Alex Blackwell, Michael Clarke join junior Cricketers at top of Sydney Harbour Bridge with T20 World Cup Trophy
The two former Australian captains gave a team of young girls from the St Ives Junior Cricket Club an experience to remember as they took the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2020 Trophy to the top the Sydney Harbour Bridge on Tuesday.
Clarke, who captained Australia to a Word Cup win on home soil in 2015 said the pressure of playing at home will be outweighed by the advantage of having home crowd support.
“I think it’s great for women’s cricket that there’s been so much publicity and promotion. If there’s one team in the world, certainly in this country, that deserves the credit and deserves the publicity it’s the Australian women’s cricket team," Clarke said.
“In 2015, we embraced the pressure. There is a bit more expectation and you are a bit busy with things outside of cricket, but that can help take your mind off the game.”
Blackwell, who is a three-time T20 World Cup champion said the build-up to the 2020 event was like nothing she’s seen before.
“There’s a huge amount of momentum leading into this tournament, cricketing greats on the side of buses, there’s ads on TV, the social media’s gone mad - its unbelievable! We should be excited because some of the best cricketers the game’s ever seen will take part," Blackwell said.
The climb up the top of the Sydney Harbour Bridge was part of the ICC Women's T20 World Cup Trophy Tour, driven by Nissan that has returned to Sydney for the final leg of a 44-day journey around Australia.
The tournament begins this Friday 21 February when Australia take on India at Sydney Showground Stadium. The pre-match celebration featuring leading Australian music talent will start from 6:00pm AEDT, with the match to start at 7:00pm AEDT. Tickets are available at t20worldcup.com.