The Haidee Tiffen-captained White Ferns open their tournament against their trans-Tasman rivals at North Sydney Oval on Sunday, the first of potentially seven matches in 14 days including the final on March 22.

It is the ninth women's World Cup since its inception in 1973, but the first under the International Cricket Council (ICC) banner. Australia have won five, England two, and New Zealand one when they hosted the tournament in 2000.

On home soil and defending the title they won against India in South Africa four years ago, the Karen Rolton-skippered Australia are the obvious top pick.

But former test opener Stead, whose team led Australia 2-0 before sharing the Rose Bowl series 2-2 at home last month, said half of the eight competing teams were realistic chances.

"Any of the top-four sides -- us, Australia, England and India -- can beat each other on their day," he said.

"Australia are probably the team to beat but the top few sides will go in with some confidence."

New Zealand produced a mixed bag in their two warm-up games this week, beating bottom-ranked Pakistan by 126 runs on Tuesday, before losing to second-ranked India by 27 runs, chasing a paltry 169.

While India are genuine title contenders, the defeat exposed two potential weaknesses in the New Zealand line-up -- playing quality spin bowling and chasing down totals.

"Their spinners bowled very well but that's the main area we need to improve on, without a doubt," Stead said.

"They had three spinners who turned the ball away from the right-hander which is a bit rare. Our plans were very sound but our execution was lacking."

New Zealand prefer to bat first, as they did when racking up 303 for nine against Pakistan, and hoped to move outside their comfort zone by opting to bowl first against India on a slow, worn pitch at the Old Kings ground at Parramatta.

"We've got to get better at that aspect too, we can't just rely on batting first all the time.

"But it's certainly not doom and gloom, we haven't even started the tournament yet."

Stead expected the tournament pitches to be fresher and less spin-friendly.

He was relaxed about taking on their major rivals first up -- "we've got to play them at some stage".

New Zealand need to win two of their three pool matches against Australia, West Indies on Tuesday and South Africa on Thursday to guarantee a Super Six place. Then there's crossover matches against the other pool to decide the finalists.

New Zealand's strength is in their allrounders with vice-captain Aimee Mason, Sarah Tsukigawa and Nicola Browne key players. Browne is New Zealand's highest-rated batter and bowler on the official ICC rankings.

Tiffen and Sara McGlashan provide the experience in the middle order, with McGlashan cracking a run-a-ball 63 against Pakistan before sitting out the India match with a minor hamstring injury. It wouldn't keep her out of the tournament opener, the coach said.

Double international Suzie Bates, who played basketball for the Tall Ferns at the Beijing Olympics, was the form batter of the warm-up matches with a hard-hit 80 against Pakistan then 34 in a disappointing total of 141 against India.