Australia will play just one official warm-up match ahead of the upcoming ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup as they seek to strike the right balance between acclimation and ensuring players remain fresh for the demands of the tournament proper.
The ICC released the warm-up match schedule for the tournament in India earlier this week, with every team bar Australia set to play two practice games between September 25 and 28.
View the full World Cup warm-up schedule here
Reigning champions Australia will meet 2022 runners-up England at the BCCI Centre of Excellence 1 Ground in Bengaluru on September 27, but they will already have spent more than a fortnight in the subcontinent nation at that point, with a three-game ODI series against India scheduled for New Chandigarh and New Delhi from September 14-20.
Speaking to cricket.com.au, Australia coach Shelley Nitschke explained that preceding ODI series, combined with the demanding schedule of the tournament proper, was the major factor in the call to pass up a second warm-up game.
“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’ll have already been there for two weeks getting used to the conditions.
“We haven’t 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.”
Nitschke conceded they would have liked the opportunity to play a warm-up match at Bengaluru’s M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, which will host a semi-final and the final and where Australia do not play a group game.
“That’s something we’ve 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, 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.”
Australia have had a lengthy winter lay-off ahead of the 50-over tournament in India, with their last series a T20I tour of New Zealand in March.
Their most recent one-day series was the 50-over leg of the multi-format Ashes in January, but Nitschke said the nationally contracted players had been preparing for the tournament through a series of camps held at the National Cricket Centre in Brisbane.
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Most of those players will fly to England later this month for The Hundred, while others including Alyssa Healy, Tahlia McGrath, Kim Garth, Darcie Brown and Tess Flintoff will turn out for Australia A in a series of 50-over matches against India A in Queensland next month.
“It’s all been going pretty well, as good as can be expected,” Nitschke said.
“It’s been nice to get (the players) up here and to get out on turf through this time of the year is always a bonus.
“I think the players are ready now to get into some competition.
“It’s massive to have The Hundred to get back into competition and game mode … and then for those not going to The Hundred, having the A series for them to filter through is also a massive bonus, just to get some games under our belt before we head across to India.”
Five of the eight competing teams will be stationed in Bengaluru for the World Cup warm-up period, which will also feature India A.
Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh meanwhile will prepare for the tournament in Colombo, which is serving as the neutral venue where Pakistan will play all of its group matches and any finals they qualify for.
Australia’s ODI tour of India
September 14: First ODI: New PCA stadium, New Chandigarh, 6pm AEST
September 17: Second ODI: New PCA stadium, New Chandigarh, 6pm AEST
September 20: Third ODI: Arun Jaitley stadium, New Delhi, 6pm AEDT
Australia’s Women’s Cricket World Cup 2025 schedule
Warm-up
September 27: v England, BCCI Centre of Excellence 1 Ground, Bengaluru, 7.30pm AEST
Round stage
October 1: v New Zealand, Holkar Stadium, Indore, 7.30pm AEST
October 4: v Sri Lanka, R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, Sri Lanka, 7.30pm AEST
October 8: v Pakistan, R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, Sri Lanka, 8.30pm AEDT
October 12: v India, ACA-VDCA Stadium Visakhapatnam, 8.30pm AEDT
October 16: v Bangladesh, ACA-VDCA Stadium Visakhapatnam, 8.30pm AEDT
October 22: v England, Holkar Stadium, Indore, 8.30pm AEST
October 25: v South Africa, Holkar Stadium, Indore, 8.30pm AEST
Finals
Semi-final 1: Guwahati or Colombo*, October 29
Semi-final 2: Bengaluru, October 30
Final: Bengaluru or Colombo*, November 2
* All games involving Pakistan to be played in Colombo, including the semi-final and final if they qualify