Women's World Cup 2025, SA vs AUS: Tahlia McGrath said that South Africa are a dangerous team and Australia won't take them lightly in their last league match on Saturday at the Holkar Stadium in Indore.
00:00You have lost only once to South Africa so far in ODIs. Will this boost the morale of players in tomorrow's match?
00:07South Africa are a very dangerous side and we've seen that a lot in this tournament.
00:11We do have a good record against them but there's still plenty to play for in this World Cup.
00:15We want to take that momentum into the finals and we also want to finish top spots.
00:19There's still a lot to play for and it's going to be a really tough game.
00:23If you could just give us an update on Alyssa Healy, what her fitness status is at the moment with the semi-finals coming up.
00:33Do you feel you haven't yet played the perfect game?
00:36I know you guys are unbeaten but are you still striving to find that perfect game where everything comes together?
00:42The first part, Midge is at training today.
00:45We haven't finalised an 11 yet but she's still a bit of a day by day case and we'll see how that pans out.
00:52The second part is I feel as though every game we've reviewed and found some little areas to improve on.
00:59The most pleasing thing is we've found a way to win and I feel as though we've got that belief as a group that we can win from any position.
01:06So that's been a massive positive but like I said there's still been little elements in every game that we've been wanting to improve.
01:12Still striving for what you call the perfect game but really happy with how we've played our cricket and found ways to win in this tournament.
01:20Yeah, I was just going to ask, is Sophie Molyneux still going to be rotated now at the 11, do you know, or is she able to sort of feature in every game from now on?
01:31Good question. One for the Pizios. The most pleasing thing for me is she's had a huge impact for us in this World Cup.
01:40She's a crucial player and it's been awesome to see how much of a role she's played for us with not much cricket leading in.
01:46She's worked extremely hard to be at this World Cup and she's been a huge player for us so whether it's against South Africa or in the finals she's already been a huge player for us and she will be for the rest of the tournament so it's been awesome to see her do so well.
02:00Just how have you found stepping into the capacity for the last game and potentially tomorrow if Mitch doesn't get up?
02:06I really enjoyed the England game. I certainly have to listen a bit more in meetings and be a bit more switched on but I really enjoyed the opportunity to lead and really enjoyed working with Ash.
02:17She helped me a lot stepping into that vice-captain role and we're blessed with so much support in the Australian team and with bowlers being so diligent in their plans.
02:26So it's a seamless transition and as much as I enjoyed it I'm pretty keen for Mitch to come back as soon as possible.
02:35You have played in Indore, Colombo and Vizek. How do you rate Holker Stadium Indore?
02:40What was the last part of that?
02:42How do you rate Holker Stadium?
02:44It's a very nice ground. Every ground we've played at has been slightly different.
02:49Out here has been very high scoring and tends to come on slightly better under lights we've found but we spoke about that today.
02:58How we feel as though we played two matches out here and we really understand the conditions now and really confident in these conditions.
03:03So with bat and ball, whatever stage of the game we feel as though we know it really well and we've been able to play some really good cricket out here.
03:11In saying that we've enjoyed the other stadiums as well but just this will be our third match out here and yeah we feel like we understand the conditions.
03:18Hi Talia, how do you prepare for an opposition like South Africa and there are two aspects why I'm asking this.
03:26One, this is your only, today is your only training session before the match against South Africa here and also you don't have a lot of history or bilaterals to lean upon.
03:36One, you only played one series at the start of last year and then in the T20 World Cup they beat you all.
03:42So given all this, how do you prepare, what entails do you use and how do you go about that training for the game tomorrow?
03:49I don't think we have to over prepare too much. We've been here for six weeks now. We've got a lot of training under our belt.
03:56We've got a lot of games under our belt and it's just about managing what we need to get out of training.
04:00Managing a bit of, we're coming to the pointy end now so it's not over doing it.
04:06Like I said, we've been here for six weeks.
04:08The fact that it's South Africa doesn't change much from our prep.
04:11We've been pretty consistent with how we prepare for teams individually and from a planning point of view.
04:17So we looked at South Africa in detail this morning.
04:19Again, I think we match up pretty well and pretty thorough in our plans.
04:23So even though we haven't played a lot against them and different conditions we planned against them, we feel as though we're really well planned and prepared.
04:30And the other aspect is one of the positive way South Africans match up against Legspin and you have two of them.
04:38Will that like change in any way you approach, say training or even the build up to the game?
04:43I think the way Kingy's bowling at the moment, she matches up well to every batter in the world.
04:49So it's quite handy that she's on our side and is bowling really well at the moment.
04:53And we've also got the added luxury of we've got Georgia Wareham on the sideline as well.
04:58So to have two world class spinners in your side is a real privilege and they're both really good bowlers.
05:05So the way we use that certainly comes down to how the pitch is playing match ups and when we sort of inject Kingy into the game,
05:14we saw how she changed the game against England.
05:16So we're very lucky and it's just sort of play it by year in conditions and match ups.
05:22This question is about our founders in your team.
05:25We have seen last night that what Gardner or Sutherland can do.
05:30Even you are there and even Molyneux can bat.
05:34So do you think this is a privilege for Australian team and this gives advantage to the other side?
05:41We always talk about our depth as a real strength of us and we've seen someone different stand up every time.
05:49Asha's got 200s, Midge's got 200s, Moon's with that huge 100 for us.
05:53So we feel as though someone takes the right and steps up and has a big innings every game.
05:58The other thing we talk about is big partnerships, so that's really crucial for us.
06:02Like I said, we've got that much depth that if it doesn't come off at the top of the order, nobody panics.
06:07We feel like we can win from any situation and we feel as though we've got enough talent that we can get the job done.
06:13So it's been nice for us to showcase that talent, that depth and hopefully more for the rest of the tournament.
06:19One other question about WPL, like in your squad, like every other WPL contract.
06:28Do you think this benefited you guys in this World Cup campaign in India?
06:35We've spent a lot of time in India over the last couple of years.
06:39Lots of us being exposed to the WPL, which has been some high pressure moments in games, which has been awesome for women's cricket.
06:46And we've toured India here a lot, so I think that's held us in good stead with conditions, crowds, just the whole package that you get when you're in India.
06:57So we're loving our time at the moment. Like I said, we've been in India for, well over here for six weeks and feel like we're tracking really well as a group.
07:04So excited for the pointy end of the tournament.
07:07Given your team's impressive form, does an 8th World Cup title seem coming? And who do you rate as your toughest challenger?
07:16Sorry, what was that?
07:17Seeing your team's impressive form, does an 8th World Cup title seem coming?
07:22Do you think we can win the World Cup?
07:24Yes, absolutely. We come over here with a purpose to win the World Cup. That's still the purpose. We're playing really good cricket.
07:34And like I keep saying, the biggest thing for us is that belief. We feel like we're playing really good cricket.
07:39We feel like we can win from any point. And yeah, it comes crunch time of the competition now, nothing changes for us.
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