Melbourne [Australia], July 18 : As the ICC Women's World Cup India draws closer, Australian head coach Shelley Nitschke explained why the defending champions are playing just one warm-up game ahead of the marquee event, as compared to two each played by others, saying that the need to stay fresh, recovered ahead of the tournament is the key focus, with Aussies playing India in three ODI series just before the warm-up clashes start.
The warm-up fixtures for the ICC Women's Cricket World Cup, to be hosted by India this year, have been revealed. The matches are set to start from September 25 onwards, featuring two high-octane clashes between South Africa and New Zealand, as well as India and England. The warm-up matches will take place until September 28, giving all eight teams involved in the tournament some game time ahead of the showpiece event, scheduled from September 30 to November 2, as per the ICC. Each team is scheduled to play two warm-up games, except for defending champions Australia, who will feature in just one.
Ahead of these warm-up fixtures and the tournament, Australia will play India in three ODIs in the World Cup hosting nation from September 14-20. The series and subsequent warm-up fixtures will involve a lot of travel, fatigue, and a need to recover. Australia's sole warm-up match is against arch-rivals England on September 27 at the BCCI Centre of Excellence 1 in Bengaluru.
Speaking to cricket.com.au, Shelley explained that the ODI series against India and the demanding warm-up and tournament schedule were the reasons why the team opted to win just one warm-up match.
"The last game of the bilateral series is the 20th of September, then our warm-up game against England is the 27th, so that just gives us a bit of time to travel, recover and really get make sure we're fresh to go for the World Cup on the back of the bilateral series," Nitschke said.
"We thought taking another couple of days and just having the one warm-up, to give ourselves every chance to be ready but to also be fresh, was the best approach, considering we will have already been there for two weeks getting used to the conditions.
"We have not had a lot of ODI cricket in this (recent) period, so to get over there a bit earlier, play three games against a really good opposition, get used to the conditions, get used to the country, get over our jet lag, and just really start to settle in was just too good an opportunity probably to pass up and hopefully that puts us in a good position to be ready to go come round one of the World Cup," the coach continued.
The coach said that they would have liked to play their warm-up game at Bengaluru's M Chinnaswamy Stadium, which is set to host the semifinals and finals, but Australia are not playing any group games at the venue.
"That is something we have spoken about ... maybe if we'd had a second warm-up game that could have been there, but I think a lot of the players have had a chance to play there through the WPL (Women's Premier League), and have enough experience there," Nitschke said.
"Ideally, we would love to have a game there, but that wasn't to be (and) we didn't want to trade off the time to refresh after that bilateral series," the coach concluded.
This year, Australia has played only three ODIs, winning all three of them, which were a part of the multi-format women's Ashes series back in January. Australia is the most successful team in tournament history, with seven titles, having beaten England to secure their latest trophy in Christchurch back in 2022.
Since the previous WC win, Australia has played 28 ODIs, winning 24 of them and losing three, while one ended in a no-result. England and Ireland (37), South Africa (34), India (33), Sri Lanka (31), and Pakistan (29) have played more ODIs than them during this time period.
In the ICC Women's WC, hosts India will take on Sri Lanka in the ICC Women's Cricket World Cup 2025 opener on September 30, in Bengaluru. Australia's first match will be against New Zealand in Indore on October 1.