Australia Women vice-captain Tahlia McGrath has praised New Zealand ahead of their much-anticipated showdown. Both teams are preparing for their opening clash in the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2025. The much-awaited match will see the rivals start their campaign on Wednesday at the Holkar Cricket Stadium in Indore.
McGrath spoke highly of the White Ferns’ form and the talent in their squad. “New Zealand are a really good side, they’ve been playing some really good cricket of late and they’ve got some players in their squad that we haven’t come across before, so we’re excited for the challenge,” McGrath said.
Anticipation Builds Ahead of Indore Clash
She also shared her first impressions of the venue, which will host the tournament opener. “It looks like a really high scoring ground, it looks like a really nice batting wicket and, just walking across the ground (earlier), it just looks like such a cool stadium to play at. It’s hitting us now that it’s here; the World Cup’s here, we’ve been waiting so long and it’s been on our calendar for so long and the excitement’s there, we feel like we’re really well prepped and ready to go, so can’t wait for (the game),” she noted.
Australia, the defending champions, aim to extend their dominance on the global stage. They are chasing history by trying to win consecutive ICC Women’s World Cups for only the second time. They first achieved that in 1978 and 1982 and added a third title in 1988. Their most recent triumph came in 2022, when they defeated England by 71 runs in the final.
Preparation and Confidence Key for Australia
Speaking about the challenges ahead, McGrath stressed the importance of consistency. “World Cups are the hardest to win. Every game’s crucial; you need to be on every game,” she explained. “We’re excited for the challenge of a new wicket that we’re not very familiar with, and most importantly, our prep has been awesome, I think we’re in a really good spot and we’re just so excited to kick off.”
Australia and New Zealand have faced each other several times recently, and McGrath believes that familiarity will shape the contest. “We’ve played each other a lot over the last 12 months and know each other’s game really well, so it’s exciting we get to kick off our World Cup campaign against them and, yeah, we just finished our prep meeting and think we match up really nicely. So we go into this clash really confident and really excited,” she added.
Squads for the ICC Women’s World Cup 2025 Opener
Australia Women: Alyssa Healy (c), Tahlia McGrath (vc), Darcie Brown, Ashleigh Gardner, Kim Garth, Heather Graham, Alana King, Phoebe Litchfield, Sophie Molineux, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Voll, Georgia Wareham.
New Zealand Women: Sophie Devine (c), Suzie Bates, Eden Carson, Flora Devonshire, Izzy Gaze, Maddy Green, Brooke Halliday, Bree Illing, Polly Inglis, Bella James, Melie Kerr, Jess Kerr, Rosemary Mair, Georgia Plimmer, Lea Tahuhu.
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