“It hasn’t fully sunk in yet,” Mott told ESPNcricinfo on Tuesday. “It was an amazing event again. I probably never thought I’d be coaching either team, really, so to coach them both to trophies is something very special.”
The time was right to end a storied run with Meg Lanning’s side and England’s interest was impossible to ignore. But even though he was going into another set-up that had white-ball success, plenty of depth and was going to be one of the favorites for the tournament, there was a lot to do to win the World Cup at the first time of asking. Especially after things go wrong.
“They’re exciting tournaments,” Mott said. “There’s a lot that can go right or wrong. Run-rate is a big thing coming up. To get out of a very strong group, it was a big relief after that. Once you get to the semi-finals and the finals. When you get there, you play a slightly different brand of cricket, you can actually relax a bit. Think the team thrives on that.”
“I think England’s depth is incredible. If you look at all the players who didn’t make the team – Jofra Archer, Jonny Bairstow, Reece Topley – and even the quality that was still on the bench, David Willie did nothing wrong. All and we couldn’t squeeze it.
“Probably the most pleasing thing – everyone talks a lot about the batting – but with Sam Curran, Chris Jordan, Mark Wood, now there’s incredible depth in the bowling, thought Adil Rashid had an amazing tournament. In tournaments like this you’re always going to lose a couple of players, but if you don’t panic and don’t give other players a chance, it really adds to the group.”
However, things started to come together in Pakistan, even though Buttler was not playing. Mott described the tour as important for what he has played in Australia, praising Buttler’s decision to go on tour. Their bond grew stronger, while Mott also believes that watching Moeen Ali helped Buttler’s captaincy develop.
“Anytime with a captain-coach relationship it takes time to build that trust,” Mott said. “I didn’t know Jose before I was in this role. Like any good working relationship, you have to build trust in each other. I really felt the best thing for us was when Jose was selfless. Said he would come to Pakistan. Although he was not going to play.
“He just wanted to watch and his bond with Moeen Ali grew there, it was fantastic. He really set the tone for us to build a team around him. He enjoyed Moeen’s captaincy a lot. Saw something else [I] Looks like he took a lot of it. It added an extra layer of comfort and reassurance.”
Mott has met a number of Australians over the past few weeks and many of them have sent him messages ahead of the final. “It felt like they shared it even though it was England,” he said. “At least they had someone to cheer for in the final.”
Andrew McGulshan is deputy editor at ESPNcricinfo.
