Australia Lock and Load for Road to Women's ODI World Cup

Australia will look to recalibrate their focus on defending their ODI crown next year with the three-match series at home against World Cup hosts India on Thursday (December 5) in Brisbane.

In a T20 World Cup year, Australia last played the 50-overs format in March in Mirpur where they blanked Bangladesh 3-0 in a historic series win. Australia are currently atop the 2022-25 ICC Women's Championship table after six concluded series, having dropped just one game in their last 10 ODIs (against South Africa earlier this year) and overall just one series (against England in 2023) in this cycle.

The six available points over the next week will help consolidate that position further even though Australia are well on course for a direct entry to the showpiece event.

As the energies turn towards the one-day format, Australia will be kicking off their prep, and a packed summer, without their regular skipper. Alyssa Healy, who also missed the business end of the T20 World cup in UAE in October, sustained a minor knee injury in the subsequent WBBL and has been replaced in the squad by rising star Georgia Voll. The 21-year-old was Sydney Thunder's second-best run-getter in WBBL 2024 with 330 runs at average 30 and strike rate close to 145, and is set to open alongside club teammate Phoebe Litchfield.

Beth Mooney is primed to take over the wicketkeeping duties for the series with Healy expected to return in time for the pre-Christmas tour of New Zealand. That said, the regular captain has been with the squad in Brisbane while still undergoing rehab. There's a slight change in the leadership group as Australia look to build for the future. Getting her first full series in charge as Australia captain, Tahlia McGrath will now have a new vice-captain in Ashleigh Gardner instead of senior allrounder Ellyse Perry, who deputised in the UAE.

"I'm excited, every opportunity I get to lead any side I love, I thrive off of it," McGrath said on the eve of the series opener on Wednesday. "I'm really excited to work alongside Ash Gardner in a new partnership… I like to put my own spin on it [captaincy]. Every captain is slightly different, but a full series for me, and I'm really excited about the opportunity to work alongside Ash to implement a few things that I do as captain, and hopefully get the most out of this group and have a series win.

"It's really good to have Midge up here as well and she's still really involved with the squad. I'm more of a quieter leader; lead from the front, small conversations, and I think my biggest strength in leadership is my calmness. That's what I bring to it. Midge and I balance each other out really well and have found that partnership. I'm hoping to do the same with Ash, because she's got a lot of strengths of her own that complement mine… I'm really excited to showcase that," McGrath noted.

Tahlia McGrath is also wary of the "superstars" in the Indian squad and the challenge they can pose despite being away from home. Besides the fact that any Indian team attracts great crowd support in Australia, as many as six of them have had recent exposure to the conditions owing to their participation in the just-concluded WBBL season of which only D Hemalatha hasn't made it to the squad. Left-handed wicketkeeper Yastika Bhatia was primed to take up the opener's vacancy, created by the axing of Shafali Verma, until a wrist fracture sent her back home at the business end of her maiden WBBL stint.

For middle-order batter Tejal Hasabnis and leggie Priya Mishra, it's a return to the country that led to their ODI debuts in the home series against New Zealand in October. Hasabnis registered a hat-trick of fifties in as many one-day games on the A tour in August while Mishra famously took a fifer in the third game to set up a massive 171-run consolation victory in Mackay. Both shone on debut, in India's 2-1 series win over New Zealand, and have consequently held on to their spot in the side with skipper Harmanpreet Kaur expecting them to continue the good work.

With India already qualifying for the World Cup by virtue of being hosts, the six points from the series will only be consequential in deciding whether they can pip two-time winners Australia in clinching the IWC for the first time. India have three series in hand, including the one against Australia, and Harmanpreet Kaur alluded to using those nine games in identifying a larger pool for the home World Cup that's 10 months away.

"ODI is where we enjoy a lot [more] than other cricket [format]. It's something we're always looking forward to and especially [against] Australia… who play really good cricket wherever they go. [This series] is a great platform for us to go and play well against them," Harmanpreet said.

"It's a very important series for us and we all are looking forward to winning this series… We just want to go there and enjoy our cricket. It's good to see that our team is doing well in the ODI format and we just want to continue with the same momentum [in Australia].

"All the games are important for us and we just want to try combinations and see whoever is doing well and give them more opportunity. At the same time, the upcoming players who are doing really well, we want to give them a chance too and see whoever is the best keeping the World Cup in mind in home conditions."

Australia Squad:

• Darcie Brown
• Ashleigh Gardner (VC)
• Kim Garth
• Alana King
• Phoebe Litchfield
• Tahlia McGrath (C)
• Sophie Molineux
• Beth Mooney (wk)
• Ellyse Perry
• Megan Schutt
• Annabel Sutherland
• Georgia Voll
• Georgia Wareham

India Squad:

• Harmanpreet Kaur (C)
• Smriti Mandhana (VC)
• Priya Punia
• Jemimah Rodrigues
• Harleen Deol
• Uma Chetry (wk)
• Richa Ghosh (wk)
• Tejal Hasabnis
• Deepti Sharma
• Minnu Mani
• Priya Mishra
• Radha Yadav
• Titas Sadhu
• Arundhati Reddy
• Renuka Singh Thakur
• Saima Thakor