Ferns in final countdown to World Cup
Half of New Zealand’s women’s World Cup cricket squad leave for England tonight. Only half ? The other seven have been playing county cricket, getting themselves primed for a strong bid for just a second Cup title next month.
Coach Haidee Tiffen was a member of the 2000 team who triumphed at Lincoln, amid scenes of unbridled delight.
It’s been a while since then, but Tiffen likes what’s being developed in the current White Ferns squad.
She is big on team, maintaining that while it’s all very well to have some star power, the collective i s greater than the individuals.
“The game has moved on since then, but I watched the highlights of 2000 a couple of weeks ago,” she said yesterday.
“The talent there was absolutely brilliant. The message I’ve learnt through my whole career is that it’s about a team effort; getting the team to buy into the same vision and we’ve developed that into our culture, staying connected and going out, having the freedom to express ourselves as cricketers.”
The format has all eight teams playing each other. New Zealand are ranked third, behind Australia and England, whom they will play third and seventh in the round robin.
Tiffen i s relaxed at the draw, reckoning New Zealand must play everyone else at some point, and armed with a week’s preparation in Southampton, plus warm- up games against the other three top- ranked teams — India being fourth — will be ready when their first game, against Sri Lanka, arrives on June 24.
When the two halves of the squad meet tomorrow, there should be a confidence within the group.
Those playing county cricket are Suzie Bates ( at Hampshire), Amy Satterthwaite ( Lancashire), Sophie Devine ( Warwickshire), Lea Tahuhu ( Surrey), Holly Huddleston ( Middlesex), and Rachel Priest ( Berkshire), while spinner Leah Kasperek has been playing men’s cricket in Scotland, the country of her birth.
In Bates, Priest and Satterthwaite, New Zealand have a high class top order, while the bowling has variety, and t wo distinctly different legspinners, Huddleston and the 16- year- old Amelia Kerr.
“She’s really stepped up and become a crucial performer,” Tiffen said of the precocious Wellingtonian Kerr, granddaughter of former New Zealand test opener Bruce Murray.
“Her cricket brain is very mature, she analyses her game really well and puts a good strategy together for how she wants to bowl to people.”
In case that sounds like a bookish, subdued teenager, Tiffen added: “She’s young and she’s fun, has good banter in the changing room, but when she steps on the park, she’s really focused.”
While New Zealand will look to the senior players to lead the way — and it’s worth noting Bates and Satterthwaite are both ranked in the top five ODI batting and allrounders lists — Tiffen emphasises they can’t do it on their own.
“We’ve got youth who bring something different to the group. We know it’s going to take a team effort to win the Cup.”