Can other teams finally match Australia's high standards?

For once, we did seem to get an answer, a near definite one. Regardless, it was a perfect teaser for the 13th edition of the Women's World Cup, which promises to be a run-fest. Australia Women breached the 400-run mark for the first time since Belinda Clark powered them there during the 1997 World Cup. When the men's team got there for the first time in 2006, they finished second. Smriti Mandhana, Harmanpreet Kaur and Deepti Sharma threatened to pull off a Gibbs, Smith and Boucher, but India eventually fell well short, and with it Australia registered 11 out of 11 bilateral ODI series wins against India.

That Australia Women will once again begin as favourites in an ICC tournament is stating the obvious. After all, they have won seven of the 12 ODI World Cups and finished runners-up twice. Add to that the six titles in nine T20 World Cups, including two hat-trick stints.

Numbers suggest they're still going strong with 26 wins out of 30 completed games post their 2022 final win at Christchurch - a win-loss ratio of 6.5 that's well ahead of England and India who are tied at second with 2.083. In the previous cycle, post their 2017 semi-final exit and 2022 WC start, they had a 31-2 win-loss record, the ratio of 15.5, again well clear of the next best (South Africa's 2.8). However, a further deep dive into trends suggest that the gulf between them and the rest has narrowed down in recent times. Perhaps, they are no longer the Invincibles.

Their only defeat in 31 bilateral ODI series since 2014 came in this cycle, when they went down 1-2 to England during the Women's Ashes 2023. The margins of defeat in the two games in the 2017-2022 cycle were 20 runs (DLS) and two wickets (three balls remaining) respectively. Post the 2022 final, their only defeat while defending a total came by two wickets, while the margins of other three read 69, 84 and 102 runs (their biggest ever), accounting for three of their six biggest defeats in the format, the other three dating back to 1973, 2004 and 2008.

Their most recent outing in Delhi saw them concede 300-plus for the first time ever, 369 in fact, which is now a record second-innings score in the format. In their previous outing, which ended a 13-match winning streak, they were restricted to 25/2 in the powerplay, their second-lowest score at the 10-over mark in 97 ODIs since 2016.

Moreover, other teams - India and England especially - have caught up with them in terms of pure batting and bowling numbers, unlike in the previous cycle.

Batting (No.1-7) and bowling comparison in Women's ODIs by teams

2017-2022 cycle (excluding WC 2022)

*the last column indicates the overall average for the eight teams that participated at the 2022 WC

Bangladesh had second-best numbers in bowling amongst all the teams (ahead of England) but that has not been considered given the fairly low sample size (12 matches).

Post WC 2022

*the last column indicates the overall average for the eight teams that are participating in the 2025 WC

The second table indicates how the other teams have matched, and even bettered Australia in some of the parameters (batting average and strike-rates) albeit marginally. The difference between them and the next best (or the best) - India and England in this case - has dropped off substantially (refer to the third columns in both tables).

The average first innings score in the 2017-22 cycle for Australia was 274 (the highest), followed by 253 for Ireland and 246 for New Zealand. Post the 2022 World Cup final, Australia's average first innings score has been 296 followed by 282 for India and 270 for England. Furthermore, barring Australia, all other teams have had significant improvement in batting numbers in this cycle compared to the last one.

Batting comparison across the two cycles (by teams)

*batting numbers up to No. 11

As can be seen in the above table, the gap between Australia and the other top teams has been bridged, not necessarily because the defending champions have dipped noticeably, but because the others have made significant improvements. India, England and South Africa have made giant strides in terms of strike-rates, collectively about three times to Australia's improvement of 5.27 from the previous cycle. India had just four individual hundreds in 2017-2022, and Smriti Mandhana herself doubled that across just 2024 and 2025. South Africa have improved exponentially in that regard too with openers Tazmin Brits and Laura Wolvaardt leading the way with six each. As for the bowling front, Australia have had a marginal spike in averages (21.23 vs 22.19), while England (25.93 vs vs 23.41) and India (30.93 vs 30.63) have fared slightly better despite batting being on the rise in recent times.

Additionally, Australia haven't got enough runs from skipper Alyssa Healy, arguably their most impactful batter, in recent times. Between the 2017 and 2022 editions, she aggregated 1635 runs at 52.74 in 33 innings, only behind Tammy Beaumont (1684 at 48.11 in 39 innings). Of the 49 batters who had faced at least 500 balls in that period, her strike-rate of 101.80 stood well clear of next best (Amelia Kerr's 91.34). That, of course, was followed by an outstanding World Cup campaign, capped off by match-winning hundreds in the semi-final and the final. Post that, however, she has managed 625 runs at 27.17 and a strike-rate of 89.28. She has failed to last beyond the 10-over mark in 16 of these 23 innings.

17 batters aggregated 1000-plus ODI runs in the 2017-22 cycle, three of were Australian, led by Healy at second place. 15 have done so in 2022-25 with Australia's lone representation being Beth Mooney (1036 runs at 49.33) at the 14th spot. While Phoebe Litchfield and Annabelle Sutherland have seamlessly filled in for Rachel Haynes and Meg Lanning in the top seven, with Georgia Voll too having shown promise should the need arise, the defending champions still need more from their experienced players.

The 2023 Men's ODI World Cup - also played in India at a similar time of the year - turned out to be the most run-filled ever, and the same can be expected in the upcoming edition. The average first innings score in Women's ODIs in India post the 2022 World Cup has been 292, well clear of the next best 237 in South Africa, while it stands at 225 in Sri Lanka (co-hosts), where Australia play two matches against the lower ranked Sri Lanka and Pakistan respectively.

With teams more closely knitted in terms of batting, win-margins could play a crucial role, not just for the tussle for that fourth semi-final spot, but the top-four seedings. Australia have won three T20 World Cup titles and an ODI WC in the last eight years. To topple the best at the grand stage, teams often need a slice of luck (or more) or an individual to take the game away, and Australia experienced both on the two exceptions they fell short in. With equal points, they were marginally behind on net run-rate to England in the round-robin stage in 2017 World Cup, and ran into India in the semis, where Harmanpreet Kaur produced a knock for the ages. In the 2024 T20 World Cup semi-final against South Africa, the coin fell the other way in what happened to be the most toss-friendly edition ever.

Come October 2025, other teams have enough reasons to believe when they take on the defending champions, as England showed in the Ashes ODIs two years ago and India more recently. Should the unlikely happen on October 29, 30 or November 2, it might not necessarily be an aberration.