Forget the Blackcaps and any dramatic thoughts with regards to the lads, there are greater issues at the moment with Aotearoa's White Ferns. Wait on, maybe hold on to a slither of Blackcaps woes because the current fortunes of the Blackcaps and White Ferns merely reflect what has emerged as more weird/irresponsible shenanigans from New Zealand Cricket.

To set the scene, allow me to highlight a rather strange lack of hype from NZC around domestic cricket. I got excited at the start of the summer when I saw various Plunket Shield highlight packages appear on the NZC Youtube page, allowing fans to conveniently enjoy domestic cricket and generally be exposed to domestic cricket.

This soon evaporated though as the Plunket Shield highlights lasted one round and it's been two months since the last little highlights package, two weeks for the last upload. This is notable because when you take a quick squizz around the Youtube channels from Australia, South Africa, England, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and other cricket governing bodies, there is a consistent flow of Youtube content.

Zimbabwe Cricket's Youtube channel takes an almighty poo all over that of NZC.

Let that sink in for a moment.

Or, what about South Africa’s ‘Proteas Cricket’ Youtube channel offering more content for this women’s series than NZC?

The complete lack of any intention to follow the lead from the likes of Cricket Australia and their counterparts from other nations who provide immense Youtube content is embarrassing. We are in 2020, NZC however reside in 2012.

While we are routinely told that domestic cricket outside of the amazing *insert ever-changing sponsor here* Super Smash is struggling, there is minimal effort from NZC to boost the profile of Plunket Shield cricket for example. On top of that, having the Super Smash as a major priority is fine, if actions genuinely back that up and somehow, NZC are even slipping with the Super Smash.

Overseas T20 big-dawgs in the Super Smash? Not happening, it kinda used to happen but not this summer. The Super Smash continues to be rolled out in competition to Big Bash League and this continues to be annoying as the best kiwi players have the BBL door shut to them, as well as the best international recruits making the obvious move to play BBL over Super Smash; the latter is not a factor in the international T20 landscape.

Instead of perhaps, working in collaboration with BBL, NZC put the Super Smash against BBL. This puts a solid ceiling on the heights that Super Smash can reach and in outlining this annoyance in recent summers, this summer's Super Smash left me under-whelming as far as the product goes - a product that has been made a major priority by NZC.

Remember that all of this compounds into what we have now and in isolation, most of these issues would be digest-able. While NZC continue to neglect the most visible video platform, most Women's Super Smash games are tucked away never to be seen; not on telly and no where to be seen on the interwebs. Each team in the Super Smash played 10 games, yet only 14 men's games were shown on telly and a whopping eight women's game were shown on telly.

Other than the wahine finally getting a sniff of professional cricket, the lack of visibility in men's domestic cricket obviously flows into women's cricket. If NZC have the Super Smash as a major priority, they are doing a terrible job of it.

And now, we have a White Ferns team who have lost back to back games to South Africa. For context, Aotearoa have played 15 games against South Africa, won 11 and lost 4, which when we strip it back to before the series started, settles at 13 games, won 11 and lost 2. Usually, the White Ferns are too slick for South Africa, but the past 24 months have seen the White Ferns fall away from the top-tier (Australia, England, India) and now dwell in the next group of teams.

Women's cricket is enjoying fabulous growth around the world and the level of competition is improving dramatically, which makes this spot that the White Ferns find themselves in rather concerning. The best teams have got better, the tier below are getting better and the White Ferns are doing the opposite.

After winning three games vs Ireland by 300+ runs back in 2018, Aotearoa then played a series vs England and then 2019 saw them play vs India and Australia. For starters, that is a woeful amount of cricket considering what we are told about the great things NZC are doing for women's cricket, then ponder how many games the White Ferns won out of their nine games vs the three best teams in the world?

Two.

In nine games, the White Ferns won two and here we are with back to back losses to South Africa.

The best bowler for Aotearoa's White Ferns thus far vs South Africa has been Jess Kerr, who made her debut in the second game and bowled 4 overs. Kerr took 1w @ 23avg/5.75rpo and is closely followed by Suzie Bates's 1w @ 24avg/6.85rpo in 3.3ov, while Bates is the Ferns best batswoman as well.

In two games, five White Ferns bowlers have taken 1 wicket. Three of those bowlers are averaging over 40 and then three more bowlers have gone wicket-less; including world-class spinners Amelia Kerr and Leigh Kasperek. That's an almighty dip in productivity from what I have come to expect from the White Ferns and unfortunately, one small aspect that I highlighted this time last summer has continued.

For some reason the form of Maddy Green and Lauren Down stood out to me last summer, primarily as a vehicle for me to explore the idea of the ever-increasing gap between women's domestic cricket and international cricket. Green and Down are two of Aotearoa's best young batting prospects, with Green averaging 19.47 in ODI cricket and Down averaging 7.55. Green was impressive in the WBBL - as all the kiwis were and having kiwis in the WBBL continues to be one of my favourite topics to cover.

Three changes were made between game one and two of this series vs South Africa; Jess Kerr came in for Rosemary Mair, Katey Martin came in for Rachel Priest and Green came in for Down. Game one saw Down score 9 off 29 balls and then Green chimed in with 2 from 11 balls, furthering my intrigue as to how celebrated domestic players move into the rigours of international cricket.

The White Ferns used to be really good, chillin' with Australia, England and India. The past two years have seen the Ferns fall, tumble their way into the chasing pack and while the Ferns are falling, that chasing pack is on the rise as we are seeing with South Africa. I do not believe this is a coincidence or a strange twist of fate, instead it feels like another consequence of NZC incompetence.

The Blackcaps get all the attention, obviously. When you're meditating on any Blackcaps woes, take a broader look at other kiwi cricketing matters and you'll find that kiwi cricket isn't quite as healthy as some make it seem.

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Peace and love 27.