White Ferns x Women's World Cup: Game Three vs Australia
Later bo.
No loss is going to help Aotearoa at this World Cup, yet there's a long round-robin ahead and how this loss to Australia unfolded leaves me wondering if this could be a net-positive for our White Ferns. Batting first, Aotearoa reached 219/9 off their 50 overs with Suzie Bates and Katie Perkins hitting half-centuries before Australia chased that down with 8 balls to spare, thanks to 71 from Elyse Perry.
Coach Haidee Tiffen rolled out the same team from the White Ferns win over Sri Lanka for Bates' 100th ODI and led by another notable innings from Bates, the Ferns toiled hard to venture past 200. Spin changed the direction of the Ferns' innings as Jess Jonassen's left-arm spin took 3/40 @4rpo, with her 3 wickets coming rapidly as she sent Amy Satterthwaite (21) and Katey Martin (0) back to the sheds in the 22nd over before grabbing the big wicket of Bates in the 26th over.
But first....
Perkins' 52 helped steer the Ferns into the death overs and the squeezed out as many runs as they could, setting a respectable target. The funk however came with the ball and while Australia chased down their 220 target without too many problems, three of the Ferns best bowlers in this game also happened to bowl the least overs. Satterthwaite conceded just 3.66rpo and only bowled 3 overs, Holly Huddleston conceded 4rpo and only bowled 4 overs while Lea Tahuhu was a bit more expensive but took a wicket 1/20 @ 5rpo and also only bowled 4 overs.
Sophie Devine was impressive in conceding just 3.77rpo off her 9 overs, she opened the bowling with Huddleston used as the 4th bowler and Tahuhu used as the 6th bowler.
Spin definitely played a major role in this game as Anna Peterson's offies took 2//27 @ 4.05rpo and Amelia Kerr continues to impress, taking 2/42 @ 5.25rpo. Peterson sent Perry back to the sheds late in the innings to give the Ferns a slight hope, while Kerr took the big wicket of Meg Lanning (48) and took a wicket with her next delivery, skittlin' Elyse Villani's stumps.
The use of the bowlers is super intriguing as I ponder whether the Ferns aren't showing their full bag of tricks in these games, or at least adjusting the use of bowlers for the situation. I say this because the first game saw Tahuhu (9), Huddleston (10) and Satterthwaite (8) bowl the most overs of the kiwi bowlers, while Bermingham (5), Kerr (5) and Peterson (4) weren't required for so much work.
That was flipped for the game against Australia with Bermingham (10), Kerr (8) and Peterson (6.4) featuring heavily, while Satterthwaite, Huddleston and Tahuhu combined for 11 overs. There's definitely a trend there as pace was used against Sri Lanka and then spin was favoured against Australia, which worked to an extent as Peterson and Kerr took the most wickets but were also slightly more expensive.
Beauty sits in the fact that within the team used between both games, there's plenty of options available to skipper Bates, who was the most expensive kiwi bowler (6.5rpo). Changes don't need to be made to the team for the bowling attack to take on a different look, Bates can simply juggle her bowlers and there's more seam, or more spin, or more experience, or more youth.
Also consider that Australia only used five bowlers, while eight kiwi bowlers were used. That's only made possible thanks to those eight bowlers being legit international bowlers and this gives the Ferns all those options, although I'm also wondering whether Bates and Tiffen are just sussing out a few minor points about their bowlers. They'll need to nail which bowlers perform best in which situation, who is leaking runs and who isn't, who is taking wickets and all those little intricacies that come with having a vast bowling group.
Eight bowlers were also used in the first game and the only real common factor between the two games was that Bates used herself as the last bowling option for a few overs. Other than that, the number of overs and when bowlers were used varies considerably.
Bates currently sits 6th in run-scoring and she's the only batswomen in the top-10 to have played just two games; 157 runs @ 157avg/86.74sr.
Huddleston is 4th in wickets thanks to her haul from the first game (5 wickets @ 10.20avg/3.54rpo) and Kerr is also lingering around the best bowlers. Kerr's 15th with 3 wickets @ 18.33avg/4.23rpo.
Aotearoa face West Indies on Thursday night and the Windies are one of three teams without a win thus far, recently getting smoked by South Africa; they were rolled for 48 overs. West Indies aren't trucking along that well, yet their three losses have come against South Africa (3rd), India (1st) and Australia (2nd) who make up the top-three on the points table. Aotearoa sit in 5th and need a win against West Indies to get back on track.
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