Devine retained as Ferns skipper
Stand-in White Ferns cricket captain Sophie Devine will continue in the role fulltime, despite the return of incumbent skipper Amy Satterthwaite from maternity leave.
New Zealand Cricket confirmed the appointment yesterday, saying Satterthwaite would return as vice-captain when the squad reassemble for a training camp at Lincoln, near Christchurch, next week.
Devine was named interim captain in January and was in unstoppable form with the bat in the home series against South
Africa, although the Ferns disappointed again on the big stage when they missed the Twenty20 World Cup semifinals in Australia in March.
NZC said Devine’s strong leadership saw her offered the captaincy on a full-time basis, while Satterthwaite, who welcomed her first child with wife and White Ferns team-mate Lea Tahuhu last year, would form a key part of the team’s leadership group.
The side’s major target is the Women’s World Cup, scheduled to be held in New Zealand in February-march. Pending the Covid-19 situation and border restrictions, the White Ferns are first scheduled to play an ODI and T20 series against Australia in Sydney and North Queensland, starting in late September.
Satterthwaite said: ‘‘I’m looking forward to returning to international cricket and doing my best to support Sophie and the team.’’
Devine assumes the role of fulltime captain immediately as the Ferns prepare for split-squad training camps starting next week.
The call came with a tick over five minutes to go in the second quarter of the Pulse’s first match in the 2017 ANZ Premiership season.
Tiana Metuarau had been only 16 for a couple of months, but there she was, pinning the goal attack bib to her chest and taking the court at Claudelands Arena in Hamilton.
With a minute to go in the fourth quarter, she rebounded her own miss and made amends by scoring the goal that proved to be the difference between the Pulse and the Northern Mystics, their opponents that Super Sunday.
It was a special way to cap her debut and three years on, she’s added another 49 caps, making for a nice round total of 50.
Reflecting on the milestone ahead of the Pulse’s next match, against the Southern Steel in Auckland tonight, Metuarau said it was special to be able to achieve it while she was still a teenager.
‘‘There was something exciting about being able to come onto the scene so young, but I’ve been taking opportunities with two hands.’’
The 19-year-old is in her fourth season in the ANZ Premiership