Australian Women's Team world Cup-winning moment gets framed in beautiful art at MCG

Melbourne Cricket Ground immortalized the Australian Women's Team T20 world Cup-winning moment in an artwork form. The portrait commemorating the 2020 achievement was unveiled at the MCG on the eve of International Women's Day.

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Vincent Fantauzzo, the two-time Doug Moran National Portrait Prize winner, is the painter of the artwork. Vincent Fantauzzo, Melbourne Cricket Club President Michael Happell and Georgia Wareham, Sophie Molineux, and Delissa Kimmince from the World Cup-winning team were there to unveil the artwork.

The painting depicts the 16-member team celebrating the win and lifting the trophy with green and yellow confetti surrounding them. It will be showcased alongside the route of the famous MCG Tour. The spot attracts almost 130,000 tourists every year.

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8 March 2022 completes 2 years of 2020 T20 Women's World Cup final at the MCG. MCG witnessed a neve-seen before record that day; 86,174 spectators viewed the march in the stadium. In fact, it is the most attendance record for a standalone women's sporting event and the biggest crowd for a women's cricket match globally.

The players have been an absolute joy to work with: Vincent Fantauzzo

Fantauzzo spent almost a year conceptualizing and finishing the artwork while communicating with the Australian squad through interviews and video calls. Fantauzzo said it was one of the special and significant projects of his career. "This is my first major commission for sport, and while I've painted sportspeople before, this one took on an extra layer of significance because of what the World Cup moment here at the MCG represents to history, to the players themselves, and to those that witnessed it. Because of that, there was a little bit of nervousness in unveiling it."

"It's one thing to get the reaction of one person whose portrait you're painting; this time, I've got 16 people's reactions, plus their friends and family, and the wider Australian public. "The players have been an absolute joy to work with; they bought into the concept straight away. To get to know them and their story has been a real privilege. Our Australian women's sporting teams have been leading the way on the international stage for a number of years now, so to bring this piece to life and have everyone enjoy what it represents has been a career highlight," he said.

It was great to work with Vincent during the process : Meg Lanning

Australian Women's Team Captain Meg Lanning said it was an honor for the team for being the first women's sporting team immortalized in art at the historic ground. She said, "The ICC Women's World Cup final in 2020 was a special day and now to have a piece of artwork to remember the occasion is really exciting. Whilst we couldn't be there, having the artwork unveiled the night before International Women's Day, which will mark two years since winning the final, reminds us of what can be achieved."

"We hope that we can make all our fans at home proud and emulate our performance from that World Cup in 2020 while we are here in New Zealand competing for the 50-over version. It was great to work with Vincent during the process and we would like to thank him, the Melbourne Cricket Club, and Cricket Australia for bringing it to life. We hope it can inspire all visitors to the MCG to pick up a bat and ball," she added