There’s no defending a World Cup, according to Australian captain Alyssa Healy, there’s only winning them, and with the chasing pack closing in, that’s her only goal ahead as their campaign for a four-peat of titles begins in Sharjah on Saturday.

Healy’s only lament ahead of the opening clash against Sri Lanka was that she was facing questions about her leadership, stepping into the shoes of legendary former captain Meg Lanning, while her teammates were at the water park, escaping the crippling heat that remains one of the key things the Australians will have to adapt to.

Healy, in charge for her first World Cup, said she was “not Meg” and would do things differently to the former skipper, who led the team to the three previous titles before her shock retirement in 2023, but would be armed with everything she learnt from Lanning.

“They’re pretty big shoes to fill,” Healy conceded.

“But look, from my point of view, I’m not Meg, I’m Alyssa Healy, and I brought that approach into this Australian team. I’m going to do the job the way that I know how to do it to the best of my ability.

“Hopefully, that does the job for Australia, and at the moment, just really enjoying the challenge of that.”

The Australians enter the tournament, moved to the United Arab Emirates due to political unrest in Bangladesh, red-hot favourites after clean-sweeping a three-match series against New Zealand, then netting warm-up wins over England and the West Indies after arriving in Dubai.

Australia’s plans were thrown out, somewhat, by the location change having travelled to Bangladesh for the first time for a full series in March to prepare for their campaign to make more history.

The Aussies are grouped with fellow powerhouse India, as well as Sri Lanka, New Zealand and Pakistan, needing to finish top two in their pool to progress to the finals.

Healy said the team that adapted the quickest to new facilities and new wickets, with several matches to be played across just two grounds and on pitches that will be used multiple times, would succeed.

“I think the whole tournament in general is all about adapting the quickest,” she said.

“It seems to be the way, when you look at the warm-up games, the facilities, you’ve got to adapt pretty quickly to what you’re given, so it’ll probably be the team that does that the best throughout the tournament that’ll get the job done.

“I feel like we’re well placed for that and hopefully we can do it

“You don’t come here to defend a title, that’s not what a World Cup is about, you come here to win it, so we’re here with that approach and I’m excited to get under way.

“Our pool, as you can see here, is quite a tricky one. Got to get past a lot of these teams to be able to lift the trophy and it’s a challenge we’re excited for.”