Watch Charlotte Edwards' post-match press conference
By Rob Barnett
Charlotte Edwards gave recognition to Australia, whom she called “deserved champions” in the aftermath of England’s World Twenty20 final loss.
Australia beat their Ashes rivals for the second time in two World T20 finals to claim their third consecutive competition title.
England, the inaugural tournament winners in 2009, were up against it once they were kept to 105 for eight by an impressive display in the field.
To my team,I couldn't be prouder of them all..they've given everything!Lots to be proud of over past 10 months,don't forget that!!
— Charlotte Edwards (@Lottie2323) April 6, 2014
Sarah Coyte was the outstanding bowler with the key wickets of Edwards and Sarah Taylor in her figures of 3-16 from four overs.
Australia skipper Meg Lanning led by example with the bat, striking a classy 44 before Ellyse Perry’s unbeaten 31 sealed a six-wicket win with 29 deliveries unused.
Edwards, who has led England in all three of their World T20 showpieces, said: “(It was) a really disappointing performance today, but I think credit has to go to Australia.
“I think they bowled exceptionally well. We didn’t really have any answers with the bat or the ball. They’re deserved champions.”
She added: “We know that they’ve obviously got some real threat there with the bat; I thought Meg played exceptionally well.
“But when you’re chasing 105, you can come out and play like that; 105 is never going to win you a World Cup final.”
Besides Edwards and Taylor, just Heather Knight and Amy Jones reached double figures for England and Knight’s score was their only in excess of 20.
England’s attack - spearheaded by player of the tournament Anya Shrubsole - battled gamely, but could not defend 105.
“Our bowlers have been brilliant; we’ve always chased quite low totals and I guess we’ve knocked them off with relative ease,” Edwards observed.
“A lot of our middle order hadn’t played much in the middle but that’s no excuse. I still think the Australian bowlers were very good and we didn’t have the answers.”
A notable difference between the teams was Australia hitting four sixes while England failed to clear the boundary. Indeed, Edwards’ side did not register a maximum throughout the competition.
“It’s not been a problem in the past,” she said. “We’ve won a lot of Twenty20 games; we’ve been the most successful Twenty20 team in the world and we’ve not hit many sixes.
“This tournament, we’ve not hit as many we’d like. We probably haven’t hit as many boundaries as we’d like today as well. It’s something we’re going to have to work on when we get home.
“I don’t think that’s the reason why we’ve lost this World Cup final. It’s purely they bowled better than us and we weren’t up to scratch with the bat.”
Looking at England’s whole World T20 campaign, Edwards reflected with pride.
“I am so proud of all the girls – even though it is obviously disappointing to have been beaten in the final once again. We just didn’t get enough runs up front with the bat; we underperformed,” she added.
“What has pleased me most however during this tournament is the unity that we have shown as a team since we arrived in Bangladesh back in March, especially after the early loss against the West Indies in Sylhet.
“To bounce back from that the way we have is pretty special, and I could give you an example of how every single player on our squad list has played their part to reach this final; it’s just a shame that we couldn’t quite get over the line today.”