‘Every team starts on zero’: Australia shrug off favourites tag
Meg Lanning’s Australian side have conquered all before them over the past five years, winning 31 of their 33 one-day internationals since the last Women’s Cricket World Cup.
But the captain knows all too well that results between tournaments don’t count for anything once you arrive at them.
Australia were only slightly less dominant in the last cycle, winning 27 of their 35 matches between their triumph at the 2013 event in India and their arrival at the 2017 event in England.
But they didn’t even make it to the final as they sought to defend their title, losing to India, who went on to lose to the hosts in a thriller of a match at Lord’s.
Since then, Australia have lost precisely twice in 50-over cricket – to England in a dead rubber later that year, and to India in a dead rubber last September, a defeat that ended their world record winning streak at 26 matches.
But as she conducted her pretournament press conference in Christchurch, where the World Cup final is set to be played on April 3 at Hagley Oval, Lanning tried her best to shrug off the favourites tag.
‘‘England are the reigning champions. They hold the cup, so we’re all chasing them,’’ was how she put it.
Australia and England have both arrived in New Zealand fresh from contesting the Ashes across the Tasman – a multi-format series that ended with three ODIs, all won convincingly by the hosts.
The two teams meet again to get their campaigns started on Saturday at Seddon Park in Hamilton, and even though Australia have had the edge on their rivals of late, Lanning said there was no chance of them taking England – or anyone else – lightly. ‘‘World Cups are extremely hard to win. World Cups and tournament play are very different to bilateral series. Every team starts on zero wins. It’s an even footing. What has happened in the previous couple of years is irrelevant.
‘‘We feel like we’re very confident coming into this World Cup with our game style and how we want to play, but that doesn’t mean anything when we start.
‘‘We’re looking forward to the opportunity to come up against them in that first game and try and build some momentum.’’
While Australia will enter as heavy favourites, regardless of Lanning’s rhetorical flourishes, and should have no trouble making it as far as the final four, there is set to be a competitive contest for the other three semifinal spots.
England, India and South Africa will be hoping to make it that far, just as they did five years ago, but New Zealand’s White Ferns have found form in recent weeks and should benefit from their familiarity with conditions to make it a genuine five-horse race for the title.
The West Indies look the strongest of the other three teams, which is likely to leave Pakistan and Bangladesh – competing in their first World Cup – battling to avoid the wooden spoon, when they meet in Hamilton on March 14.
That’s what the form book suggests anyway. As Lanning noted, every team starts with zero wins and zero points. It’s all to play for, starting Friday.
THE WEEK AHEAD
Warm-up matches Today: White Ferns v Pakistan, Australia v West Indies, India v South Africa
Tomorrow: Bangladesh v England Tuesday: White Ferns v Australia, West Indies v India Wednesday: Pakistan v Bangladesh, South Africa v England World Cup round-robin Friday, 2pm: White Ferns v West Indies; Bay Oval, Mount Maunganui
Saturday, 10am: Bangladesh v South Africa; University of Otago Oval, Dunedin
Saturday 2pm: Australia v England; Seddon Park, Hamilton