‘One of the best’
The cricket season might be over for White Fern Amelia Kerr, but her glittering career has only just begun according to coach Christie van Dyk.
Van Dyk has only coached Kerr since last August, when he was appointed head coach of the Wellington Blaze, but remembered what he thought of the young leg spinner seeing her play for Tawa College about four years before.
‘‘She’s probably the most gifted cricket player that I’ve come across in my 27 years of coaching, especially in the women’s game.
‘‘She will be probably be, for the White Ferns and for the Blaze, the best all-rounder that’s played the game if she continues the way she is now.’’
At just 17, Kerr has racked up 25 appearances for the White Ferns across one-day internationals and Twenty20s taking 36 wickets since coming into the side in 2016.
Van Dyk said Kerr is often referred to more as a bowler, which downplays her talent with the bat.
‘‘People look at Amelia and say, ‘she’s a bowling all-rounder’. People say that because they don’t understand her outstanding batting skills.
‘‘For me, she’s a batting allrounder, a quality batter and a person who can bowl very well too. Her future will always be bowling but I feel she’s going to be a better batter than the bowler she is now.’’
Kerr confirmed her aspirations were to become a true all-rounder at a domestic and international level.
‘‘Growing up playing cricket, I was always picked as a batter that bowls leg spin so my goal in the future is to be a genuine allrounder and bat as high as possible, in the top four, and be equal at both.’’
Kerr remained modest in light of her achievements and felt she had grown from the experiences such as the White Ferns disappointing fifth at the 2017 Women’s World Cup in England.
‘‘I think dealing with failure is important, so it was a good learning curve and because we’ve gone through that as a team, it can advantage us having that pain of what it feels like to underperform and wanting something so bad.’’
Kerr believed she had developed the mental side of her game which has helped her be more competitive on the world stage.
‘‘I think I’m probably a lot smarter now and have more confidence when I bowl,’’ she said. ‘‘I always think though that when I bowl my variations, that’s when I’m bowling my best because the batters are thinking ‘what’s she going to bowl?’.’’
The White Ferns face a full schedule come June when they will play Ireland, England, South Africa and Australia in a build-up to November’s Women’s T20 World Cup in the West Indies.
Kerr said the White Ferns’ failure in England was not a focus for her and she believed the team had a great chance of succeeding in November.
‘‘You can’t dwell on the World Cup forever, you’ve got to move on. There are more World Cups to come that we can perform better at and take those learnings and work on it.
‘‘Going into the next World Cup, I do believe we have a good chance of winning, but it won’t come easy.’’
"She’s probably the most gifted cricket player that I’ve come across in my 27 years of coaching, especially in the women’s game." Wellington coach Christie van Dyk