It may be a month away but the Southern Stars could be forgiven for having one eye on the Twenty20 World Cup when their tour of New Zealand begins on Saturday.
While a series of three one-dayers precedes their trio of T20 matches against the White Ferns, captain Meg Lanning will lead a largely unchanged squad to the World Cup almost directly after the New Zealand tour.
Only one member of the touring group won't travel to India for the team's bid for a third straight title, which will be played alongside the men's campaign in March and April.
"Continuity is very important in the shorter formats," Lanning told AAP.
"So it's a good thing to have heading into a series where we can gel as a group and work out how we want to play the game and how we want to execute."
The Australians have won 10 of 12 limited-overs series in the past two-and-a-half years, but those two losses have been in their two most recent Twenty20 outings against India and England.
The tour of New Zealand provides the perfect chance to remedy this.
Of highest priority will be batting, where they have recently been placed under the pressure of early wickets despite boasting a damaging batting lineup that includes Lanning, Alex Blackwell, Alyssa Healy and Ellyse Perry.
"It's no doubt that it's massively a mindset thing," Lanning, the world's No.1 batter in both forms of the game, said.
"T20 cricket is not risk-free, you do need to take those calculated risks, but you need to take them at the right time."
Turning it around against the White Ferns may be easier said than done though.
Six New Zealanders recently played in the WBBL, and they are in red-hot Twenty20 form having beaten India on the sub-continent last July before easily accounting for Sri Lanka in November.
"They've got a number of match winners really," Lanning said.
"You've got Sara McGlashan there and Morna Nielsen, who was with the Melbourne Stars, who is a fantastic bowler."
The pair are joined by Suzie Bates as the White Ferns' biggest threats - the 28-year-old having smashed 325 runs at 108.3 from her past five international innings.
The two teams will play off for the Rose Bowl trophy in the one-day series, which Australia have held since 1999.
SOUTHERN STARS ODI SQUAD: Meg Lanning (c), Alex Blackwell, Kristen Beams, Nicole Bolton, Sarah Coyte, Rene Farrell, Holly Ferling, Grace Harris, Alyssa Healy, Jess Jonassen, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt.
SOUTHERN STARS T20 SQUAD: Meg Lanning (c), Alex Blackwell, Kristen Beams, Lauren Cheatle, Sarah Coyte, Rene Farrell, Holly Ferling, Grace Harris, Alyssa Healy, Jess Jonassen, Beth Mooney, Erin Osborne, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Elyse Villani.
FIXTURES:
1st ODI: February 20 at Bay Oval, Mount Maunganui, 8.30am AEDT.
2nd ODI: February 22 at Bay Oval, Mount Maunganui, 8.30am AEDT
3rd ODI: February 24 at Bay Oval, Mount Maunganui, 8.30am AEDT
1st T20: February 28 at Basin Reserve, Wellington, 10.10am AEDT
2nd T20: March 1 at Basin Reserve, Wellington, 2pm AEDT
3rd T20: March 4 at Pukekura Park, New Plymouth, 2pm AEDT
