Australia have lost just a handful of matches since winning the 2022 title while Sri Lanka, Pakistan and New Zealand give chase
ESPNcricinfo staff26-Sep-2025AustraliaAustralia, the defending champions, start overwhelming favourites again having lost only a handful of matches since dominating the last World Cup in 2022.There has been a little bit of transition within the team over the four years since with the retirements of Meg Lanning and Rachael Haynes, while Jess Jonassen has lost her place as a first-choice member of the squad.Australia’s major issue at the 2025 World Cup, if there really is one, has been balancing the side with their abundance of talent. They have four allrounders in their top seven, who can all bat in the top five, and their six specialist bowlers have a legitimate claim to play every match. The fitness of Sophie Molineux is a watching brief but her return from injury creates a good headache, as adding a left-arm orthodox spinner into the attack looks more balanced than playing two legspinners – Georgia Wareham and Alana King.Meanwhile, back-up opener Georgia Voll already has an ODI century against India, while one of their most powerful middle-order players, Grace Harris, has been ruled out of the World Cup.Skipper Alyssa Healy again will be a key figure, as she was in 2022, but has a heavy workload coming off a stress fracture in her foot. Her injury in the 2024 T20 World Cup proved extremely costly when Australia suffered a rare semi-final defeat.Ellyse Perry and Phoebe Litchfield, just two of the many allrounders in the Australia side•Getty ImagesSquadAlyssa Healy (capt, wk), Darcie Brown, Ashleigh Gardner, Kim Garth, Heather Graham, Alana King, Phoebe Litchfield, Tahlia McGrath, Sophie Molineux, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Voll, Georgia WarehamKey playerIn a line-up of match-winners, Ashleigh Gardner looms as one of Australia’s most important figures. As the only offspinner in Australia’s spin quartet, she provides crucial balance to the attack and can play a holding or attacking role bowling both in and outside the powerplay. She has dismissed the world’s No. 1 ODI batter Smriti Mandhana five times in ODI cricket and will be a crucial match-up when the two teams meet in Visakhapatnam on October 12. Gardner also won Australia three ODIs with the bat last summer after the top-order stumbled, including smashing a maiden international century against England.Predicted finishChampions. For the eighth time. Unless something dramatic happens, either in the lead-up to the tournament or during it, it’s difficult to see Australia not winning the trophy. Sri LankaChamari Athapaththu holds the key for co-hosts Sri Lanka•SLCFor much of this decade, one of Sri Lanka’s major problems has been sustaining a healthy cricket schedule. Once again, in 2025, Sri Lanka Cricket has put only a bare-bones schedule in place for the top women’s team. Since the start of this year, they’ve had just eight ODIs on the books, with one of those games having been rained out. Their record even in those matches has not been especially heartening – Sri Lanka have lost five of the seven matches that yielded a result.Still, on familiar surfaces, Sri Lanka feel they have a fighting chance. More than that, they believe they have something to fight for. This will likely by Chamari Athapaththu’s last World Cup in ODIs – the format she has most excelled in. Inoka Ranaweera, the 39-year-old spin-bowling mainstay in the Sri Lanka attack for more than a decade, is also unlikely to play another World Cup in this format.There is a rebuild on the horizon, but before that, the team is desperate to send off this generation with a strong performance. With the likes of Harshitha Samarawickrama, Vishmi Gunaratne, and Kavisha Dilhari having developed significantly as batters over the past three years, there is more support for Athapaththu than she has had in the last two World Cups.SquadChamari Athapaththu (capt.), Hasini Perera, Vishmi Gunarathne, Harshitha Samarawickrama, Kaveesha Dilhari, Nilakshika Silva, Anushka Sanjeewani (wk), Imesha Dulani, Dewmi Vihanga, Piumi Wathsala, Inoka Ranaweera, Sugandika Dasanayaka, Udeshika Prabodani, Malki Madara, Achini KulasooriyaKey playerThere may be new stars forming in this XI, but as has been the case for much of the last decade, plenty will depend on how good a tournament Athapaththu has. Where it used to be the case that even her best innings were not enough to get Sri Lanka over the line, Athapaththu’s good performances have translated more consistently into wins, more recently. She is also coming off a decent run at the Caribbean Premier League.Predicted finishPakistanThis will be Fatima Sana’s first ODI World Cup as Pakistan captain•ICC/Getty ImagesPakistan have long struggled for consistency on the World Cup stage. In the last edition, their only win came against West Indies, a side that hasn’t qualified this time. Their performances in 2013 and 2017 were equally disappointing, finishing at the bottom of their group without a win in either tournament.In the 2022-25 Championship cycle, Pakistan managed only eight wins from 24 matches, ultimately needing to qualify through the home Qualifiers where they remained unbeaten. While their overall form has been patchy, there have been moments of promise – notably the near chase of 313 against South Africa a few weeks before the global event, where a late collapse overshadowed what could have been a record win in Lahore.This will be Fatima Sana’s first ODI World Cup as captain, having led the side at last year’s T20 event. Still only 23, Sana heads a side in transition – but with experience and emerging talent on her side. She, along with left-arm spinners Nashra Sandhu and Sadia Iqbal, will be key to Pakistan’s bowling attack.Batting responsibilities will revolve around in-form batter Sidra Amin, who has scored over 500 runs since the start of 2024. Muneeba Ali and Aliya Riaz are capable of providing key contributions, while Natalia Pervaiz’s maiden ODI fifty against South Africa was a refreshing middle-order boost.To challenge for a semi-final spot, Pakistan will need to turn isolated flashes into consistent, collective performances.SquadFatima Sana (capt), Muneeba Ali (vice-capt), Aliya Riaz, Diana Baig, Eyman Fatima, Nashra Sandhu, Natalia Pervaiz, Omaima Sohail, Rameen Shamim, Sadaf Shamas, Sadia Iqbal, Shawaal Zulfiqar, Sidra Amin, Sidra Nawaz (wk), Syeda Aroob ShahKey playerSidra Amin, a mainstay of Pakistan’s batting lineup for over a decade, brings experience and form into the World Cup. A technically sound, conventional right-handed batter, she was Pakistan’s highest run-scorer in the World Cup Qualifiers in Lahore and arrives at the tournament on the back of consecutive ODI centuries against South Africa. Since 2024, she has notched up two centuries and three half-centuries. Her ability to anchor innings and deliver under pressure will be central to Pakistan’s plans.Predicted finishBottom half of the table. New ZealandNew Zealand are eyeing the World Cup double•Associated PressNew Zealand will be eyeing the double, having won the T20 World Cup last year. Led by 36-year-old Sophie Devine, who will be retiring from ODIs after the World Cup, they have a mix of youth and experience. Aside from Devine, playing her fifth ODI World Cup, they have experience in Suzie Bates, Lea Tahuhu, Amelia Kerr and Maddy Green, while several others including Georgia Plimmer, Polly Inglis, Eden Carson and Izzy Gaze will be playing their first ODI World Cup.New Zealand will be coming into the tournament with no ODI action in the last six months, having last played against Sri Lanka at home in March. That’s also the only ODI series they’ve won since the start of 2024, having lost to England (both home and away), India and Australia. However, the other teams won’t take them lightly; they were on a 10-match losing streak heading into the T20 World Cup last year and went on to win the tournament.Winter camps in New Zealand aside, a few of their World Cup-bound players – Plimmer, Jess Kerr, Brooke Halliday and Flora Devonshire – were part of a two-week camp at the CSK academy in Chennai in August. Bates played 10 games in the ECB Women’s One-Day competition in the summer where she hit 163 for Durham against Somerset, while a few others, including Amelia Kerr, played in the Hundred through August.New Zealand will begin their campaign against defending champions Australia in Indore after warm-up games against South Africa and India. They lost two warm-ups against England in Abu Dhabi, where Green raised a century in one while Bates and Plimmer scored fifties in the other.SquadSophie Devine (capt), Suzie Bates, Eden Carson, Flora Devonshire, Izzy Gaze, Maddy Green, Brooke Halliday, Bree Illing, Polly Inglis, Bella James, Jess Kerr, Amelia Kerr, Rosemary Mair, Georgia Plimmer, Lea TahuhuKey playerNew Zealand’s highest run-scorer (1670) and wicket-taker (51) in ODIs in the last five years, legspinning allrounder Amelia Kerr is only 24, but has the experience of 77 ODIs, and will be playing her third 50-over World Cup. Since her first World Cup in 2017, where she finished as New Zealand’s joint-highest wicket-taker, Kerr has gone on to become one of the most important players in the team. Her all-round effort at the T20 World Cup final against South Africa, where she scored 43 runs and picked up 3 for 24, took New Zealand to their first T20 title, and she finished as Player of the Tournament. She is expected to play a key role with the bat at No. 3 as well as with the ball in the middle overs.Predicted finishSemi-finals.