And Australian cricket captain Meg Lanning said the country's top female players were better prepared than ever for the contest, after a significant pay rise had allowed them to spend extra time in training over the winter.

The team is flying out this weekend to play Sri Lanka as part of the ICC Women's Championship.

They hope to win a coveted automatic qualification for the 50-over World Cup in England next year and there are crucial points on offer for the team's three one-day internationals.

Lanning suffered a tear in her left shoulder earlier this year, which meant she was forced to miss Britain's inaugural Women's Super League – the Brits' answer to Australia's Women's Big Bash.

The 24-year-old has now almost fully recovered and said she had watched quite a bit of the Australian men's cricket team's tour of Sri Lanka, where the hosts won the Test series 3-0 but Australia took the one-day internationals 4-1.

Lanning said the conditions were clearly difficult to bat in.

Men's captain Steve Smith said his team had lacked discipline in their Test losses, and Lanning said her side would need patience and a willingness to stick to their plans.

They are heading to Sri Lanka a week before their first match.

"We're going to use the first week to acclimatise," Lanning said.

The Australian team became some of the best paid sportswomen in the country earlier this year, when the national cricketing body gave them a significant pay rise.

Cricket Australia increased its female player payment pool in April from $2.36 million to $4.23 million, upping the Stars' maximum individual retainers from $49,000 to $65,000.

Australia's best female cricketers also earn match fees for international tours and are paid to play in the Big Bash, which can push their yearly pay packets beyond $100,000.

It is far less money than their male counterparts earn, but Lanning said a healthy sum meant none of the Stars were forced to balance cricket with full-time work.

Lanning said the pay rise had given her team more time to train and go on camp together; she had spent a significant part of the winter working on her form in Brisbane.

"It's given us a better chance to train and practise and improve," she said.

Although the Southern Stars is ranked the best women's cricket team in the world and Sri Lanka the eighth, Lanning said she was wary of her opponents' strong bowling attack.

"They don't have an out-and-out quick bowler, so we'll have to make the pace a lot," she said.