Ellyse Perry is about to start her fifth 50-over World Cup, this time in India and Sri Lanka, and she’s more interested in the size of Australia’s squad than the size of her own trophy cabinet. “We’re really conscious of the fact that we’re incredibly fortunate to have some huge depth in our side, both batting and bowling,” she said during a low-key sponsorship event in Melbourne before the group flew out.
Key numbers first. Since lifting the 2022 title in Christchurch, Australia have played 26 ODIs and dropped only three. Two of those defeats came in last year’s multi-format Ashes, a reminder that even serial winners need to keep moving. No women’s side has defended the World Cup since Australia strung three together from 1978-88; that little stat still matters in the dressing-room.
The simple plan, Perry explained, is to make best use of options one to fifteen, every single match. “So, from that aspect, I think we’ve made a really conscious shift towards wanting to take the game on from the very start and probably keep our foot down for as long as we can,” she said. It sounds aggressive, but she balanced it at once: “Obviously, you’ve got to adapt to conditions and certain circumstances, but it just feels like there’s a real ethos within the group to make sure that we can utilise everyone’s talent on the day.”
Crucially, she accepts that on any given afternoon only one or two players may genuinely cash in. “It’s going to be one person’s day most of the time, not everyone’s, but if we can kind of really be consistent with that, we’ve got a good chance of being successful more often than not.” Short version: stay greedy but stay realistic.
Coach Shelley Nitschke, speaking to local radio later, liked that framing. “Depth is lovely on paper, but it only matters when the eleven on the pitch use it,” she noted, though she remained wary of Asian conditions, especially during the early-October humidity.
Depth also means turnover. Meg Lanning, Rachael Haynes and Jess Jonassen – pillars through the record 26-match winning streak that started after the 2017 semi-final heartbreak – will not be in South Asia. “[There’s been] some fairly big changes to our group over the last four years,” Perry admitted, pausing as if to make sure nobody was forgotten. But she pointed straight to Annabel Sutherland and Phoebe Litchfield, both now glued into the batting order. They are 22 and 21 respectively; they grew up watching highlights of Perry, and now sit next to her in planning meetings.
Fielding, often the bit left to the end of previews, is no afterthought for Australia. “The development of the women’s game has been really incredible in the last couple of years,” Perry said. “From an athletic point of view, we’re very conscious of making sure that we’re dominant in that space. We want to run hard between the wickets, be really good in the field, and I think looking at some of our bowling options, [we have] some of the quicker bowlers in the world as well.”
Translation for the casual fan: they plan to sprint for twos, dive at backward point, and crank the speed gun past 75 mph. It is hardly revolutionary, but Perry’s point is that the rest of the world has caught up technically, so Australia must stay ahead physically.
There is still a quiet confidence, the sort that comes from winning most matches without shouting about it. “In the last particularly 12 months, we’ve had a fairly stable group and some really amazing young talent emerge as mainstays,” Perry said. That stability matters when your marquee names have gone – or, in Jonassen’s case, cannot find a spot in the XI.
Opposition coaches keep talking about “targeting” Australia; Perry seems almost amused by that. She has seen five World Cups, three different formats of Women’s Premier Leagues, and more broadcast cameras than she can count. Experience, she hints, cannot be faked. Yet even she concedes that a title defence on slow, turning pitches is no guarantee. Heat, dew, and opponents who now believe they belong on the same park – they’ll all have a say.
Still, when she lists the squad – Litchfield, Mooney, Healy, Gardner, Sutherland, Wareham, Brown, Schutt – it is hard to avoid the sense of balance: pace, spin, left-handers, finishers. Depth, in other words. And Perry, as ever, prefers to talk about the many, not the one.
