LISA STHALEKAR: Australia chases historic back-to-back women’s ODI World Cup titles amid injury woes

A banged-up Australian side is seeking to do what no other women’s national cricket side has done before in more than three decades of the 50-over tournament, win back-to-back ODI World Cups.

With Grace Harris out through injury, Sophie Molineux having not played since January after knee surgery, and skipper Alyssa Healy missing a ton of cricket after her foot and knee injuries last summer, teams like India and England have their best shot at wresting the cup from Australia’s grip.

India will be boosted by co-hosting the tournament with Sri Lanka, and England’s morale will be high after beating Australia in a warm-up match at the weekend, following their embarrassment during the women’s Ashes in Australia earlier this year.

The Australian team has a different look from the 2022 victors, with former captain Meg Lanning and Rachael Haynes retired, and Matthew Mott having passed on the coaching reins to Shelley Nitschke.

The 50-over competition is the pinnacle event on the women’s cricketing calendar.

As an individual and team, you build up to this tournament trying to get everything right — from a skill point of view, the culture within the team, and the right balance and depth for what lies in front of you.

Australia are of course the team to beat having won 26 of their 30 ODI matches since the last World Cup.

Though Healy, below, is under no illusions.

“Defending a title is not easy. I think every team is here to win the World Cup. We know what we need to do to try and achieve that. You have to beat every single side in the world to lift that trophy, which is really exciting,” she said at the Captain’s Day event.

The amazing thing about each World Cup is that it throws up unique circumstances. Whichever team can cope and have enough depth to overcome these challenges should lift the trophy on November 2.

This World Cup will be a survival of the fittest — physically and psychologically — for different reasons due to the challenging conditions of playing on the subcontinent.

Coupled with searing heat, zapping humidity, and late nights due to most fixtures being day-night matches, the players will need to be at their physical peak to perform on match day and then to back it up, game after game.

In 2022, that World Cup was played in New Zealand with the spectre of COVID looming large, as players had little cricket going into the tournament and faced strict quarantine rules while they played it.

So much has changed since the last World Cup. The Women’s Premier League wasn’t around, The Hundred had only started the year before, and the Caribbean Premier League began just after the 2022 event.

This has meant the women are playing much more T20 cricket and more international bilateral series in addition to the regular fixtures between the big three countries, Australia, India and England.

Last week, India took on Australia in three ODIs in India, which served as the perfect warm-up to the tournament.

India won one match, and the teams played out an epic run fest in the final game with 781 runs scored, with Australia posting 412 and winning by 43 runs.

The hosts proved they can go toe-to-toe with the undisputed world champs, with the series taking its toll on the visitors.

Ellyse Perry and Megan Schutt suffered cramping, which will concern Nitschke heading into their first World Cup match against New Zealand on Wednesday night. India play Sri Lanka in the opening match tonight.

Phoebe Litchfield (quad), Annabel Sutherland (sore hip), and Darcie Brown (back spasms) are the other concerns for the Australian side.

The Aussies aren’t the only ones dealt an injury blow leading into the cup, with Indian top-order batter Yastika Bhatia suffering a serious knee injury in training.

The Australian team may be the hunted, and in true Healy style, she was keen to lean into that by dismissing Australia’s favourite tag. “I think India in their home conditions are going to be really, really tough to beat, along with a couple of the captains sitting alongside us,” she said.