Pat Cummins believes his team have created a career-defining legacy with their World Cup win, after a long six months on the road in India and England.
Cummins and other Australian players began landing back home on Wednesday morning, after days of celebrations in India.
Seven members of the squad have remained in India to feature in the looming Twenty20 series, while the other half have returned to prepare for the Test summer.
Australia’s triumph came after two months in India earlier this year, followed by another two months in England for the Ashes with only brief breaks before the World Cup.
The year has netted them a World Test Championship victory and ODI World Cup win, after also retaining the Ashes on foreign soil to go with a 2-1 Test series loss in India.
“I think they have created their own legacy,” Cummins said of his side as he touched down at Sydney Airport.
“A World Cup, you only get one chance every four years and especially playing somewhere like India, it’s hard.
“To be pitted up against the rest of the world and come away with a medal, it doesn’t get any better than that.
“Adding to that an away Ashes series, A World Test Championship. We couldn’t have planned for much better. So a pretty satisfied group.”
Cummins said he was still “buzzing” from the win, with Sunday’s six-wicket triumph over the host nation in the final yet to fully sink in.
(Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Images)
Widely praised for his captaincy in the semi-final and final, Cummins admitted he thought Australia’s tournament was close to over after they lost their first two games to India and South Africa.
“To be honest (I did think we were long odds),” Cummins said.
“It almost became a sudden death really. We thought we pretty much had to be flawless from there on in just to make the semis.
“And we pretty much were. We started to find ways to win, even when we weren’t having our best days.
“Even before the tournament, we knew playing ODI cricket in India, it’s a pretty tough assignment.
“So just to make the semis we were pretty pumped and keen to go a bit further.”
The core of Australia’s group will fight for the country to have all five ICC men’s and women’s trophies at next year’s T20 World Cup in the Caribbean and USA.
That will likely be the last major tournament for the majority of the squad, with seven players aged 32 or older and only four players in their 20s.
Asked if the three pace bowlers could still be around for the next ODI World Cup in South Africa after they also lifted the trophy in 2015, Josh Hazlewood conceded it was unlikely he, Mitchell Starc and Cummins would all feature.
“South Africa, that might suit us. But four years is a long time, so we’ll see,” Hazlewood said.