West Indian captain Stafanie Taylor has touched down in Australia, while Indian power hitter Harmanpreet Kaur is back for another stint just months after her unbeaten 171 from only 115 balls sunk Australia's World Cup hopes.

And Taylor has backed her Thunder teammate to bring that World Cup form to the Big Bash this season.

"Knowing that she's been here before, she knows almost everyone, she's a bit more comfortable so that will help her to perform much better," Taylor said.

"With her first year I think she did fairly well, when you're new sometimes you're just finding your footing.

"That [her World Cup innings against Australia] was spectacular. I didn't really see the game but I've watched highlights and I thought she batted very well."

The pair enjoyed differing fortunes at this year's World Cup in England.

While Kaur helped India to the sold-out final at Lord's, the West Indies won only two matches and failed to make the finals.

Just 12 months earlier they were on top of the world after being crowned ICC T20 champions.

"That was one of, if not the hardest tour I've ever had," Taylor said.

"I've faced it, I've accepted it and I've moved on. You can talk about it as a team, and then be like, 'you know what, it's gone, we just turn that page and move to a new one'.

"Sometimes you look at it and I think as a team we didn't perform to our full potential. We didn't bat as well as we wanted to, so hence we didn't give the bowlers a chance to defend those runs.

"We just didn't perform as a team."

Taylor has since bounced back to form.

She helped the Western Storm to victory in the Super League final in England, scoring 30 not out and taking three wickets with her off spin.

Then she captained the West Indies to two dominant series wins over Sri Lanka on home soil, prevailing 3-0 in the ODIs and the T20s.

But she wasn't entirely satisfied with her individual performances against Sri Lanka, and has vowed to go to another level for the Thunder this summer. She's already set some lofty individual KPIs, which include blasting a Big Bash century.

"I need to score more runs, I need to be up there again, I'm looking to score more hundreds," Taylor said.

"Even in T20 I've been close in scoring a hundred, so I would really like to score my first T20 hundred. Not come out more aggressive, but plan the innings, it's always about planning the innings and building from there.

"Sometimes it looks so easy, sometimes it is easy and sometimes it's hard. I think most times when you get off on a good start and everything is just going right, you're hitting it nicely and then you propel from there.

"Just going out there and hitting everything, the right balls ... things just work itself out."

Taylor once again brings strong leadership to a Thunder team already brimming with captaincy material.

Alex Blackwell will take the reins as skipper again this year, while Australia's stand-in captain Rachael Haynes is also in the side.

The Thunder kick off their Big Bash campaign this weekend with a double-header at North Sydney Oval, playing the Melbourne Renegades on Saturday, and the cross-town Sixers on Sunday.