Devine happy if Australia target leg spin
The battle between White Ferns leggie Amelia Kerr and Australia’s aggressive bats looms as the key match-up when the two sides meet again in Napier tonight.
The visitors targeted Kerr in Sunday’s six-wicket win in the first of three Twenty20 games in their trans-Tasman series.
With New Zealand on top as Australia slumped to 14-3 chasing 131 for victory at Seddon Park, the tourists opted to go after Kerr to change momentum and did so successfully, with the 20-year-old’s three overs costing 34 runs.
She did pick up the seemingly crucial wicket of Australian captain Meg Lanning in her second over after conceding 10 runs in her first, but Ashleigh Gardner took 17 runs from the next five balls she faced from the legspinner to help her side on the way to a win with two overs remaining.
‘‘Knowing that we were only a couple of big overs away from getting back on top, that’s what me and Meg kept talking about, there was one over there that we just needed to capitalise on and I think she did that with the first Amelia Kerr over,’’ Gardner said.
‘‘We know that she’s a pretty big threat in their bowling order, so to get on top of her early was a real confidence boost.
‘‘It’s probably not something we
Meg got on top of her early and probably put her confidence down a little bit.’’
White Ferns skipper Sophie Devine said she’d be happy however if Australia continue to target Kerr. ‘‘I think they know the threat that Melie is as a leg spin bowler – that’s the thing with legspinners, not just Melie, any legspinner is they either take wickets or go for plenty of runs and that’s them as a wicket-taking option.
‘‘We know how world-class Melie is and back her to bounce back, but we also know that the Aussies are probably going to try and take her on – which is great, because that’s going to bring chances.
‘‘Credit to Ash Gardner, she batted exceptionally well. She played to her strengths and targeted Melie in that over which probably swung the game in their favour.’’
Devine had her hands full with her bowling changes in Hamilton and surprisingly never used specialist seamer Hannah Rowe.
‘‘It’s a tricky one as a captain when you’ve got 10 bowlers potentially to use in your side.
‘‘There is plenty of options but I was pretty clear going into the game which bowlers I wanted to use, and then it was a case of reading the pitch and the conditions and also the game situation.
‘‘I think on reflection I probably would have made a few tweaks here and there but I think that’s all about the learnings you have as a captain. We had them three down, so we’re certainly doing something right.’’