White Ferns In Africa: First Up Win vs South Africa
We've got Suzie Bates who is a legit-dominant-super-duper-world-class cricketer, Amy Satterthwaite isn't too far behind
Our White Ferns are currently in South Africa for a bunch of ODI fixtures against South Africa and the tour got off to a great start with two victories from two games. The first was a big win over South Africa Emerging Players, so not actually a ODI and not quite against the calibre of opposition that they'd soon face in the internationals.
We don't need to worry ourselves with the details of that warm-up fixture, besides Suzie Bates (72), Amy Satterthwaite (72) and Katey Martin (65) retiring not out while Lea Tahuhu was the pick of the bowlers with 3/26 off her 7 overs.
In the first ODI of their series against South Africa, the Ferns faced far more difficult challenge but still managed to creep their way to victory. With no Sophie Devine or Leigh Kasperek, we were and will be graced with some White Ferns depth as Holly Huddleston, Sam Curtis and Natalie Dodd got starts in the first-11.
Batting first, the Ferns put 127 on the board as they were all out in the 41st over. The big-three at the top of the order (Suzie Bates, Rachel Priest and Amy Satterthwaite) couldn't stamp their mark on this game with the bat, with Satterthwaite top-scoring as she hit a patient 19 off 31 balls. The bulk of the runs came from Auckland's Curtis (22) and Erin Bermingham (33) and they were able to salvage some respect, despite the Ferns losing a wicket in nearly every 10-run block.
The key here is that while the Ferns wouldn't be happy in being dismissed in 40.1 overs, the crucial runs came down the order and not from the 'big name' players. There has been a tendency to rely on the brilliance of Bates at the top or in the power of Devine, however things didn't quite go to plan with the likes of Curtis and Bermingham being good enough to steer this innings into semi-safe waters.
With the bowling attack that the White Ferns have, that's all you've gotta do. South Africa were rolled for 115 in a dominant, yet strange display of bowling from the Ferns as they did well to get SA 78/5 but then sealed the game by taking the remaining 5 wickets for no runs. Yup, they had SA 115/6 in the 38th over and then had them all out for 115 in the 43rd over.
Bermingham and Satterthwaite were responsible for that, as Bermingham's 2 wickets came in that period while Satterthwaite took 3 of her 4 wickets then. Bermingham finished with 2/17 off 7.2 overs and Satterthwaite took 4/13 off 9 overs while Huddleston also chimed in with 1/14 off 3 overs.
Tahuhu took the new ball and on the back of her impressive performance in the warm-up game, she took 3/41 off 9 overs. This included Tahuhu being on a hat-trick after shit dismissed Lara Goodall for 5 and then skittled Mignon de Preez's stumps the next ball. A hatty didn't eventuate, yet Tahuhu took another wicket a few overs later to take 3 of the first 4 wickets.
I've got the all-round performances from Satterthwaite and Bermingham as my Fantastic Fernies. Both took wickets and scored runs, with Satterthwaite's 4 wickets balancing out her fewer runs while Bermingham only took 2 wickets but top-scored.
All up, this was a nice start to the series as the Ferns just found a way to win. They wouldn't be happy with their batting display and they'll be eager to keep pushing their batting totals up around 140-150 as South Africa showed that they will be difficult to snatch a series win away from. The second ODI is tomorrow, so we'll be back on Wednesday.