Australia will kickoff their ICC Women's World Cup campaign against New Zealand.
Star Australian player Phoebe Litchfield is set to miss the third and final ODI fixture against India on September 20 due to an injury. This could be a major blow for the defending champions Australia just on the verge of the ICC Women’s World Cup 2025.
The marquee event hosted by India and Sri Lanka is all set to commence on September 30. According to RevSportz, the batter has sustained a quadricep strain and will not take part in the series decider in Delhi, which is evenly poised at 1-1. Previously, she had also missed the second match due to the same injury.
Earlier, the opener became the highest run-getter for Australia with an 80-ball 88 in the first match of the series. Her innings included a total of 14 boundaries. The visitors had eventually won the match by eight wickets. However, hosts India also made a stunning comeback in the following fixture to thrash Australia by 102 runs, which is the team’s biggest loss ever by the margin of runs.
However, Litchfield was coming on the back of a great run of form after a spectacular season in The Hundred 2025. She notched up 292 runs in 10 matches, averaging 41.71, at a fiery strike rate of 157.83 to guide the Northern Superchargers Women to their maiden title in the 100-ball tournament. They defeated The Hundred 2023 champions, the Southern Brave Women, in the Final.
Notably, she had surpassed the former Australia skipper and the latest ICC Women’s World Cup-winning captain, Meg Lanning, by just five runs in the leading run-scorers list to achieve the feat. The latter, who represented the inaugural edition winners Oval Invincibles Women, scored 287 runs in eight fixtures.
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Alyssa Healy and Co. will kickoff their title defense against the latest ICC T20 World Cup champions, New Zealand, in the second fixture of the event in Indore. Ahead of that, the side will also play a warm-up match against England on September 27 in Bengaluru.
Notably, the much-anticipated clash between Australia and the 2017 runner-up India will take place on October 12 in Vishakhapatnam. The 50-over tournament will be played in a round-robin format, with each of the eight teams clashing once against the others in the group stage. The top four sides in the points table will advance to the knockouts.
Alyssa Healy (C), Darcie Brown, Ash Gardner, Kim Garth, Grace Harris, Alana King, Phoebe Litchfield, Tahlia McGrath, Sophie Molineux, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Voll, Georgia Wareham.
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