Australia are a side packed full of superstars, but one shone even brighter than the rest in Tuesday’s win over New Zealand in Sharjah.
The glitz and glamour of Australia’s top-order batters and the era-defining quality of the team’s all-rounders often steal the limelight when the six-time T20 World Cup champions strut their stuff.
But Tuesday in Sharjah was Megan Schutt’s time, as the leader of the Australia attack underlined her brilliance with remarkable returns of 3/3 in 3.2 overs, to play a huge part in her team’s 60-run win over the White Ferns.
“Megan Schutt’s been outstanding for us, not just in the last two games but throughout her whole career,” her teammate Beth Mooney said after the match.
“I think she’s in a really good place with her career as well, I think she’s really enjoying it and knows the impact that she can have, and we certainly know the difference she can make in our lineup. To see the likes of Schutt being able to have that impact as pace bowlers in conditions that perhaps aren’t suited to them has been really impressive to watch, as an expert bowler myself obviously.”
Schutt’s first wicket in the game saw her become the leading wicket-taker in the history of the Women’s T20 World Cup, moving beyond Shabnim Ismail and onto 46 wickets in 26 innings.
And she is neck-and-neck with Pakistan’s Nida Dar as the leading women’s wicket-taker in the history of the format, with both having 143 wickets in their careers to date.
But Schutt herself downplayed her own impact. “I’m pretty low maintenance, I know I didn’t change much,” she said. “I think as long as we did the simple things, and that is what we spoke about coming into here on the low and slow wickets, as long as we keep the stumps in play, that would be pretty crucial. We knew if we started well in the powerplay we could really peg them back in the middle and that is what we did.”
Schutt has been playing cricket for Australia for well over a decade, and such is her longevity that her world-class quality is often treated as a given.
But there was no ignoring Schutt in Sharjah, as she took the first wicket of the innings to clean up Georgia Plimmer, prized out the key New Zealand wicket to dismiss Melanie Kerr, and then finished off the game by castling Eden Carson. And Kerr was among those to sing her opponent’s praises after the game.
“I think for many years she’s been one of the best seamers in the world,” the New Zealand all-rounder said. “She’s just very skilful; she’s a very smart cricketer, and obviously, early on, she swings the ball very accurately and then has her leg cutters at the death. But I think it’s probably her way to out-think batters and the consistency that’s given her so much success. So yeah, she’s had a very good career and is still going.”
With two matches, two Player of the Match awards and six wickets under her belt in the tournament, what exactly is the secret to Schutt’s early impact in the tournament? Well, the player herself says on this occasion that it is her fitness that is making the difference.
“We had a pretty strong emphasis on fitness coming into this World Cup,” Schutt said. “And as much as we hated our S&C (strength and conditioning) at the time, it has paid off. I think when we are playing in a tournament like this, when the heat is so extreme it is really going to come into play. I feel like I have lost a few litres but I am feeling good, that was a pretty crucial match for us. New Zealand played very well against India so to come out and win like that is pretty cool.”
Australia sit atop Group A with four points from two games and will face Pakistan and India in their final two Group matches.
