Aotearoa's White Ferns are on the hunt for automatic qualification to next year's World Cup, with a home series against Pakistan which starts tomorrow providing them with an opportunity to seal a World Cup spot. Pakistan are in Aotearoa for five ODI fixtures and while the first three ODI's in South Africa counted towards the ICC Women's Championship, this time around it's the last three that will carry more weight than the first two games.

South Africa provided an interesting challenge for the Ferns as that series was away from home and there's some serious quality in that South Africa side, so for the Ferns to flex their muscle and dominate that series was a sign of how good this kiwi team is. Pakistan won't quite be as good as South Africa and in kiwi conditions where there'll be a greater reliance on the seamers, expect the White Ferns to put up some impressive performances.

Leigh Kasperek wasn't in South Africa and she's still missing via injury for this Pakistan series, as is fellow spinner Erin Bermingham. Natalie Dodd and Maddy Green has also been left out from the squad that toured South Africa with Liz Perry, Sophie Devein and Amelia Kerr coming into this squad.

The inclusions of Devine and Kerr are super exciting, even if they are at opposite ends of the experience spectrum. Devine is back in the White Ferns and she will give the Ferns more all-round excellence with her powerful hitting up the order and medium-pace that should cause all sorts of problems for Pakistan's batswomen. Remember that Amy Satterthwaite scored the most runs and was the best bowler in that South African series, so a White Ferns team with Devine and Satterthwaite in it is a scary prospect for their opponents.

Kerr, on the other hand is 16-years-old. Yup, just 16 and she comes into the squad to offer some leg-spin in a selection that makes this series borderline 'must watch' cricket as we could be witnessing the start of a fairly special career. 

We've got some of the world's best female cricketers in this squad (Devine, Satterthwaite, Suzie Bates) and that is creating a fantastic environment for young players to develop. Kerr will obviously be the youngest in the squad, but she joins the likes of seam-bowlers Thamsyn Newton and Hannah Rowe who are 21yrs and 20yrs respectively. 

How coach Haidee Tiffin juggles her team selections will be interesting as the last three games will be crucial, meaning we could see Kerr get a run early on in the series. The balance offered by Sattertwhaite and Devine gives Tiffin and skipper Bates a range of options as they can both get through 10 quality overs. Expect Holly Huddleston and Lea Tahuhu to feature prominently with the ball, while Morna Nielsen will likely operate as the numero uno spinner.

With Satterthwaite and Devin batting up the order, Tiffin can then select another bowler and it'll be interesting to see whether she goes with Kerr's leggies or the seam of Newton and Rowe.

The batting line up kinda sorts itself out as Rachel Priest, Bates, Devine and Satterthwaite are key willow weilders. Sam Curtis, Liz Perry, Katey Martin and Katie Perkins will compete for a few spots in the middle order, again the all-round abilities of Devine and Satterthwaite gives the Ferns a long list of batswomen.

First up, the Ferns are down in Lincoln tomorrow. So watch out for the debrief on Thursday.