![\"Australia](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/hNpyxckTT6.jpg\")
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Australia<\/a> haven’t been beaten in the Women’s 50-over World Cup since 2017. Here’s how India, or one of England or South Africa, could look to pull off the impossible.<\/p>\n How on earth do you beat Australia? No, seriously, is it even possible to craft a plan to topple the most dominant cricket team in history without relying on a freak performance or praying for a collective off-day from a team of all-timers?<\/p>\n The stats suggest not. Since the 2017 World Cup, Australia have lost just six of the 85 ODIs they\u2019ve played. Only once in the last 11 years have they lost a bilateral 50-over series \u2013 against England in the 2023 Ashes, when Nat Sciver-Brunt, by her own admission, did \u201ccrazy\u201d things<\/a>. The T20 format might allow opponents to exploit a bad half-hour as South Africa did in last year\u2019s World Cup. But in the 100-over game, Australia are untouchable.<\/p>\n When it comes to World Cup cricket, that gets taken to another level. They haven\u2019t been beaten in the tournament since the 2017 semi-final, when Harmanpreet Kaur\u2019s extraordinary 171* saw them come up short.<\/p>\n It\u2019s against that formidable backdrop that India must somehow devise a plan to reach a home-soil final \u2013 or, should they fail, pass that task on to England or South Africa.<\/p>\n To bat or not to bat? <\/p>\n Instinct says that when faced with a side possessing unfathomable batting depth, no first innings total will ever feel safe. Batting first means never quite knowing whether you have enough, and striking the balance between batting long enough and fast enough is almost impossible. Australia brushed aside India\u2019s 330 with an over to spare in the group stage, Alyssa Healy\u2019s century leading a record chase. Of the five highest successful ODI chases in history, Australia have four, two of them in this year alone.<\/p>\n ALSO READ: A combined Women’s World Cup XI to challenge Australia<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n However, there may be a case to win the toss and tell your openers to get their pads on. In their last three ODI defeats, Australia were the chasing side. They folded for 190 in a 102-run loss to India last month, were blown away by Marizanne Kapp\u2019s new-ball spell against South Africa last year, and were undone by Kate Cross in the 2023 Ashes decider.<\/p>\n All of that is well and good, but it\u2019s still a risk. Australia\u2019s most dominant wins in this tournament \u2013 against South Africa, England and Bangladesh \u2013 all came when they were batting second. When they did bat first, they slumped to 76\u20137 against Pakistan before Beth Mooney swooped in for the rescue act.<\/p>\n There\u2019s no right answer, then, but to go by recent history, Australia are ever so slightly more vulnerable when they chase. Maybe.<\/p>\n How to counter their extraordinary batting depth? <\/p>\n Australia\u2019s batting depth has been a huge part of their blueprint for domination. But this World Cup has seen it at its most devastating form. Alana King\u2019s half-century from No.10 was as vital as Mooney\u2019s century in their recovery against Pakistan. Kim Garth scored 38 from No.9 against New Zealand. No one has more than one century from No.6 or lower in women\u2019s ODIs, apart from Ash Gardner, who has three. Quite simply, top order wobbles are meaningless unless they\u2019re followed through by routing the non-existent tail.<\/p>\n There are, however, a couple of minute cracks teams could look to exploit. Phoebe Litchfield\u2019s back-to-back single-digit dismissals against England and South Africa came against balls which moved away from her, first from Lauren Bell and then Marizanne Kapp. She averages 17.78 against right-arm pace compared to her overall ODI average of 38.93. All three semi-finalists possess high class right-arm pacers \u2013 Bell and Kapp, and India\u2019s Renuka Singh Thakur.<\/p>\n There\u2019s also the question of their captain\u2019s fitness. Healy has been essential to Australia\u2019s knockout dominance, with centuries in both the semi-final and final of the 2022 tournament, as well as her two hundreds so far in this edition. Her absence would be significant, but not defining for Australia. They\u2019ve already beaten both England and South Africa without her<\/a>, and Georgia Voll already has an ODI hundred to her name against India. Still, Voll was undone twice by England\u2019s spinners in the last two games she played against them, representing another very minor opening.<\/p>\n In reality, there\u2019s no glaring weakness to exploit in the batting order, only a few tiny cracks to work into, the smallest flaws to capitalise on and force rare errors. If an early wobble comes as it briefly did against Pakistan and England, following that through and truly testing Australia\u2019s ability to post a big first innings total after losing early wickets has the most potential.<\/p>\n Chasing it down <\/p>\n Australia\u2019s bowling depth is nearly as frightening as their batting. Annabel Sutherland and Alana King have been the chief destroyers in the tournament so far. Sutherland\u2019s five-for de-stablised India\u2019s middle-order, while King\u2019s record 7-18 ran through South Africa<\/a>. They\u2019re the lynchpins of the middle overs, drying up the runs and taking regular wickets to gut sides getting anywhere close to par.<\/p>\n Their new-ball attack, though, has been less dominant. Kim Garth, Megan Schutt and Darcie Brown have found it hard on run-scoring wickets to reign in the powerplay. In Indore, India were 58-0 after 10, while England were 55-1. This is where India could look to get ahead of the game in the semi-final. Their openers are the only ones to have outscored Australia in this tournament, although they will have a different pairing for the knockouts<\/a> thanks to Pratika Rawal\u2019s injury. However, India have also struggled at the death<\/a>, collapsing from strong positions against both Australia and England.<\/p>\n Every semi-finalist, though, has a trump card they will hope comes good. Nat Sciver-Brunt averages more against Australia than anyone else, while Smriti Mandhana is the only player who matches her century count against them. In South Africa\u2019s win over Australia last year, Marizanne Kapp scored 75 and took 3-12. Big games bring out the best in the best players, and there is no bigger game than a World Cup knockout against arguably cricket\u2019s greatest ever side.<\/p>\n What\u2019s the plan? <\/p>\n Essentially, play your perfect game, hold every catch, never let up on even the slightest of pressure, and stay in the game. Even after doing all of that, based on all the evidence, Australia will probably still win.<\/p>\n But part of being an elite athlete is believing that no opponent is unbeatable, and no challenge too big. That mentality gets tested to the limit against Australia, as in reality it\u2019s completely illogical. To beat them you have to be perfect, and hope that they are imperfect, and maybe then, you might have a chance.<\/p>\n Follow Wisden for all cricket updates, including live scores<\/a>, match stats, quizzes<\/a> and more. Stay up to date with the latest cricket news<\/a>, player updates, team standings,<\/a> match highlights, video analysis<\/a> and live match odds<\/a>.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Australia haven’t been beaten in the Women’s 50-over World Cup since 2017. 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