Aussies look to conquer pressure to win World Cup crowns back

Ashleigh Gardner believes winning crunch moments on the field will be key to securing lost silverware back for Australia and admits the side has recently been put under pressure it is not used to.

The team will be back in action in seven weeks' time against the new 50-over world champions and the side that ended their title defence in the World Cup semi-final – India.

The three-and-a-half-month gap between the World Cup exit and the home multi-format series in February would mean the reflections on the result will only take place once the group assembles after the Women's Premier League in India.

Gardner expects to see only minor shifts in the team's approach to come out of those deliberations as she highlights Australia's near blemish-free record outside of the two World Cup semi-finals losses that saw the T20 and 50-over World Cup trophies slip out of their possession in successive years.

"Over the last 12 to 18 months, we've only lost about two games, and I think two (of the three) games that we lost were in semi-finals," she said in a conversation with cricket.com.au. 

"It kind of shows the consistency of the group.

"It's just about putting those pieces together to hopefully win those trophies."

This is the first time in over seven years that Australia are not the reigning world champions in either format.

The period of dominance that was triggered by the overhauling after the 2017 World Cup semi-final loss, during which the all-conquering side won a hat-trick of T20 World Cup titles, a Commonwealth Games gold medal and a record 26 ODIs in a row, earned them the moniker "mentality monsters" for the ability to win from the direst of situations.

If allowing South Africa to cruise to a below-par target largely unchallenged in the 2024 T20 World Cup semi-final caused any damage to that image, the scratches were swiftly repaired and repainted with a whitewash of England in the ensuing multi-format Ashes series.

But when an undisciplined performance with the ball and in the field aided India to a record run-chase in the ODI World Cup semi-final in October, the concern whether Australia are no longer immune to the enormity of the stage could no longer be looked past.

Indeed, handling pressure in key moments is the one area of improvement identified by Gardner.

"Just winning those small moments in those high-pressure situations, which, ultimately in a World Cup, when you're playing in finals cricket, you need to be able to do," she said. "And for us, we weren't able to do that."

The allrounder is confident that there is a clarity of roles and expectations within the unit. It is the ability to execute when the tide is not in their favour that needs strengthening.

"Sometimes when you're under pressure, maybe you make the wrong decision," Gardner said.

"It's making sure that we know the mental side of our game as well is in the best place that it can be, because ultimately that's going to help you make the right decision on the field."

With the level of global game growing steadily, Australia will find themselves in those situations now more than ever before.

But being challenged by more teams more regularly has not changed the side's position in world cricket, Gardner believes.  

"We've certainly been put under pressure recently", she said. "But I can still sit here confidently saying that we're the best team in the world."

The opportunity to win back one of their trophies won't be too far away in the future, with the next edition of the T20 World Cup set to take place in six months' time.

There cannot be better platform to fine tune their plans and combinations in preparation for the tournament in England than by coming against the side that has been their biggest challenger over the last few years – India.

The two teams have also been placed in the same group for the T20 World Cup.

Gardner agreed when asked if Australia's rivalry with India was their biggest in the current phase and said the team will be pumped to have the opportunity to re-establish their dominance soon after the World Cup loss.

"India's going to come across with a lot of confidence, as they should," the 28-year-old said.

"They've obviously played some really good cricket recently.

"They challenged us in the ODI series before the World Cup and then had the upper hand in that semi-final."

"They're also coming over to our conditions, which we know better than them.

"If they do challenge us, we know what to do in those moments as well."

After the home series that is scheduled to end with a Test on March 9, Australia will fly to the Caribbean for another series to be played across formats.

Their T20 World Cup campaign will start on June 13 with a match against South Africa.