Black Caps’ blueprint a model worth replicating for White Ferns
Often guilty of relying on several star players, the White Ferns need everyone in their squad to deliver at Women’s Cricket World Cup, writes Brendon Egan.
White Ferns coach Bob Carter has stressed they need everyone contributing during the World Cup, rather than relying on a handful of star players.
New Zealand unveiled their 15-strong squad on Thursday for the tournament on home soil, which begins against the West Indies in Mt Maunganui on March 4.
Aside from the shock omission of offspinner Leigh Kasperek, New Zealand’s top ODI wicket taker since the 2017 tournament (42 wickets at an average of 21.26), the names were mostly predictable. Seventeen-year-old left-arm spinner Fran Jonas, who has played just two ODIs, was the bolter.
The mighty task facing Carter and the coaching staff is how they get the side firing in a pinnacle event at home after poor results in recent years.
New Zealand have lost 20 of their past 23 ODIs since February 2019, albeit mostly against the powerful Australia and England sides. They have lost their last eight ODI series, not having triumphed since 2018 against Ireland, who won’t be at the World Cup.
At times, the White Ferns have been guilty of relying too heavily on veteran duo Suzie Bates, Amy Satterthwaite and captain Sophie Devine with the bat.
Bates (4605) and Satterthwaite (4298) are the White Ferns’ alltime leading ODI run-scorers and average an impressive 41 and 39 respectively over their careers.
Opposition sides know if they remove the star trio cheaply, they can expose what has often proved a fragile middle order.
Bates, Satterthwaite, Devine and allrounder Melie Kerr will again be pivotal with the bat, if New Zealand are to go deep in the tournament. They will be critical if the White Ferns are to post challenging scores, batting first, and anchor run chases.
‘‘There’s 12 others, who have to stand up and play their part. If they do, then the other three will [thrive too]. It can’t just be left to a small few,’’ Carter said.
‘‘We’ve seen the incredible performances over the last couple of years of the Black Caps and it’s a great model for us because they all perform. Again that’s what we’re trying to get to.’’
Carter was adamant they had picked the best 15 players in the country. Despite their lack of wins over the last three years, he had full confidence in the players selected. Everyone would need to play their part at some stage with bat and ball with seven round games before the knockout stage.
While their results had not been what they wanted, Carter said their performances in September’s ODI series in England was a step in the right direction.
New Zealand lost 4-1 to the reigning world champions, but pushed England in three of the losses. With leading legspinner Kerr remaining in New Zealand to prioritise her mental health, and fellow spinners Frankie Mackay (foot injury) and Jonas also not there, Carter was encouraged.
They had put pressure on England with the ball, something they struggled to do in the corresponding home series last February.
‘‘We’ve followed our processes all the way through for the last couple of years what we’re trying to do with improving our skill sets and I think we were particularly close in the UK to achieving that.
‘‘We sort of created opportunities in games during the England series, which we hadn’t created [previously].’’
Devine, who called out herself and other senior players in the side following an embarrassing eight-wicket loss to England at Hagley Oval last February, said they had been asking hard questions of themselves.
They were determined to play an attacking brand of cricket. Devine knew her side could contend with the world’s best, if they put it together consistently.
She described the England tour as a positive step forward, but the reality is the White Ferns need to start turning their promise into wins.
‘‘I think we’ve always been looking at the bigger picture [of the World Cup] and we know this group is growing and we’re trending in the right direction,’’ Devine said.
‘‘The key thing for us is [batting] partnerships and playing better cricket for longer periods of time. It sounds very simple, but can be really difficult to do.’’
Devine used the word ‘‘mongrel’’ several times on stage at Thursday’s announcement when speaking about what she wanted to see from the team on the field.
If the White Ferns could play with a ruthless attitude and not provide any respite if they had the opposition in trouble, it would serve them well.
‘‘I think we want to be aggressive in our approach, if we’ve got teams under pressure that we make sure we’re really going to knuckle down and again that’s something we’ve spoken about at length is how we do that.
‘‘That’s the great thing. How we do that is going to look different for each bowler and against each team.’’