White Ferns Squad To Tour South Africa
Yipppeee!
While the Blackcaps are currently in South Africa playing some Test cricket, the White Ferns will head to South Africa in October for seven ODI's.
We'd definitely prefer that the women were playing some Test cricket, however equality is a slow process and given that NZ Cricket only recently announced an upgrade to the women's nation contracts, we're taking small steps.
15 players will now be graced with national contracts, ranging from $20,000 to $34,000. Throw in a few cheeky match payments and tournaments such as the Women's Big Bash League and England's Super League and women's cricket is slowly edging towards a full professional set up in which women can earn a nice living.
White Ferns coach Haidee Tiffin named a squad of 14 to tour South Africa, all of whom have earned national contracts while Central Districts' Liz Perry also has a national contract is currently injured.
The notable absentee in this squad is Sara McGlashan, who has featured in both the WBBL and SL. McGlashan doesn't have a national contract either so it'll be interesting to see if this is the end of her international career, if she's only going to play T20's for the White Ferns of if she'll enjoy the domestic T20 circuit.
All the other big names are there with Suzie Bates, Rachel Priest, Sophie Devine, Morna Nielsen, Amy Satterthwaite and Lea Tahuhu backing up from their recent SL campaigns.
Erin Bermingham and the pick of the kiwi bowlers in the Women's World T20 Leigh Kasperek have also been named and should be certain starters.
Holly Huddlestone re-joins the White Ferns squad and is coming off a strong stint with Middlesex in England, where she took 6 wickets in her last 5 T20 games as well as 10 wickets in her last 5 50-over games. She'll offer some swing bowling, while Sam Curtis has also earned a re-call as an top-order batswoman as well as offering some leg-spin.
The first ODI is on October 8, so stay tuned.
Suzie Bates (capt), Erin Bermingham, Sam Curtis, Sophie Devine, Holly Huddleston, Leigh Kasperek, Katey Martin, Thamsyn Newton, Morna Nielsen, Katie Perkins, Rachel Priest, Hannah Rowe, Amy Satterthwaite, Lea Tahuhu