Canberra, Sep 12(UNI) Australia will have a tremendous opportunity to get accustomed to Indian conditions when they face the hosts of the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2025 in a three-match ODI series starting Sunday, September 14.
Most members of the current Australian squad are well-acquainted with Indian conditions, thanks to regular bilateral series and the advent of the Women’s Premier League (WPL).
Despite this familiarity, Australia have played international cricket in Visakhapatnam way back in 2012, and have never played in Indore- two of the Indian venues where they will feature during the World Cup group stages.
However, vice-captain Tahlia McGrath is confident that Australia have the depth and strength in their squad to tackle any challenges, regardless of the conditions.
“We have been quite lucky, we feel like we’re travelling to India every second month almost,” vice-captain Tahlia McGrath said ahead of Australia’s three-match ODI series against India.
“Spent a lot of time over here, played in these conditions a lot, but we’re playing in some parts that we’re not very familiar with.
“No matter where you are in India, you can get thrown up very different conditions from day to day, so excited about the challenge, [we have] a little bit of experience, but a little bit of unknowns.”
Australia announced their squad on Thursday, 4 September, with few surprises in either inclusions or exclusions.
Alyssa Healy, who has battled injuries over the past year, returns to lead the defending champions, supported by experienced campaigners like Ellyse Perry, Beth Mooney, Ash Gardner and McGrath.
“We’ve been pretty settled with our squad for quite a while now, so we’ve been pretty lucky with that,” McGrath said about the unit.
“We’ve got so much talent, so much depth over here that it doesn’t really matter what team we throw out or what batting order, all that sort of thing, we’re in pretty good hands.”
While Australia don’t need extra motivation, having already dominated the Women’s World Cup with seven titles, the defending champions will be driven by the chance to win back-to-back trophies.
Such a feat hasn’t been achieved in the Women’s 50-over World Cup since Australia themselves completed a three-peat in 1978, 1982, and 1988.
“An ODI World Cup is special, they’re probably the pinnacle,” McGrath noted.
“And then the extra little bit of motivation as well that we want to be the first team in a while to go back-to-back [in the] ODI World Cup.”
