Suzie Bates has stepped aside as White Ferns skipper, after a low key niggly 12 months that saw the White Ferns slip below expectations and also saw Bates' individual performances slide a wee bit. The decision to hand the captaincy over to Amy Satterthwaite is both a selfish and selfless move; Bates is looking after herself and giving up some responsibility to focus on her own well-being and performances, while also giving up the captaincy to allow for different leadership in the White Ferns.

Right now, it feels like the Ferns need a new voice and a different leader. This isn't any dramatic opinion of mine, Bates alluded to the under-whelming performances of the White Ferns in major tournaments and that was reason for much reflection. That's what I love about this as instead of trucking along pretending that everything is honki-dory, everyone involved as White Ferns decision makers, are looking at ways in which they can get better.

In a broader sense, everything does appear to be honki-dory with the White Ferns. They win the games they should win and those games usually feature an excessively dominant performance from the team and/or individuals. Those who don't follow the White Ferns closely will be exposed to their dominance and when they don't live up to the hype on grand stage - well, little ol' Aotearoa did well to get there right?

Expectations within and around the White Ferns are higher though. With a bunch of the world's best players and a crop of youngsters that much like the lads, is and will be perhaps the best wave of cricketers we've ever seen, the White Ferns are legit contenders to win any major tournament, or series they play in.

In recent times, they start as contenders and fizzle. Hence change is required to go to a nek level and with Bates focusing on runs and wickets, as well as Satterthwaite having a crack at captaincy, this is a slick move to reinvigorate the Ferns. Not a whole lot will change though as Satterthwaite will be assisted by Bates, Sophie Devine, Lea Tahuhu, Katey Martin and Katie Perkins. The general leadership will be the same and the experienced players, along with coach Haidee Tiffen will still drive the culture; Satterthwaite is the skipper now though.

This will offer some new vibes and that's cool. The undercover narrative here though is that neither Bates or Satterthwaite has been performing at a level that they would be happy with. Aotearoa took a youngish squad to tour Ireland and England a few months ago, which immediately placed huge importance on Bates and Satterthwaite to lead by example if they were to beat England.

In three ODIs against England, Bates had scores of 28, 24 and 1.

Satterthwaite had scores of 2, 1 and 25.

In three T20s against England, Bates had scores of 23, 0 and 31.

Satterthwaite had scores of 2, 37 and 19.

Bates and Satterthwaite both scored runs in abundance in ODIs and T20s against Pakistan, West Indies and Ireland. This can skew stats and perception because the Women's World Cup in July last year - before touring UAE to play vs Pakistan - the only century from Bates or Satterthwaite came from Bates vs Sri Lanka, Satterthwaite chimed in with 78*. In the next four games, Bates had scores of 51, 40*, 44 and 1. Satterthwaite had scores of 21, 38*, 35 and 26.

This isn't to say how crap Bates and Satterthwaite have been (they're still amazing), it's only to point out that they haven't been performing at their own crazy levels. If the White Ferns were to win the World Cup, they needed Bates and Satterthwaite to be at their best and to beat England with a young White Ferns team, Bates or Satterthwaite needed at least a 50+ score in one of those three games.

Bates and Satterthwaite both played in the Women's T20 Super League recently, where thy both under-performed. Bates averaged 27.22, with a strike-rate of 115.02 and just one 50+ score in 10inns as she led Southern Vipers to finish last. Satterthwaite was slightly better, averaging 34.62/127.06sr and two 50+ scores, which isn't quite what you want from marquee calibre players.

Usually, if you give Bates and Satterthwaite 10 T20 innings each, they'll pass 50 roughly four times and one will be a century. Such is their run-scoring productivity. Whether it's the World Cup, series vs England or this T20 Super League, Bates and Satterthwaite have hit a bit of a plateau in scoring runs.

This again comes back around to how you view the White Ferns. Everything Bates and Satterthwaite have done over the past year, going back to the World Cup (then vs Pakistan in UAE, hosting West Indies, touring Ireland and England) has been acceptable, perfectly fine. If we want the White Ferns to be better though, to live up to their potential, then tweaks need to be made and the best players need to be performing against the best opposition.

Which makes it no surprise that the weight of all this became too much for Bates. Not only does Bates want the White Ferns to thrive with a slight change in leadership, I'd suggest that she wants to live in the run-scoring, wicket-taking groove that has made her the best female cricketer in the world. It should be easier for Bates to find that groove now and here's hoping that Satterthwaite can emulate Bates' previous work as a skipper who led from the front.

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Peace and love 27.