Australia Women take on South Africa Women in the 26th match of the ICC Women’s World Cup 2025 at Holkar Cricket Stadium in Indore on Saturday. The match promises a clash between two in-form sides who have already sealed their semifinal berths but are looking to top the group standings.
Australia and South Africa, both already assured of semifinal berths, meet in what could well be a dress rehearsal for the knockout stage of the ICC Women’s World Cup 2025. With Australia, South Africa, England and India confirming the top four, the stakes on Saturday lie in securing pole position. A win for Australia will see them finish as table-toppers yet again, while South Africa, if victorious, will leapfrog into first place – a fitting incentive for two sides that have been the most consistent in the tournament so far.
AUS -W vs SA -W : Previous Performances
Australia Women enter this fixture unbeaten in their last five matches, continuing their remarkable dominance in the tournament. Captain Tahlia McGrath and experienced duo Ellyse Perry and Beth Mooney have led the batting charge, while Annabel Sutherland and Alana King have made critical breakthroughs with the ball.
Having comfortably beaten England, India and Bangladesh in their recent outings, Australia look hungry to finish the group stage as table-toppers. Their ODI head-to-head record also supports their dominance with 16 wins out of 18 meetings against South Africa.
For Australia, the focus in the build-up has been on Alyssa Healy’s fitness after she missed the previous game due to a calf strain. Tahlia McGrath, the stand-in skipper, offered a cautiously optimistic update: “Midge is at training today. We haven’t finalized an XI yet, but she’s still a bit of a day-by-day case and we’ll see how that pans out.”
Regardless of whether Healy returns, Australia’s depth gives them enviable flexibility. The latest example of that was their win against England, when they were reduced to 68/4 pursuing 245 and still secured an emphatic victory. The defending champions will want to carry that winning rhythm into the knockouts, and finish the first stage as the only undefeated team.
Both Australia and South Africa have qualified for the semi-finals. Australia are the table-toppers, having won five matches out of the six they played. One of their games ended without a result. They are coming into this clash on the back of a six-wicket win against England.
South Africa Women, however, are not far behind. Laura Wolvaardt’s team is playing fearless cricket, having won five of their six matches. Marizanne Kapp’s all-round brilliance and Nadine de Klerk’s lower-order contributions have been pivotal in South Africa’s campaign.
Their bowling unit, featuring Nonkululeko Mlaba and Ayabonga Khaka, has been effective in mid-overs, often choking opposition scoring rates. The Proteas will be eager to end the group stage by ending their long losing streak against Australia and carrying momentum into the knockouts.
On the other hand, South Africa are placed at No. 2 in the standings. The Proteas have five wins and one defeat from the six matches they have competed in. Laura Wolvaardt and Co. are on a five-match winning streak. In their last game, they defeated Pakistan by 150 runs.
South Africa, meanwhile, will see this as a chance to make a statement ahead of the semifinals. Since their opening loss to England, they’ve stitched together five consecutive wins, including dominant performances against Sri Lanka and Pakistan. Laura Wolvaardt’s consistency, Marizanne Kapp’s all-round influence, Chloe Tryon and Nadine de Klerk valuable contributions, and the bowling unit’s discipline have kept them in strong rhythm.
They have ticked most of the boxes in the competition but having never beaten Australia in a World Cup, the Proteas will be keen to rewrite that record – and doing so to finish the group stage as table leaders would be the perfect springboard into the semifinals.
AUS -W vs SA -W : Head to Head
Australia has dominated this rivalry, winning 16 of the 18 encounters against South Africa, with one tied game. Australia Women lead 8-0 in the World Cups against the Proteas.
| Matches Played | 18 |
| AUS W Won | 16 |
| SA W Won | 01 |
| Tied | 01 |
| First Fixture | December 12, 1997 (AUS W Won) |
| Last Fixture | Feb 10, 2024 (AUS W Won) |
AUS -W vs SA -W : Pitch Report and Toss
The Holkar Cricket Stadium surface has proven to be a batting-friendly pitch throughout the tournament, allowing batters to score freely with short boundaries and true bounce. Pacers may extract slight movement early, but as the innings progresses, spinners come into play. With dew expected under lights, chasing could be advantageous. The average first-innings total has hovered around 290–310, making it a high-scoring venue where bowlers must rely on variations to contain runs.
The Holkar Cricket Stadium has hosted four games in the Women’s World Cup 2025. The average first-innings total is around 273. Teams batting first have won two games, while chasing teams have also won as many matches. Not losing too many wickets upfront should be the strategy for the teams as a lot of runs can be scored at the back-end.
A fresh pitch will be used and this one will also be a black-soil surface. But a day out from the contest it had a lot of barren patches and very little green grass on it. Indore will be hot and humid, but there is a spell of thunderstorm in forecast in the afternoon. However, similar weather was in forecast for the last game on Wednesday, but rain did not make an appearance. Friday morning in the city was cloudy before Australia trained under the hot afternoon sun.
The average first innings score in Indore in this World Cup is 272 and the pitch is expected to favour the batters. This will be Australia’s third game here – they posted 326 against New Zealand and chased down the target against England at this venue. For South Africa, this will be their second game here, having chased a target of 232 comfortably against New Zealand.
AUS -W vs SA -W : Big Picture : Winner between Australia and South Africa faces India in semi-final
On Wednesday, Chloe Tryon and Marizanne Kapp were on the opposite sides of the Holkar Stadium. Tryon was lofting throwdowns inside out from the practice nets towards the main pitch while Kapp was taking some high catches on the other side of the ground. Tryon and Kapp were on the same side and made vital contributions in the only ODI South Africa have won against Australia. They could once again be key in South Africa’s last league game of the Women’s World Cup, against the same opponents.
This is a top-of-the-table clash. Australia are yet to lose a game, on 11 points, while South Africa are on 10. The winner on Saturday will go to Navi Mumbai for the semi-final against India, while the loser will head to the Guwahati semi-final, where England will be waiting.
An Australia vs South Africa fixture has been an anomaly in women’s cricket. Before they played a multi-format series at the start of 2024, both the teams had last played a bilateral series in 2016 (only ODIs). Their meetings have often been restricted to ICC tournaments, where Australia have emerged victorious every single time – until the T20 World Cup semi-final last year.
In the ODI World Cup in 2022, South Africa had done well to post 271. However, their sloppy fielding – they dropped four catches – meant Australia comfortably aced that chase, with Meg Lanning’s century eclipsing Laura Wolvaardt’s 90.
This South African unit, though, not only knows how to reach knockouts but also keeps its nerves in check. That was on show in the two chases in Visakhapatnam in this World Cup, where they hunted down 252 against India despite being 81 for 5, and then chased 233 against Bangladesh from 78 for 5. This is not to say that only the lower order has fired for them. As many as five South Africa batters have scored 150 or more in the competition.
However, Australia could pose a completely different challenge to them on Saturday. There are question marks over Alyssa Healy’s fitness, but Australia have shown they can line up strongly even without her. One thing that Australia promise is being relentless. They keep coming hard and offer little respite, be it with bat or ball. Annabel Sutherland will be crucial to their all-round excellence: she has been superb with both bat and ball in the tournament so far, while being supported by the spin battery.
Australia are dominant. However, they will know that South Africa are a team with pedigree, as recent ICC tournaments show. At stake is not just the top spot in league standings but a semi-final in Navi Mumbai on a truer batting surface than Guwahati (plus an extra day in hand before a knockout match).
AUS -W vs SA -W : In the Spotlight : South Africa vs legspin
South Africa have been quite good against legspin in the last two years. Since the start of 2023, their top five averages 44.76 against that style of bowling. This is telling, because only Pakistan have faced more legspin bowling in this time (917) than South Africa (883).
Australia average more (47.09) against legspin but their top five has faced only 491 such deliveries. Tazmin Brits, Sune Luus, Marizanne Kapp and Laura Wolvaardt all average over 58 against legspin in this period. Brits and Luus also score quite quickly, and only have two dismissals each against legspin.
On Saturday, they will be faced with one of the most economical bowlers at this World Cup in Alana King. She has six wickets so far, but her X-factor has been the control she affords Australia in the non-powerplay overs. Against England, she was at her stingy best, which allowed other bowlers to pick up wickets from the other end.
Australia also have another legspinner in Georgia Wareham, who has three wickets in the two matches she played when they rested Sophie Molineux. King has eight wickets in four ODIs and averages 13.25 versus South Africa. Before the Ashes where she took a five-for, her best bowling figures (4 for 26) came last year against South Africa.
AUS -W vs SA -W : Vital Stats that matters
- Australia have lost 16 wickets to spin in five games – the least by a team in this tournament.
- Marizanne Kapp is two wickets away from becoming the second-highest wicket-taker in World Cups, after Jhulan Goswami (43).
- Megan Schutt is three wickets away from leapfrogging Lisa Sthalekar (146) to third on the ODI wicket charts for Australia. She also has 38 wickets in ODI World Cups and needs two more to go past Lyn Fullston as the leading wicket-taker for Australia in the tournament.
- Beth Mooney is 69 away from 3000 ODI runs. She will be the seventh from Australia to reach the mark.
- Both Marizanne Kapp and Megan Schutt have 38 wickets in ODI World Cups. Only Lyn Fullston (39) and Jhulan Goswami (43) are ahead in the list of most wickets in the competition.
- Australia’s batters have scored five centuries at this World Cup, the most for them in a single edition.
- Among those with at least 150 runs at this World Cup, Nadine de Klerk’s strike rate of 150 is the best, followed by Alyssa Healy’s 131.25
- South Africa registered their first ODI win against Australia in February 2024 in their 17th attempt.
AUS -W vs SA -W : Team News for Australia and South Africa
Australia :
Alyssa Healy did a few rounds of the outfield before a half hour batting stint in the enclosed nets. Tahlia McGrath said Australia are taking it day by day with their captain, who missed the previous game with a minor calf strain. Beth Mooney did her wicketkeeping drills before nets on Friday. Is that an indication Australia don’t want to risk Healy before the semi-final.
Although Healy was training on the eve of the match, Australia might not want to rush her back into action, considering the knockouts. They could stick to the same team that took the field against England, with McGrath as stand-in captain.
Australia Probable Playing XI: Georgia Voll, Phoebe Litchfield, Ellyse Perry, Beth Mooney (wk), Annabel Sutherland, Ashleigh Gardner, Tahlia McGrath (c), Sophie Molineux, Alana King, Kim Garth, Megan Schutt
South Africa :
Wolvaardt’s side could go in with an unchanged eleven too.South Africa are one of the two teams to use all 15 players in the squad. They could bring back seamer Masabata Klaas instead of offspin-allrounder Nondumiso Shangase against Australia. They could also bring back Anneke Bosch, who scored 44 in South Africa’s only ODI win over Australia and also scored an unbeaten 74 against them in the T20 World Cup semi-final last year.
South Africa Probable Playing XI : Laura Wolvaardt (C), Tazmin Brits, Sune Luus, Annerie Dercksen/Anneke Bosch, Marizanne Kapp, Karabo Meso (WK), Chloe Tryon, Nadine de Klerk, Nondumiso Shangase/ Masabata Klass, Nonkululeko Mlaba, Ayabonga Khaka
AUS -W vs SA -W : Probable Top Performers
Probable Best Batter: Alyssa Healy
The Australian captain, Alyssa Healy, missed the last game against England due to a calf injury. If she returns, she could be the batter to watch out for. Before her injury, Healy slammed 298 runs in four matches, with back-to-back centuries against India and Bangladesh. However, there is a good chance that Australia might rest the veteran as they have already made it to the semis.
Probable Best Bowler: Annabel Sutherland
Annabel Sutherland has been bowling brilliantly in the tournament so far. She is the leading wicket-taker, with 15 scalps from five games at an average of 12.13. The youngster has a mind-boggling economy rate of just 3.85. Sutherland will have a crucial role to play against the strong South African batting lineup on Saturday.
AUS -W vs SA -W : Match Prediction
South Africa Women have shown good form, but Australia are playing on another level. Having so many match-winners makes them an unbeatable side. They are just winning games from positions that other teams might fail. Hence, we back Australia to win this game on Saturday.
Case 1:
- South Africa Women wins the toss and bowls first
- Australia Women’s powerplay score: 60-70
- Australia Women’s total score: 310-320
Case 2:
- Australia Women wins the toss and bowls first
- South Africa Women’s powerplay score: 50-60
- South Africa Women’s total score: 290-300
Match result: Team bowling first to win the game.