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Sydney - Cricket Australia's (CA) chief executive officer, James Sutherland, this morning praised the efforts of the Australian Women's Cricket Team at the ICC Women's World Cup, despite their loss to India in the semi-final on Thursday.
"We share the disappointment of captain Meg Lanning and her teammates, and congratulate India on their victory," Mr Sutherland said.
"We would have loved to have been in the final at Lord's on Sunday, with the opportunity to win our seventh World Cup title, but we know these tournaments are very tough and all of the main teams have the ability to win the big games."
The Australian campaign included many stand-out individual performances. On the batting side, Ellyse Perry hit five consecutive half-centuries and 404 runs for the tournament.
Captai Meg Lanning achieved her highest ODI score of 152* at Bristol against Sri Lanka, which is the third highest of the tournament; Nicole Bolton scored an unbeaten 107; and Elyse Villani's 34-ball half-century was the fastest ever by an Australian at the Women's World Cup.
On the bowling side, Kirsten Beams was Australia's leading wicket-taker with 12, including 3/23 against Pakistan, and Megan Schutt is also in the top 10 wicket-takers.
Alyssa Healy and Jess Jonassen also played their 50th ODIs during the tournament.
"We know the squad won’t be making any excuses for their defeat. We had the opportunity to progress through to a World Cup final and were not able to grasp it," Mr Sutherland said.
"We would also like to thank the Commonwealth Bank for their proud support of our women’s team, including their fantastic marketing campaigns to get everyone in Australia behind the team."
Mr Sutherland congratulated the ICC and ECB on the overall success of the tournament, demonstrating the continued growth in women's cricket.
"The ICC and ECB should be justifiably proud that the final will be a sell-out at Lord's, and this tournament has set records across ticket sales and television audiences.
"The success of this tournament serves to excite us about the prospect of hosting the women's Ashes in November this year - and looking further ahead to the ICC World Twenty20 for women in February-March 2020, which will precede the men's version of the event to be played later in the same year in October-November."
