Legacy of T20 WC triumph will live on: Mott

SYDNEY: Australia coach Matthew Mott is confident the legacy of his team’s T20 World Cup win earlier this month won’t be lost even as the Covid-19 pandemic intensifies, while acknowledging that they got lucky with the timing of the whole thing.

A turnout of 86,714 spectators witnessed Australia’s memorable title-triumph at the MCG, giving way to some equally memorable celebrations. It was the second-highest audience for a women’s sporting event, coming just days before most of the cricket calendar had to shut down owing to the current crisis.

“I think we’re all shocked and it’s a little bit surreal at times,” Mott said on Tuesday (March 24). “From a community perspective we’re feeling for a lot of people who are a lot less fortunate than us. We were incredibly lucky. We thought we were lucky getting through the semi-final with the weather the way it was.

“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. We feel very fortunate, we were incredibly lucky to get through that and it could have been so different if it as a week later. Hopefully for a lot of people it’s a lasting memory of live sport for a little while.”

Mott was proud of how Australia’s achievements resonated with a new audience, and felt the “legacy will live on” as many of the players become role-models for future generations.