How Australia won the 2013 Women's World Cup

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You're listening to the TMS podcast from BBC Radio 5 live.

Hello, this is Alison Mitchell with a special episode of the TMS podcast. We'll be looking back at the 2013 Women's World cup in India where Australia beat West Indies to the win their sixth title. I'll be joined by Australia all rounder Lisa Stalaker, who had a dream ending to her career retiring from the game following that World cup win. She tells us about her experience of the tournaments and we explore how the global women's landscape had evolved.

You're listening to the TMS podcast from BBC Radio 5 live.

Lisa Staleka hello, welcome to you. Tell me when you flew out to India for that World Cup 2013, what did you expect expect on arrival? What did you find when you got there?

Yeah, it was, we had already traveled a fair bit already to India. We'd had a series, I think 2011 or maybe early 2012 where we had a seven match series against them. So it was all, all about preparing a group of young players because the likes of Elisa Healey, Elise Perry, a lot of those girls were traveling to India for the first time. So, so heading to India for the 2013 World cup we felt that we were prepared but there was, there was that slight issue with Pakistan being part of it and us having to move. So all the games were supposed to be in Mumbai and we were in the pool against Pakistan so we had to go out to Katak and that caused a few nightmares last minute fixturing all of those type of things occurred. But one thing is for sure and, and having had a number of tours already to India for some reason things may not be finalized but come the day before or two days out, it's all there, everything's done. A stadium is built within a week and away you go.

That's right. It was matches I remember not being finalized until five days before the tournament started. So just to recap on the format for this World cup. Eight teams group stage and knockouts with the the top three teams in each group advancing to a Super six stage with so it was Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Pakistan, England, Sri Lanka, West Indies and India globally. The matches in the group stage were watched by over 20 million people. Did you get a sense when you were playing those group matches in India that the tournament was being widely followed? What are your memor of crowds at the grounds about how widely it was known that this tournament was taking place?

Yeah, unfortunately didn't you didn't get a sense of that whilst we were there. And like I said because we were at a different part our group stage matches and I remember playing Pakistan in the stadium that they were actually staying in the stadium. So security, no fans were really allowed. I think a couple of books ball kids, ball girls were allowed to kind of participate but, but that was about it. And then the other ground that we played in Kuk was was like a third tier type ground. You know there's no stadiums, there's, there's nothing for no infrastructure for fans to really come. So it wasn't until we, we got to the, the super six stage that we moved to Mumbai and started to then start playing at cci. I think there was a ground called middle income ground as well. So again not a, not a well known ground, not a ground with infrastructure difficult for family and friends that had kind of flown over to watch even getting there navigating around Mumbai. But I know that obviously there were a number of games that were televised and um, India started to, to do well. Um, England kind of bundled out, they got beaten by Sri Lanka. So we were kind of tuning in. I think we were flying the day that England got beaten and we were all in the airport watching it on TV. That I think there was about three or four teams. So apologies England. We were all cheering on for, for Sri Lanka. But that's what happens. You, you, you like, you like the smaller countries to, to get up over the bigger nations. Yeah.

Talking about the, the coverage of that World Cup. So a progression from 2009, that first one that was under the ICC's auspices. By 2013, the final plus 10 matches were televised. BBC radio had a full commentary team at the event to cover all of England's matches. And so ICC investing much more fully in the televising. I was part of that TV commentary team. We were very much based out of that Brabant Stadium at the Cricket Club of India ground in Mumbai where all the televised matches were taking place. But yes, it was a tournament of upsets in, in many ways. You mentioned England being beaten by Sri Lanka, but even yourselves had a little bit of a slip, didn't you, during the tournament?

Yeah, a lot of people accused us because it basically came down to, I think New Zealand and England were playing against each other and we were playing against West Indies on this same day and unfortunately we had a mishap. We had gone through undefeated. We had close match against England. I think we won by one run or two runs if I'm not, you know, corrected. And yeah, we did have a mishap against the West Indies side which meant that they actually went through. And I believe the result was passed on to both New Zealand and England whilst they were playing their game. And let's just say they weren't happy campers. And I think on social media a lot of people came back at us saying that we had thrown the match, that we had ensured that England or New Zealand weren't able to make the finals. I remember Catherine Fitzpatrick and I think it was a tough tour as well. So we had just, we had changed our, our head coach. I, I don't know if you can remember Ali. Like we had moved on our head coach probably six months out of the T20 World cup in. Sorry, yeah, the T20 World cup in Sri Lanka. So Catherine Fitzpatrick came in and there was those two ICC events literally within six months. So as a group we had gone through a lot anyway. And I remember at the end of that game, Catherine Fitzpatrick basically said we got off the bus and before we, we did, she, she said, okay, everyone drop your gear off. And we were staying at the Taj in Mumbai and she said, drop your gear off and meet me at the bar. And basically she, she bought the first few rounds of drinks. We just needed to have a night of. It doesn't matter. It's a game of cricket, let's move on. We've had a lot going on. It's probably the loss that you kind of need in a tournament like an ICC event where you get a bit of a wake up call, Paul. But yeah, we were able to, to kind of Move on from that. And in the end we played the West Indies in the final, so it was important that we did kind of park it and move on.

Tell me a little bit about your, your team in 2013. You've alluded to the, the, the change in coach, but tell me about the captaincy and the leadership as well. Yeah.

So Jody Fields, who had just kind of come back from some terrible hamstring injuries, I think she had two surgeries in the end where the hamstring was ripped off the bone and she, she kind of got through the first recovery and was close to coming back to, to play and then did it again. So for her to kind of come back and, and lead the side in not only the T20 World cup in Sri Lanka the year before, but also the 50 over World Cup. Who else? We had Megan Shoot, who was playing her first. I think she was a leading wicket taker for Australia at that tournament. So just a young, young, bright kid who kind of burst onto the scenes. Holly Furling was a young, fast bowler. I think she, I, I distinctly remember, maybe it was Jenny Gunn. I remember playing against England and she, she, she bowled with some heat and this is before she's had a few injuries and reconstructed her bowling action and probably lost a few K's as well because of it, but bowled a really good bumper and then bowled a great yorker and got her out.

And she looks so innocent bowling with the little white ribbon tie, ponytail. And then she would bowl these venomous socks.

Still does. God bless her cotton socks. So we had Elisa Healey who was kind of waiting in the wings, didn't, didn't play a game. And, and then obviously Meg Lanning, who was still trying to find her feet at international cricket, if you can imagine that.

Amazing, wasn't it? Now getting to the final, how did you feel when you got there? Because you had already had that defeat to West Indies in the group stage. Did that have an impact at all on your approach?

No, obviously we learned some lessons from that and obviously we're playing, we were playing in a final that we, we felt comfortable with. The Australian team has always been very successful. Once we kind of get to finals, we, we kind of know how to, to kind of get across the line more often than not. Yeah, we had rectified the areas that we needed to change. And I guess the real, the real question mark was a lot around Elise Perry because she didn't play in the previous match, so she was carrying an injury and it was all about how she would cope in the Final, it was literally roll the dice and let's hope that she can survive.

And it was a bad ankle injury, wasn't it?

Yes, actually her partnership with Jody Fields at the end of our innings enabled us to get up to. I can't remember what the score was.

2, 259 for 7.

Yeah. So in the end, for back then, that was a decent score in, in a final. So her innings was important. But then when she, she stood at the top of the mark and she. What took about three goes, three goes to kind of figure out in the end. I can't remember exactly what the injury. She snapped something.

Fractured ankle.

Yeah. There you go. Thank you.

And.

And it was basically her figuring out, how can I run and not cause too much pain to be able to bowl her overs? And. And then obviously she got the key wicket of Stefani Taylor and then all of a sudden the landslide of Wicked started to happen. But there was some hairy moments there when she was running in and like, oh, because we need to get her out, we need to get Dotton out. We, you know, we need to get those key players out.

And I was going to say when that decision was taken that Perry was going to play. Did you know that her ankle was broken? Can you recall?

No. So she didn't have a scan or anything like that to, to know that it was fractured. So I, I think she probably fractured it during that time. It was. Maybe it was close. Like there was obviously a lot of issues going on with it and they were just managing her. But when she took off for that run to, to start her run up, I think that's when the real damage happened. And I remember after the final, we were doing a lot of interviews because by the time we finished and did all of that, it was early morning in Australia, so there were a lot of interviews in the morning. I remember her just kind of lifting the leg up, like lying upside down doing interviews on. On radio, you know, but she, she got through. It just shows the type of athlete and she's proven that over, over the next period of time that she's able to, to kind of go push through pain barriers and get, get the job done.

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The fact that she was playing full stop. Yeah, 25 runs with the bats. Big partnership. 50, 50 run partnership with Jodi Fields to get you up to that 259 for 7 total and then picking up three wickets in that, in that run chase to restrict West Indies and ultimately help you win the match 3 for 19 off 10 overs. It was just a performance of, of, of immense courage. But what about you, Lisa, first of all, paint the picture of you playing in a World cup in India and that resonance view personally because of course, India is the country of your birth.

Yeah. And to be fair, playing in Mumbai at Bradmore Stadium or CCI was really special to me because that's where my father first went to watch the Indian men's side and first fell in love with the game when he was a young boy. So the fact that I was playing in Mumbai, playing at a ground that had significance for my father who taught me and made me fall in love with the game. And I had known also coming into that World cup that that was it. I was going to play the World cup and I was going to call my time on international cr. I'd only told my immediate family and then probably three friends before the tournament. Before the tournament. So no current players knew, no past players knew. Sarah Ailey was one, Corinne Hall. So I think you might have seen them in the coverage. They had come out to India to watch and unfortunately my family couldn't come over at the time. So yeah, there was a nice ending of a career, but to kind of place it in India at that ground and the hope, the real hope was that we'd lift the World cup and we had won the 2011 Ashes back after a long time since 2005 when we lost it. We had won the T20 World cup in September 2012 and the last kind of mantle, the trophy that we needed to kind of fulfill the Cabinet was the 2013, the 50 over World Cup. And I felt if we were able to do that, it would be a nice time to leave the game and then, you know, hand the baton on to the next generation. Because like I mentioned, Elisa Healey was literally sitting on the sidelines. She wasn't playing. And we know the immense talent that she, she had and has shown that ever since she got into the team and played regularly. So yeah, so that was kind of the, the thought and, and the desire to kind of win in India for personal reasons but also for the future and the, the progression of the Australian team.

So in the course of that match then you're in the field, you're bowling, you get two big wickets as well, don't you? The captain and deandra.in how special were those moments?

Yeah, really special because we had played a practice match against West Indies prior to the, to, to the World cup and then even I remember playing them in Australia and Deandra Dutton has hit, hit me for some large sixes. So Elisa Healy had a lot of fun giggling and laughing going. I remember the furthest six I've ever hit and that was off your bowling Lisa. So, so there was, there was a lot of like, oh, we're putting Lisa onto ball to. To Deandra Doton. She's going to take her down the ground. So thankfully, because there, there were a number of matches on cci the pitch started to turn nicely for me so I was able to get the ball to, to. To turn.

Now the field is on the boundary for.in then deep mid wickets. Two fielders on the deep midwicket boundary as well as long on those the three allowed back in the power play. She goes back. She's bold now, is that it? Australian must feel they have one hand now firmly on the World cup because the dangerous Dutton has departed and it's Lisa Stalaika who gets the wicket.in is bowled out for 22.

And also I think Marissa Aguilera the, the captain, I think I bowled her as well. So to be able to contribute that way because I didn't necessarily contribute as much as I would have liked with the bat in hand was nice and to get a big wicket like that was just the, you know, the nice last laugh. Right, I got her in a phone.

Staleka comes in cap on bowls and this is bold. Played all round it did me lesser Aguilera and Staleka. The change in bowling has worked for the Australians. She was looking dangerous and she just played round a ball that was slightly turning in off Stumpy's rock back. She looks to the heavens and, and.

Do you recall your final act on the field in international cricket? Because West Indies a nine down, but they've only got 145 runs on the board at this stage. And Julie Hunter comes running into the bowl. What happened next?

Who was the batter? I can't even remember.

Remain smart.

Yeah, she, she clipped it. And I had always, majority of the time in my cricket career for Australia had fielded at mid wicket and just anticipated, well, saw that she was turning the ball, started moving to my right, was in the air and dove to my right to take, to take a nice catch and it was probably good because it was kind of, the game was kind of drifting and you know when, when you know that what the result is and everyone's just hanging on, everyone just wants it to finish. And so instead of it being the last ball and oh yay, we won. It was nice to kind of finish on a high like that. So to be able to take a catch like that and win the World cup was, was really special. And yeah, I guess the surprise and shock once it hit my hand and still stayed in my hand and, and then everyone rushing in and celebrating, it.

Was great in Hunter Bowles and this is lobbed towards mid wicket diving cage, one handed. And what a way to finish for the Australians and Lisa Staleka. They come together in a huddle at mid wicket where the catch was taken, the diving catch right handed. And Australia have bowled out the West Indies for 145. They're joined by the rest of their teammates who rush out onto the field and indeed it is a deserved sixth World cup for Australia. They win by 114 runs.

How hurt were were you as a team to have lost out and not made the final of the 2009 World Cup? Previously on your home soil. And how big a motivating factor was that to get the trophy back?

Ali, I've forgotten 2009 and I just erased that whole year because we lost that semi final as well at the oval in the T20 World cup against England, which everyone says was the kind of the, the birth of women's cricket, you know, because it was such a wonderful chase. 2009 wasn't a great year for us, but so many lessons were learned. Yeah, it hurt a lot. I think the fact, I mean we were going through. So we won the 2005 World Cup. We had some immense global talent, people that have obviously been elevated into the ICC hall of Fame. Belinda Clark Catherine Fitzpatrick, Karen Rolton was there. So it was the changing of the guards and a lot of things didn't quite go our way in the 2009 World Cup. And internally we had our issues, players versus coaching staff. Things were unraveling pretty quickly as that tournament progressed and it was no surprise that we had our worst performance ever in a Women's World cup during that year. And to do it in front of family and friends, yeah, that stung. And there was a lot of soul searching, there was a lot of reviews done. Deep dive into to what actually happened and then to be able to turn it around and win the 2010 World cup in the West Indies with that same thing. Yeah, T20 World cup was important step forward yet there was still a lot of things that we were still kind of figuring out at the time. But yeah, 2009 shaped us to be able to be ready for 2013.

You ultimately played in three ODI World Cups, winning two of them in 2005 and 2013. How would you describe the legacy of the 2013 win for Australian women's cricket?

It, it's a, it's a stone in a path that is quite rich with the Australian women's cricket side. When you look at the success that we've had throughout Women's World Cups, it's immense. So to be able to be part of that, be part of that history where we're just one part of it. The, you know, the, the teams of Mark Jennings, Belinda Clark in, in 1997 in India and you know, you look at the players that have come before you and to kind of, to be able to, to add another piece to that puzzle really is, is really special. So I think, you know, we, we saw and I mentioned, you know, the likes of Amigan Shoot come through, um, Elisa Healy waiting in the wing. So therefore the next tournament meant so much to her. And, and obviously 2017, the Australian team didn't win, so that kicked them on for the next one in, in New Zealand. So every, every World cup has its place. They're all very unique because you're always playing with different players, different support staff, different conditions, different oppositions. But yeah, very proud of, of being part of that 2013 World cup because we've seen some absolute rock stars come out of the game from that, from that group.

And you're very familiar with cricket in India, having covered the ipl, having worked there domestically. The rise of the wpl. Now, can you imagine what might have happened if India had been a successful team at that home World cup in 2013 because we so often focus on the team that. That wins. But almost it felt as significant that the India team weren't able to be on the big stage in their own World Cup. Yeah.

And I mean, I feel for Mitali Raj and Julian Goswami probably the most because you look at their careers and outstanding. But they've never held an ICC Trophy aloft, which I feel sad for them because they almost deserved it. If India had won that 2013 World Cup, I get a sense that the WPL would have been born a couple of years after that. I think we would have seen more major events in India. We would have seen the growth of women's cricket accelerate even quicker than what we've probably witnessed. But that's how big and how powerful India, the fans, bcci, and what they can do to elevate the sport if they want to, when they want to, when they think the time is right. And without India winning a big event, it's probably held the game back and held the Indian women's side back a few years. But that's not to say given. Given India women's performance over here in England this summer shows that they're on the right trajectory for. For the. For this one coming up and to.

Finish with 2013, then you've taken the winning catch, you're tearing around the outfield celebrating. You know that that's your last act for that Australian team. When did you tell your teammates?

I remember Elise Perry coming over during the game and she said, how many overs have you got left? I go, I'm done. And. And she went, and I must have had a smile on my face, like, meant I'm actually done done. And she goes, what do you mean, done? I said, I bowled my 10 overs. And she's like, oh, okay. So that was kind of probably the first time I gave it away a little bit. I did. I did tell the media manager the night before the game, saying, just to give you a heads up, this, I'm going to announce it. Can you keep it to yourself? So to give her time to maybe write whatever they. She needed to, but it was literally within half an hour. So I think presentation was getting done, the stage and all of the medals. And I literally went up to Julie Savage, who was the chair of selectors, and I just said, just to let you know that's it. And she goes, I was wondering when. Because back then it was. It was normal for an Australian player to call their time because after a World cup, we always went to England for an Ashes. So it was almost like you retire, you have kind of go to England, have you have your trip, so to.

Speak, when the Ashes more often than not.

Yeah. But I said no, I think I couldn't think of the idea of doing another pre season. So I was like, no, I'm very happy to go out now. So, yeah, the half an hour out and then once we did all of the metal ceremony, all of that got into the change rooms and then Julie announced and said, lisa's got something to say.

And was there much emotion at that point from you?

Yeah, of course. I mean, it's been my life. It's, you know, even though you know it's coming and you're happy that it's coming to the end, it's still quite sad to kind of think, oh, that's it, like, I'm not going to be in this change room again as, as one of their teammates. So, yeah, it was, it was a quick, quick little announcement and then it was like, let's move on and let's enjoy and celebrate.

Lisa, it's great to hear your stories. Thanks for sharing your memories of the 2013 World Cup.

No worries. Anytime, Ellie. The ICC Women's Cricket World cup featuring the stars of women's cricket.

Eight teams takes the cap. One winner Australia to lift the World cup trophy.

The ICC Women's Cricket World Cup.

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