England ‘didn’t find answer’ to Alyssa Healy and Australia admits Heather Knight

England captain Heather Knight admitted Australia had been too strong on the day after defeat in the Women’s Cricket World Cup final in Christchurch.

Alyssa Healy struck a brilliant 170 as Australia regained the crown with a 71-run victory over the 2017 winners in Christchurch.

Nat Sciver did hit a fine unbeaten 148 in England’s reply but Australia’s formidable 356-5, after being put in to bat, proved beyond them.

Knight said on Sky Sports: “It was probably a 50-50 decision at the toss, whether to bat or bowl first, but credit to Australia, to bring that sort of performance in a World Cup final was outstanding.

“Alyssa’s innings was remarkable – not a pleasure to watch but one of the best innings I’ve seen live.

“I guess we didn’t quite find an answer. It was an amazing wicket, really hard to defend.

“If we’d kept them just above 300 – which was about par – we’d have had a good chance of chasing it down.”

Knight was nevertheless proud of her team’s performance in reaching the final after losing their first three matches of the tournament.

She said: “I am super-proud of the group, how we manged to turn things around – the fact we’ve shown that resilience and character to turn things around and be in with a shot of winning of the World Cup. Unfortunately one (more) win was too many for us.”

Knight also paid tribute to Sciver for her effort in a losing cause.

She said: “It was remarkable, unbelievable from Nat. The skill against spin and seam, scoring all round the ground – it was unfortunate we couldn’t have someone stay with her.

“The runs on the board meant we had to take a few more risks and unfortunately we couldn’t have that big partnership, which is something Australia do outstandingly and something we can learn