Australia’s juggernaut women’s ODI team sets foot in India and Sri Lanka for the 2025 World Cup, once again wearing the favourite’s tag—a reputation built on “huge depth” and consistency, as champion all-rounder Ellyse Perry emphasises.
This World Cup marks Perry’s fifth appearance at the showpiece event, and she believes Australia’s remarkable bench strength is their greatest advantage. With a seven-time World Cup-winning legacy, the side’s ability to blend a settled core with new talent stands out.
Perry explains, “We’re really conscious of the fact that we’re incredibly fortunate to have some huge depth in our side, both batting and bowling.” Her words point to a squad where experience and the new wave co-exist, driving relentless competitiveness and adaptability.
The Australian approach is clear: maintain attacking intent from the outset while relying on a defined team ethos. Perry says, “From that aspect, I think we’ve made a really conscious shift towards wanting to take the game on from the very start and probably keep our foot down for as long as we can… There’s a real ethos within the group to make sure that we can utilize everyone’s talent on the day”.
Since lifting the last World Cup, Australia has suffered only three ODI defeats. Yet the 2023 Ashes provided wake-up calls, highlighting areas for further improvement and prompting the management to support a stable group while still encouraging young talent.
“Some fairly big changes to our group over the last four years,” Perry admits. “But in the last particularly 12 months, we’ve had a fairly stable group, and some really amazing young talent emerge as mainstays as well, contributing consistently in every match. From that perspective, it’s definitely a slightly different-looking team, but I think still a really stable and established team”.
This drive for consistency is not just tactical; it’s also about nurturing the right mindset. “It’s going to be one person’s day most of the time, not everyone’s, but if we can kind of really be consistent with that, we’ve got a good chance of being successful more often than not. I think that’s been a big shift for us,” says Perry.
Australia’s journey in the 2025 World Cup begins October 1 against New Zealand at Indore, followed by matches spread across India and Sri Lanka. With eight teams competing in the round-robin stage, every outing will test this ‘depth’ Perry speaks of.
Key fixtures include encounters against Sri Lanka (Colombo, October 4), Pakistan (Colombo, October 8), and arch-rivals India (Visakhapatnam, October 12). The top four will move to the knockout semifinals, culminating in the final on November 2.
Perry is also keenly aware of the rapid evolution of women’s cricket, praising the athleticism and sheer skill in today’s squad. “The development of the women’s game has been really incredible in the last couple of years. From an athletic point of view, we’re very conscious of making sure that we’re dominant in that space.
“We want to run hard between the wickets, be really good in the field… looking at some of our bowling options, we have some of the quicker bowlers in the world as well. Hopefully we’re a dynamic side…”.
This blend of dynamism and strategic depth, overseen by experienced leaders and energised by emerging talent, gives Australia genuine belief in their prospects as they seek to add another chapter to World Cup history.
Perry’s confidence is grounded in the squad’s capacity to respond to changing situations: “Obviously, you’ve got to adapt to conditions and certain circumstances… but it just feels like there’s a real ethos within the group to make sure that we can utilise everyone’s talent on the day”.
With an eye on both the present and future, Australia’s World Cup ambitions rest on depth, adaptability, and the ability to seize the big moments—a theme underscored time and again by one of the modern game’s brightest stars.
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