Tiffen ’right person for job’
New Zealand Cricket knew of ongoing tension between captain Suzie Bates and Haidee Tiffen, but insist the coach remains the right person to take the White Ferns forward.
On the day she announced she was stepping down after six years as skipper, Bates opened up on the frustrations which led to the decision. Some of those were differences with Tiffen, mainly over selection.
‘‘The selectors, not just Haidee, had a clear campaign plan on bringing youngsters through, and I was just fighting to pick our best team,’’ Bates told Radio Sport.
‘‘We’d talked about that over the last 12 months, and were on the same page going into England, but my heart wasn’t in it as much as it should be. I knew I didn’t have the energy the captaincy deserved.’’
So after long consideration Bates handed over the reins to Amy Satterthwaite, who had her first official day in charge yesterday as the Ferns began a four-day camp at Lincoln ahead of their Australian tour.
NZC’s head of high performance, Bryan Stronach, said news of Bates and Tiffen having their differences was no surprise.
‘‘Yes, we were aware. The team was under the pump, playing England who are arguably the best team in the world and we wanted to be doing better,’’ he said.
‘‘In one way it was good, they were stressed and trying to figure out the right way forward for the team. At times the captain and coach have differing opinions on how to get there, that’s pretty natural and happens in a lot of teams around selection and other things.’’
Bates, 31 on Sunday, is on track to become the country’s greatest woman cricketer, scorer of a record 7000 runs in ODI and T20 internationals and with plenty more to offer on field.
Now, it shines the spotlight on Tiffen ahead of the World Twenty20 in the West Indies in November, with the side’s poor show at the 50-over World Cup last year, and five straight losses to England this year still fresh.
Coach since 2015 and a longserving White Ferns player before that, Tiffen remained the best person for the job, Stronach said.
‘‘She’s got an amazing skillset and I don’t think in any team there won’t be a little bit of tension between players and coaches, particularly around selection. We’ve got some pretty big aspirations for this team and Haidee and Suzie are a critical part of that.’’