White Ferns have eyes only for Sri Lankans
The match the White Ferns need to win at the Twenty20 World Cup is next Thursday’s against India.
But before they get there, they have to take care of Sri Lanka at the Waca in Perth, beginning at midnight tonight (NZ time).
If there was any danger of them looking too far ahead, that disappeared earlier this week when Sri Lanka stunned England by 10 wickets in a warmup fixture.
The White Ferns have never lost to Sri Lanka in 10 Twenty20 matches, but the two teams have only met once since 2015, adding an air of mystery to their tournament opener.
‘‘The important thing for us is that we just take it one game at a time,’’ White Ferns seamer Lea Tahuhu said this week.
‘‘We’ve got Sri Lanka on Saturday and we don’t want to look too much further than that, to be perfectly honest.
‘‘We haven’t talked about much more than just getting through that first game.
‘‘Then we’ll move to Melbourne and we’ll worry about the next three after that.’’
The first of those ‘‘next three’’ is against India, who the Ferns swept in a three-match series at home last summer.
If they win, they should be in line to advance to the semifinals.
If they lose, they will likely need
to beat Australia in their final group A match.
The picture could get messier if India upset the hosts in their tournament-opener, and the White Ferns’ task will become very difficult if they don’t begin with a win themselves.
Between matches against India (next Thursday) and Australia (the following Monday), the White Ferns face Bangladesh (next Saturday) – a run of three games in five days at Junction Oval in Melbourne.
Tahuhu is familiar with the ground, having called it home while playing for the Melbourne Renegades in the Women’s Big Bash League.
She was one of seven White Ferns to play a full season in Australia’s domestic Twenty20 competition at the start of the summer, and said that experience would be invaluable during the next fortnight.
‘‘There’s seven or eight of us that are now relatively familiar with these grounds, and the conditions over here are similar to home – the Waca will have a bit more bounce and pace hopefully, for me.
‘‘Then I’m looking forward to settling down in Melbourne and having three games there at a great ground that I’m extremely familiar with and it will feel like a second home, and a homecoming of sorts.’’
The White Ferns have only played four Twenty20 matches under new captain Sophie Devine, whose batting form will go a long way in deciding whether they return to the final four after missing out at the last World Cup in 2018.
They had three wins and a loss in those contests – all against South Africa at home – with the skipper passing 50 in each match and scoring her maiden Twenty20 international century to boot.
‘‘Soph’s a real leader in terms of ‘follow me’,’’ Tahuhu said.
‘‘She leads the way with her batting and how she takes an aggressive approach on the field and I think that’s something that the girls have really bought into, especially in T20 cricket.
‘‘I think it’s something that suits this team and I think it’s something that we’ve been building towards for the past couple of years, and it’s nice to see Soph taking on that extra responsibility and leading the way with that.’’