White Ferns x Women's World Cup: Game Four vs West Indies

Where's the Boom Town bus stop?

Given how West Indies have performed in the Women's World Cup thus far, Aotearoa's demolition of West Indies went as per the script. The White Ferns had West Indies struggling at 153/5 in the 18th over and then eventually went on to dismiss them for 150 (43 overs), chasing their target down in the 19th over with 8 wickets still in the bag.

Just because this game went just as expected doesn't mean there's nothing to dissect though as coach Haidee Tiffen made a few changes to the team that played in the opening two games, plus we had a few of the low key star players stepping up. Anna Peterson and Erin Bermingham made way for Hannah Rowe and Leigh Kasperek as Tiffen may have viewed this as a good opportunity to switch things up against a weaker team; Kasperek responded exactly as we've come to expect of her.

I was surprised that Kasperek hadn't featured earlier in this tournament and the Otago off-spinner took the new-ball with Lea Tahuhu, finishing with 3/17 off 10 overs. Tahuhu also chipped in with 3 wickets, taking 3/39 off 7 overs which is a great sign for her as she got things rolling with 2 wickets in the first 5 overs. 

Rachel Priest then blazed 90 off 55 balls, hitting her half-century off 29 balls with 17 fours and a couple sixes thrown in for a laugh. Priest's knock deserve plenty of praise and that's what she's capable of at the top of the order, perhaps why she isn't overly consistent but any knock like this can immediately take the game away from the opponent. Don't sleep on another strong knock from Bates though as she was over-shadowed, yet still managed 40* off just 43 balls.

Bates finished as the leading run-scorer at the 2013 World Cup and in three games at this World Cup Bates has scored; 106*, 51, 40*. This has Bates ranked 6th for run-scoring and with two not-outs to her name, her average at this World Cup of 197 is head and shoulders above another other leading run-scorer. Bates has only played three games while all batswomen with more runs than Bates besides Meg Lanning (Aus), have played four games and Bates still isn't that far behind the leading run-scorer Chamari Atapattu (Sri Lanka) who has 257 runs. 

With career stats of 15.06avg/2.93rpo, Kasperek has shown that she can strangle an end and snare wickets with her tight offies. She conceded just 1.7rpo off her 10 overs in this game and her injection into the bowling attack came as Bates appeared to settle down with their bowling rotation, using six bowlers instead of eight as she had done in previous games. 

Even in using six bowlers, Amy Satterthwaite only bowled 4 overs while Tahuhu (7), Kasperek (10), Holly Huddleston (6), Sophie Devine (8) and Amelia Kerr (8) did the bulk of the work. There's benefit in having so many options and I'm not confident in predicting how Tiffen and Bates juggle their bowling attack throughout this tournament; which is great as it makes it difficult for other teams to plan and prepare for what the Ferns will throw at them. 

There's also benefit in a core group zoning in on their respective jobs, which is what took place against West Indies. The balance in that five-bowler rotation is sublime as you've got Kasperek's off-spin and Amelia Kerr's leg-spin (Kasperek's 25yrs and Kerr's 16yrs - us youngins are taking over Aotearoa, believe that), then you have the pace and fire of Tahuhu, Huddleston and Devine.

Not too many teams have the seaming options like Aotearoa, let alone two eager young spinners who do the opposite of each other. 

Perhaps there's an unpredictable nature to the White Ferns bowling - it's rather easy to predict that Kerr will take wickets as she's snared 1+ wicket all three games. You know exactly what to expect from their batting group though and Priest is as much a part of that as Bates, Satterthwaite, Devine, Katey Martin or Katie Perkins. The chances of all six not scoring runs are very slim and here's hoping Priest as a few more swashbucklin' knocks stashed away for later in the tournament. 

Tomorrow night Aotearoa face Pakistan and with a quick turn-around between games against weaker opposition, I expect a few more changes to be made. Seeing the team-list at the start of each game is almost as exciting as seeing Kasperek, Kerr, Priest, Bates (etc etc) enjoy success; not only do the White Ferns have world-class skill, they have depth to tinker and get the very best out of their squad.

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