All is well that ends all good, right? A win for Aotearoa in their third ODI against England wraps up a tour to Ireland and England that was solid, but under-whelming for the White Ferns. There were big wins over Ireland and then South Africa in the T20s, losing three T20s and then two ODIs against the Poms though leaves the White Ferns in a weird position where things are alright, but they need to level up and perform at their potential.

Follow England Women at ecb.co.uk/england/women England sealed a series win against New Zealand, inflicting a heavy defeat on the visitors in the 2nd ODI in Derby. Solid batting pushed the home side up to 241, but it was the bowling that stole the headlines.

Follow England Women at ecb.co.uk/england/women A magnificent century from Sophie Devine inspired New Zealand to a consolation victory in a series England won 2-1. The home side reached 104-0 after a bright start, but were eventually bowled out for 219. Devine capitalised with an unbeaten 117 to lead the White Ferns to victory with more than five overs to spare.

The last ODI was headlined by Leigh Kasperek's 5 wickets @ 4.03rpo in 9.4 overs, leading the kiwis to dismiss England for 219 in 47.4 overs. Hayley Jensen and Jessie Watkin chimed in with 2w each, with Jensen especially impressive in conceding just 2.60rpo off her 10ov.

117* off 116 balls from Sophie Devine saw the Ferns reach their target of 220 runs in 44.4 overs and Devine showed exactly what she's capable of at the top of the order. With the ODI series wrapped up, Devine had a new opening partner as Suzie Bates dropped down to #4 and Watkin opening in a reshuffled batting line up. Maddie Green slid up to #3, with Amy Satterthwaite dropping to #5 and Katey Martin to #6.

This shuffle saw Satterthwaite and Martin chip in with a few runs, contributing together for the first time this series. Satterthwaite hit 25 off 30 and Martin 23 off 23, which wasn't anything crazy but was enough to bump the Ferns towards their target and is an improvement on their previous work batting #3 and #4.

While this was a good opportunity for coach Haidee Tiffen to switch things up, there also needs to be a dose of context in terms of the White Ferns grabbing the win as England also switched things up. England were without Katie George (bowler) and Sarah Taylor (w-k/bat), while Tiffen promoted Watkin up to open and brought in Bernadine Bezuidenhout and Hayley Jensen, with Kate Ebrahim and Lea Tahuhu dropping out for the final ODI.

Devine was the highest run-scorer from either team for this series, hitting 164 runs with her century making up the bulk of that. The next best kiwi batswoman was Green with 64 runs in 3inns, although Green scored at a weird 48.48sr and Amelia Kerr was the only batter in this series to score 10+ runs at a strike-rate lower than Green's (45.45sr). Four English batswomen scored 90+ runs, Devine and Green were the only kiwis to score 60+ runs.

Kasperek was the leading wicket-taker from either team, with 8w @ 5.02rpo. This is nearly identical to Devine with the runs as Kasperek scored the bulk of her runs in the final ODI and then the next three best bowlers are all Poms. The lack of impact from Tahuhu and Holly Huddleston is a major concern as Tahuhu took 3w @ 6.23rpo in 2inns and Huddleston took 1w @ 5.30rpo in 3inns. With Devine (2w in 3inns @ 5.52rpo) and Bates (0w @ 6.57rpo) not doing much in support of Tahuhu and Huddleston, Aotearoa's seam department was hugely disappointing and this may force Tiffen to explore other seam options in coming series.

The development of Kerr is a fascinating narrative to follow as she is doing a great job in terms of playing international cricket at her age, but couldn't back up her headline-grabbing efforts from earlier in the tour. Kerr took 3w in 3inns @ 4.80rpo and was the only kiwi bowler to bowl 10 overs in each game; Kerr bowled the most overs of any player and had a bowling strike-rate of 60, while all other bowlers with 3+ wickets had strike-rates below 40.

Kerr managed 25 runs in 3inns, with a 12* the highlight in that and of course, her batting strike-rate of 45.45. It would be rude to point out Kerr as being especially crappy in this series when the whole White Ferns fall in that bucket, taking the good with the bad comes to mind though with regards to Kerr at this stage of her career.

There were a bunch of fresh selections for this tour to Ireland and England, many of whom got plenty of game time for Aotearoa. The experienced, world class performers still formed the core of the White Ferns though and the under-performance of the leaders made life difficult for the new faces. Now were are at an interesting juncture for coach Tiffen and the White Ferns as it feels like there needs to be a bit of a shake up, whether that's selection or how the team operates, something has to change, even a minor tweak.

However you wanna package it, this White Ferns group is under-performing on the world stage. It won't take much to flip this scenario though and this sets up a super intriguing rest of 2018 and kiwi summer for the Ferns.

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Peace and love 27.