White Ferns help grow game
Before the White Ferns drew a line under their preparations and began to focus on their Twenty20 World Cup opener on Sunday (NZ time), they took a moment to grow the game of cricket.
As expected, they easily accounted for Thailand – who are making their first World Cup appearance – in their final warmup match at Karen Rolton Oval in Adelaide on Wednesday.
But after the 81-run win was completed, the White Ferns sat down with their less experienced counterparts, and passed on some tips and tricks.
In a video posted by the World Cup’s official Twitter account, Ferns skipper Sophie Devine could be seen explaining how to seek out favourable matchups and Katey Martin stressing the importance of targeting gaps in the field.
After coming together, the two teams split into groups – the batters together, the seam bowlers, the spinners – for an exchange of information just as valuable as anything that had transpired on the pitch.
Thailand have played 35 Twenty20 matches since making their debut in early 2018 – but only seven of them were against teams involved in the World Cup in Australia, and four of those were against Bangladesh.
They begin their campaign tomorrow with their first-ever match against the West Indies, as part of a double-header at the Waca in Perth that also involves the White Ferns and Sri Lanka (first ball Sunday 12am NZ time).
Experienced seamer Lea Tahuhu was one of those passing on a few pointers on Wednesday, and she said it was great to be able to play a part in the game’s expansion.
‘‘That’s one of the beauties of this sort of tournament – you get a team like Thailand who haven’t been playing for long but who have qualified for the World Cup.
‘‘You want to see the game growing globally – that’s what it’s all about – and the more women we can get into playing cricket full stop, the better it will be.
‘‘The stronger teams get, it’s only going to help the competition in the long run continue to grow, so it was great to be able to spend that time with the Thai girls today and talk them through a few different things.’’
The World Cup gets under way tonight with hosts and defending champions Australia taking on India at the Sydney Showground in group A, which also includes the White Ferns, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
England and South Africa are the favourites to make the semifinals out of group B, which also includes Pakistan, Thailand and the West Indies.
Tahuhu is a familiar face on the Twenty20 scene across the Tasman, having been a key figure for the Melbourne Renegades in the Women’s Big Bash League since 2016.
She said the growth of the WBBL in recent years had set the stage for a great tournament over the next fortnight.
‘‘So far we’ve seen that the promotion and interest over here in Australia has been massive and the base that they’ve built with the WBBL has meant that there’s been a lot of interest – even with the two warmup games that we’ve had, we’ve got pretty good crowds in for both of those.
‘‘I think a team like Thailand, who we played today, they will bring their own flair to the tournament and it will be really great to watch how those teams go.’’