.

Australia endured nervy moments and overcame unusual ragged fielding to prevail with trademark clutch bowling and composed captaincy from Meg Lanning getting them over the line.

They have cemented their standing as one of the most dominant teams across sport with Australia also having won seven ODI World Cups, including the most recent edition 12 months ago.

South Africa may have fallen short, but the depth of women’s cricket is starting to improve. They became just the sixth nation to qualify for the final of a women’s T20 World Cup in the tournament’s eighth edition.

Even though they secured a successful title defence and sixth overall triumph, the gap is closing between Australia and the rest. They were fortunate to have escaped with a win over India in a pulsating semi-final before outlasting South Africa.

Australia are still the gold standard but challengers are getting stronger. And likely to improve even more with the upcoming Women’s Premier League in India about to launch.

Top players are earning hundreds of thousands of dollars to compete in the three-week tournament and it’s set to inspire youngsters worldwide, who have something to aspire to.

Ireland were one of two countries at the women’s T20 World Cup who failed to win a game but showed glimpses of competitiveness. Their cash-stricken governing body, who struggle financially to host men’s Test matches, have found it difficult to provide the necessary funding required to develop women’s cricket.

“We want to invest more in women’s cricket, but that takes a significant amount of money,” said Ross McCollum, Ireland’s International Cricket Council board director. “We’ve got some talent as we showed in the tournament but we need to create more pathways to harness it.”

While Ireland hope more funding from the ICC’s $3 billion media rights deal will be imminent, the WPL in India provides an avenue for their players and many others worldwide to covet.

“The WPL is a game-changer and something every female cricketer will be hoping to be part of. It will fuel a lot of interest and really take women’s cricket to another level,” McCollum said.

The WPL, which boasts a media rights deal of over $100 million, is a natural progression for women’s cricket which has had a surge in popularity. There were more than 85,000 fans at the 2020 women’s T20 World Cup final at the MCG and the momentum has restarted after being halted by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The WPL might provide an accelerant but, right now, Australia remain the undisputed trendsetters after this latest triumph to further burnish their legend.