Australia’s women have grown used to living out of a suitcase in India, yet even they admit the next few weeks could throw up a few surprises. New cities, unfamiliar grounds and the small matter of a global title defence all lie in wait as the ODI World Cup edges closer.
Before the main event, Meg Lanning’s side meet India in a three-match series starting on Sunday in New Chandigarh. It is their first cricket since the Ashes ended in early February, and vice-captain Tahlia McGrath says any rust must disappear quickly.
“We have been quite lucky, we feel like we’re travelling to India every second month almost,” McGrath said during training on Friday. “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. [We are] in New Chandigarh at the moment, never been here before, [and] lots of the World Cup venues never been to before. So it’s about learning the conditions, adapting to the conditions, being flexible and communicating really well as a group because it is a little bit foreign to us. 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’s coaching staff have already admitted the fixture list is causing them to hunt for extra information. Head coach Shelley Nitschke sounded out colleagues in the men’s programme after their recent visit to Colombo, scene of two spin-heavy ODIs earlier this year. The Premadasa Stadium will host Australia again, this time against Sri Lanka and Pakistan, and only five members of the current squad have played there before.
Back in India, several venues are stepping into women’s international cricket for the first time. Indore’s Holkar Stadium has never hosted a women’s match, Guwahati’s Barsapara Stadium last staged a women’s T20I in 2019, and Visakhapatnam has not seen an ODI since 2014. Navi Mumbai, a late substitute for Bengaluru, is yet to hold a women’s 50-over game of any description.
Former Australia opener and television analyst Lisa Sthalekar believes the scattered schedule could narrow the gap between the favourites and the chasing pack. “Everyone walks in with the same lack of local knowledge,” she said. “If you read a pitch wrong at one of these new venues, suddenly the side batting second could be looking at dew or a surface that slows dramatically. The best teams adapt fastest, but early mistakes can be costly in a short tournament.”
Australia’s advantage, as it so often is, may lie in depth. McGrath noted that 17 players have travelled for the India series, two more than the permitted World Cup squad. “We’ve been pretty settled with our squad for quite a while now, so we’ve been pretty lucky with that,” she said. “The only thing is, though, we’re over here for a very long time and I think we’ve got 15 in the World Cup squad and 17 over here at the moment, so it’s a really good opportunity to play a few players, play some different roles. Not sure what Shell’s got in mind, but 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.”
That flexibility could be crucial if pitches tire and batters need to shuffle up and down. Left-arm spinner Sophie Molineux, fresh from an excellent domestic season, is pushing for a game against India, while pace bowler Kim Garth offers new-ball control if swing is on offer.
As for goals, the message remains simple: defend the World Cup, and do so without cutting corners. Bowling coach Ben Sawyer summed it up earlier this week: “Prepare well, accept whatever surface we’re given and trust our skills.” Nothing flashy, nothing guaranteed—just Australia acknowledging that, this time, even they cannot say for certain what lies around the corner.
