Two years on from Australia's historic Women's T20 World Cup final win, an artwork commemorating the moment has been unveiled at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, where a record 86,174 fans watched the team win the 2020 title.
Painted by two-time Doug Moran National Portrait Prize winner Vincent Fantauzzo, the portrait depicts the 16 squad members lifting the trophy as yellow and green confetti fills the sky.
It is the first artwork to depict a women's sports team to be on permanent display at the MCG, and will be displayed along the route of the famous MCG Tour, which attracts around 130,000 people every year.
Not only is the legacy of the tournament win immortalised in the artwork, but so is the significance of the wider moment for women's sport.
Unveiled on the eve of International Women's Day, the portrait also commemorates the fact that the 2020 final broke the attendance record for a standalone women's sporting event and the highest crowd figure for a women's cricket match globally, after a months-long campaign by Cricket Australia to raise the profile of the event.
Fantauzzo came up with the concept in collaboration with all of Australia's World Cup-winning players through a mix of in-person interviews and video calls.
Having painted the likes of Heath Ledger, Baz Luhrmann, and Julia Gillard, he said this project was one of the most important and memorable 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," he said.
"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."
Australian women's team captain Meg Lanning said it was an honour for the side to be the first women's sports team immortalised in art at the historic ground.
"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," she said.
"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."
With this year's International Women's Day theme being Break The Bias, MCC president Michael Happell said the artwork represented the work cricket had been doing to move towards gender equality.
"We are delighted to be able to showcase this important piece of artwork," he said.
"It's an incredible artefact that inspires and will continue to shape the discussion around women's sport well into the future.
"This groundbreaking piece supports our ambitions to showcase and celebrate the achievements of our female sporting athletes and indeed our national women's sporting teams on the walls of the Members' Reserve.
"The club is committed to striving towards diversity, inclusivity, and equality, and we are proud to display this artefact in the MCG for our members, guests, and all visitors to enjoy."
