World T20: White Ferns & BLACKCAPS Keep Rollin'
The Ferns have Bates and Kasperek, don't sleep on Sophie Devine though ... or any other Fern really as they're all awesome.
Chow down that Easter egg, sip that brew, light one up and celebrate our kiwi cricket teams who are both loving life, undefeated at their respective World T20 tournaments. Overnight the BLACKCAPS handled their business against Bangladesh, as did the White Ferns who put the sword to South Africa and we now await some knockout cricket; don't go crazy on the celebrations just yet.
Both games went pretty much to script, not in terms of the result but in terms of how we have come to expect each team to play and/or which players we rely on to influence a game. This was especially the case with the ball, even if the Ferns bowled first while the 'Caps batted first as both bowling units dominated their opponent's batting line up.
The Ferns restricted South Africa to just 99 off 20 overs thanks to another fine display of off-spin from Leigh Kasperek who finished with figures of 3/19 off 3.3 overs. Kasperek enjoyed great support though from the rest of the group with Sophie Devine's seamers also taking 3 wickets (3/16 off 3) while the spinners also chipped in to put together another complete display from the spinners.
Kasperek took her 3 wickets while Erin Bermingham took 2/14 off 4 overs along with Morna Nielsen's 1/16 off 4 overs. Nielsen opened the bowling again and took the first wicket while she also led the way in terms of tightening the screws in another stingey spell that saw her only concede 4 runs-an-over. Bermingham was also tidy, only conceding 3.5 rpo which basically means that not only do the Ferns have a spin attack consisting of three different varieties of spin, they either take wickets or dot 'em up.
Chasing 100 can be tricky, not when you've got Suzie Bates (29 off 25) and Rachel Priest (28 off 28) opening the innings along with Sophie Devine's power at No.3. Devine backed her 3 wickets up with 27 off 17 balls at a strike-rate of 158.82 and was able to have some fun as Bates and Priest put on 57 for the opening wicket, effectively winning the game themselves.
There were fine efforts with the bat from the BLACKCAPS as well with Kane Williamson (42 off 32), Colin Munro (35 off 33) and Ross Taylor (28 off 24) doing a fine job of extracting whatever runs they could from a tough pitch to bat on. It wasn't a glorious batting display and on these pitches you've just got to do enough to set some sort of target and the way that someone like Munro stuck at it, didn't try chase a boundary and respected the conditions was excellent.
Shout out to Mustafizur Rahman, 20-year-old lefty for Bangladesh who looks the goods and made a few of our batsmen look silly with his slower ball. Keep an eye out for this kid.
Bangladesh have a strong batting line up on paper, but like the Ferns, the 'Caps have a bowling attack who offer variety, skill and are all very comfortable with their role in the team. This was evident in Nathan McCullum's performance in which he came in for Adam Milne (turning deck and all) and took 1/6 off 2 overs. McCullum epitomises what I love about this bowling attack and this was also reflected in the work of Corey Anderson (7 runs off 2 overs), Mitchell Santner (1/16 off 3) and Mitchell McClenaghan (1/3 off 1 over) as Ish Sodhi (3/21 off 3.4 overs) and Grant Elliott (3/12 off 4) finished as the chief destroyers.
Nothing new with this bowling performance, just another example of this 'Caps bowling attack being perfectly suited to slow/spinning decks. If it's spinning then Sodhi will always pose a threat as he can genuinely rip the ball both ways and in T20 cricket there's always pressure to score which means batsmen - like what we saw from Bangladesh - are going to give up defence for offence, risky business when you don't know which way or how much the ball is going to turn.
Santner and McCullum spin the ball different ways, however they both keep their lines very tight and don't dish up freebies outside off too often. Batsmen have to create an attacking shot against them or else get stuck working singles around and like with Sodhi, when you're attacking, opportunities are presented.
Anderson and McClenaghan were solid and their contributions in another strong team performance can't be overlooked as they maintained pressure and simply did their job. They both have variety and can use their slower balls effectively, although Grant Elliott is proving to be a key man on decks like these. We've seen how useful Elliott can be with his dibbly-dobblers in kiwi conditions and in India, Elliott is a force to be reckoned with as he becomes a bit of a wildcard, a economical medium-pacer, a spinner and a craftsman.
This was Elliott's first game in which he took a wicket, let alone 3 but which is another nod to team-first blokes just doing their job. Elliott has toiled hard all tournament, only conceding 5.4 rpo and doing a key job for Kaptain Kane through the middle stages, it's only right that Elliott had his moment in the spotlight.
What we have right now folks are two cricket teams who I'd argue are the best teams right now in the World T20 and the Women's World T20. It's not just that both the BLACKCAPS and White Ferns have put a few impressive performances on the board, they have been consistently awesome in every department, whether that's getting just enough runs, accumulating runs, smacking it round for runs, seam bowling, spin bowling and fielding.
Not only have both teams executed their skills the best in either tournament, they are two teams that look to be working extremely well together. They are getting the most out of their best players and job-doers are contributing or doing their jobs, plus there is a bit of funk and variety in both line ups.
Most importantly though, I reckon Suzie Bates and Kane Williamson are the best captains in either tournament. Not only are they tactically astute, all those little skills, team culture and what not starts with them, they example they set and how they motivate their troops.
Enjoy it, we've got two very, very good T20 cricket teams dominating the world. Enjoy it before things get tense in the knockout stages where anything that happened previously means zilch.