Australia's Tahlia McGrath believes that the Australian women's squad is spoilt for choice as they eye a win against New Zealand to kickstart their World Cup title defence.
00:00Thanks for joining us everyone. Obviously you have Australian guys captain who are on the drive here, head about opening up tomorrow.
00:10Any questions, Talia?
00:23We will train straight after this, full squad will train. I assume Pez will be good to go, it takes a lot for her not to play.
00:29So, Soph will have a train as well. As best as my knowledge, everyone in the squad will be available for selection.
00:37Hi Talia, Litha you're from Times of India. Wanting to know your thoughts on facing New Zealand given their recent performances.
00:46We've got a really nice rivalry with New Zealand, we call it the friendly rivalry.
00:50We've played each other a lot over the last 12 months and sort of know each other's game really well through franchise cricket as well.
00:56So, exciting we get to kick off our World Cup campaign against them.
01:01And yeah, we just finished our prep meeting and think we match up really nicely so we go ahead into this clash really, really confident and really excited.
01:08What was the chat after the warm up the other night and what might you look to do as a batting group?
01:15Yeah, not ideal but not the end of the world.
01:18We look to play a really aggressive style of play with our batting and while we did that we just lost too many wickets.
01:24So, some poor decision making but really good with how we took the game on.
01:30Every game, every wicket we play on here is going to be slightly different.
01:33So, really recognising those conditions early, communicating well as a team and trying to score as many runs as possible.
01:40But, the most exciting thing for me about that warm up game against England was Sophie Molyneux back out on the park playing for us.
01:46It's been a while since she's played cricket and been a while since she's been in Australian colours so that was the most pleasing thing for me.
01:54And the first international women's game at this venue, what are you expecting from the pitch and the conditions?
01:59Yeah, we've gone through the data and like you said, no women's ODIs played here before but it looks like a really high scoring ground.
02:06Looks like a really nice batting wicket and just walking across the ground now like it looks like such a cool stadium to play out.
02:13So, it's sort of hitting us now that it's here, the World Cup's here.
02:17We've been waiting so long and it's been on our calendar for so long and the excitements are there.
02:22We feel like we're really well prepped and really ready to go so can't wait for tomorrow to come around.
02:27Hi, Australia is on a 15 match unbeaten run against New Zealand.
02:35So, coming into this World Cup opener for you guys, do you take confidence from such a good stat or you just bury it deep inside and just say this is a new tournament and you have to be on the ball for a fresh tournament?
02:48What was the stat you said?
02:5015 matches unbeaten.
02:52You guys have won 15 matches in a row against New Zealand.
02:55That's a pretty good stat but World Cups is pretty irrelevant.
03:00World Cups are the hardest to win.
03:03Every game is crucial.
03:04You need to be on every game.
03:05So, New Zealand are a really good side and we're playing some really good cricket of late.
03:09And they've got some players in their squad that we haven't come across before.
03:12So, we're excited for the challenge.
03:15Excited for the challenge of a new wicket that we're not very familiar with.
03:18And most importantly, like I said, I think our prep has been awesome.
03:21I think we're in a really good spot and we're just so excited to kick off.
03:24And on a personal note, how do you see your role as a same bowling all-rounder, batting all-rounder in this subcontent conditions with spin playing a heavy part?
03:35Yeah, my role changes a fair bit from game to game depending on how we line up and how many overs I might bowl.
03:43I sort of joke that I'm basically a spinner at times when I'm a bit slower and just bowl some pace off.
03:49So, I feel as though I can adapt to any wicket and use some of our variations to suit different wickets.
03:56But I think we're very spoilt with choice with the squad here.
04:00We've got so much depth.
04:01A lot of spin, a lot of pace and we're spoilt for choice with all-rounders.
04:04So, it's whatever the team needs in any given moment.
04:08And we're a very team first side that just does whatever is required.
04:14Yeah, we've been really lucky that we've been able to be really stable with the squad that we've put out over the last year or so.
04:30I feel as though we've really cemented our roles and what's required of us.
04:47And then, like I said before, we're really lucky that we've got depth as well.
04:52Spending so much time over here in India playing in different conditions, I think you're going to have to use that depth and play different combinations at times.
04:59But we're pretty confident that no matter what combination we put out in the park, we feel like we're in really good hands and really well prepped to combat anything.
05:08What do you think you will do better in India as a batsman or as a bowler?
05:13Me personally.
05:15Batting at seven, I'm hoping I don't have to play much of a role with the bat and I'll just come in with 300 on the board and maybe bowl a few overs through the middle.
05:22But whatever's required from the team, I'm ready to step up and hopefully contribute with both bat and ball this World Cup.
05:28We've seen a lot of runs being scored in ODIA as the series against India or in the last year and a half as well, personal milestones for a lot of players.
05:43And these conditions also look pretty flat.
05:45Do you think this World Cup has the potential to become the most high scoring one so far?
05:49Yeah, absolutely. The way the women's game's going, it's becoming more and more aggressive with the bat.
05:55And we've spoken about that a lot at length that we're going to need to be brave and aggressive to post big totals in these conditions.
06:02And based on what we've seen of indoor, I think it's going to be a bit of a runs fest tomorrow.
06:06So we've committed to a style of play as a batting group and it's about taking the game on.
06:10So we're going to need to commit to that to be successful in this World Cup because I reckon there's going to be a lot of runs out there all tournament.
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