Two games into their World T20 campaign and Aotearoa's White Ferns slump continues after they were giving another touch up by Australia. The Ferns went down to India first up, letting the Indians score freely on their way to 194/5 and couldn't muster much of a challenge with the bat in finishing up on 160/9, a dose that was repeated in the loss to Australia.

Australia were first to bat and reached 153/7, to which Aotearoa was all out for 120 in reply. This now means that on top of almost certainly missing out on semi-final cricket, the White Ferns have now lost their last four games vs Australia ... as well as their last three games vs England and the loss to India. All of those losses have come in 2018.

Suzie Bates was again at the forefront of the Ferns performance, scoring 48 off 42 in the run chase and the only slither of support for Bates again came from Katey Martin who hit 24 off 20. Other than that, Leigh Kasperek hit 12, giving Aotearoa three batsmen to hit double-figures after only four batters hit double-figures in the loss to India.

With the ball, Kasperek took 3w @ 6.25rpo to lead the bowlers and Sophie Devine also took 2w but at 9.25rpo. Of the 20 wickets the Ferns could have taken in these two games, they only have 12 wickets and the results in the World T20, along with the trend of 2018 make it clear that there is nothing to fear in the White Ferns bowling group.

Positive vibes are found in the performances of Bates and Kasperek. Bates is now 3rd in runs for the tournament, behind fellow big names Harmanpreet Kaur and Alyssa Healy - both of whom passed 50 vs Aotearoa. Martin also features on the run-scoring rankings, with two solid knocks putting her in 9th and then we dive deep into the run-scorers to find the next best kiwi is Anna Peterson with 14 runs. Yikes. Kasperek is ranked 6th with the ball, one of seven bowlers who have 4+ wickets.

In more yikes stuff, we have Amelia Kerr who hasn't taken a wicket. We have skipper Amy Satterthwaite who has 5 runs in 2inns and hasn't passed 50 in the 11inns since her 71* vs West Indies back in March. Sophie Devine has scored 9 runs in 2inns and has 21 runs in her last 4inns. Maddy Green has 10 runs in 2inns and through 38 T20I games, Green averages 9.70 with a high score of 23.

I could go on and on, to paint a very sorry picture about the White Ferns at the moment. On the surface this looks like a bit of a major tournament kerfuffle and that in itself is a major concern, given how the Ferns performed at the World Cup last year. Dig deeper though and this gets super downbuzz as the Ferns haven't been playing good cricket since that World Cup and I continue to highlight how they are losing any and every game against quality opposition this year.

Bates was a casualty in giving up her captaincy, which has seen her step up her contributions after a relative lean patch. Yet Satterthwaite hasn't scored many runs since getting the captaincy and the Ferns have found themselves in a serious spot of bother where whatever they are doing, ain't working.

The hope of a cricketing miracle is alive and the focus will be on winning games vs Pakistan and Ireland, controlling what they can control to put themselves in the mix. Right now though, it feels like winning these last two games is imperative for the vibe of the White Ferns and gaining a smidge of confidence. A loss to either Pakistan or Ireland, would be slightly catastrophic and a point of rock bottom, alluding to a fairly serious issue within the group.

We've come to know the White Ferns in recent times as being world class, a team with a few of the best cricketers in the world competing with the big dawgs. Right now though, the White Ferns simply aren't very good at the cricket thing.

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Peace and love 27.