After a summer of ladies' domestic cricket and a strong showing in the Womens' Big Bash League, the White Ferns took on Australia in the Rose Bowl across three ODI games.
Australia won the series, storming back from first up defeat to win the last two games thanks to back to back centuries from skipper Meg Lanning and a helping hand from Elyse Perry 

Looking only at the results could point you in the wrong direction as you'd only see yet another cricket series loss to Australia. We're still some way behind our trans-Tasman neighbours in both mens and womens cricket, but looking at this White Ferns team provides plenty of optimism and hope as they have one of the strongest squads of recent memory.

As you'd hope, the big guns for the Ferns fired throughout this series. Suzie Bates' three innings resulted in 43, 61 and 110 which would have been enough to see her finish as the leading run-scorer for the series if it weren't for Lanning's dual centuries. Bates averaged 71.33 for the series at a strike-rate of 74.82.

Amy Satterthwaite hit 72 off 88 balls in the first ODI and 44 in the third.

Sophie Devine hit 67 off 102 in the second ODI.

Sara McGlashan hit 46 in the third.

That's four of the top-five scoring runs at some stage in this series and while there's room to improve, it's great to see an impressive group of batswomen doing the job for their country.
Australia won the toss in each game and chose to field and as they won two games chasing down the Ferns' total, it didn't leave much room for domination from the kiwi bowlers.

Lea Tahuhu was the pick of the kiwi bowlers, taking 4/95 off 25 overs at an average of 23.75 and only conceding 3.80 runs an over. Tahuhu took 3/34 off 9 overs in the first ODI which bolstered her numbers but even in the third ODI where she went wicket-less, Tahuhu was the most economical kiwi bowler only conceding 26 runs off 8 overs (3.25 rpo).

Erin Bermingham's leggies also gave her 4 wickets (4/124 off 26 overs) and her series followed a similar path to Tahuhu's as she took 3/38 off 10 overs in the first ODI before picking up 1/44 off 9 overs in the second. Bermingham was expensive in the third, conceding 42 runs off her 7 overs (6 rpo).

Scottish-born and former Scotland international Leigh Kasperek was the pick of the kiwi bowlers in the third ODI. Kasperek took 2/37 off 6.4 overs, sending both Lanning and Perry back to the sheds with her off-spin. 

It's hard to be too down on a series loss when the Ferns scored over 200 runs in every game, with their key batswomen doing their job in setting Australia a challenging total. Perhaps the bowlers didn't quite back this up with their efforts but Lanning and Perry are two of the best female cricketers in the world and trying to contain them, while they are swimming in confidence wouldn't have been easy. 

The Ferns now host Australia in three T20 giggle games (Test cricket please and why are the ladies the warm up to the silly North vs South T20 game) so we'll keep an eye on that. Game one is on Sunday in Wellington, so if you're in the area get along and support the ladies.