Rowe heads to World Cup
Manawatu’s Hannah Rowe has been picked for her second major world cricket tournament at just 20 years old.
The seam bowler was named on Tuesday in the White Ferns squad of 15 to head to the World Cup in England next month.
While a lot of the talk has been on Wellington 16-year-old Amelia Kerr, who is set to become New Zealand’s youngest women’s World Cup cricketer, Rowe is hardly a veteran either.
Since her debut two years ago, Rowe has played 10 one-day internationals and five Twenty20 internationals, and she was in the squad that went to the World Twenty20 tournament in India last year.
It was big for her to be included in the one-day world cup squad, what she called the ‘‘pinnacle’’.
‘‘I’m just stoked to be part of the group and I’ll do whatever I can to contribute,’’ she said.
It was even better because Rowe was dropped from the squad after the Pakistan series at the end of last year. She missed the March series against Australia, but has been part of the White Ferns training squad since then.
‘‘I’m pretty excited to be part of the team. It’s an exciting time for women’s cricket.’’
Rowe has twice been to India with the New Zealand team and once to South Africa, as well as a couple of home tours, but England will be a first.
Leg-spinner Kerr has played seven one-day internationals already, but her and Canterbury’s Thamsyn Newton (eight ODIS) are the least experienced in a squad that includes 12 returnees from the world Twenty20.
‘‘I’m really happy with the balance of the squad,’’ coach Haidee Tiffen said. ‘‘I think it’s a strong team who are certainly capable of bringing that cup home.
‘‘It’s really exciting to have Amelia in the squad and she’s proved herself more than ready for the big stage.
‘‘With the likes of Suzie Bates, Amy Satterthwaite, Katey Martin and Sophie Devine we’re not short on leaders in the group.’’
Bates will captain the side at her third world cup while key allrounder Devine returns after suffering a broken thumb during the past season.
Auckland pace bowler Holly Huddleston’s outstanding 2016-17 season has earned her selected for her maiden world tournament, while all-rounder Anna Petersen has been named for her first 50-over world cup.
The White Ferns squad will assemble for a pre-tournament camp in Hampshire from June 11, before opening their campaign against Sri Lanka in Bristol on June 24.
The format for the eight-team tournament has every nation facing each other once, then the top four teams advance to the semifinals, ahead of a final at Lord’s on July 23.
Bates predicted it would be the most competitive world cup.
‘‘We know we’ll have to be on the ball from game one if we want to earn the right to contest the finals and maybe get to that big final game at the home of cricket,’’ she said.
‘‘It’s a hugely exciting time for women’s cricket at the moment and we know we enter the tournament with plenty expected of the White Ferns - and that’s great.’’
While several senior players, including Bates, are already in England playing county cricket, most of the squad will depart for the United Kingdom on June 10.
New Zealand have won the tournament once, on home soil in 2000, and finished runner-up three times in 1993, 1997 and 2009. They finished fourth at the world cup in India four years ago.