Katie Gurrey May Be The Best Batting Prospect In Aotearoa
The last week saw NZC drop some award things and as mundane as that was, Northern Spirit's Katie Gurrey snatching two awards caught my eye as she doubled-down on being the best women's cricket prospect in Aotearoa. Four wahine won awards and shout out to Sophie Devine, Suzie Bates and Jess Kerr for their awards, but this is all about Gurrey as a couple awards here needs to be blown up considering Gurrey's dominance with the bat in Aotearoa.
Gurrey earned a call up to the White Ferns T20I team early in 2019, playing two games against India. This stint went about as expected given the general trend of young players struggling with the jump from domestic cricket to international cricket and despite Gurrey obviously being one of the best T20 batswomen in Aotearoa, Gurrey was ignored for any further White Ferns cricket and the T20 World Cup.
That White Ferns call up came after Gurrey did this in the 2018/19 season...
One-dayers: 15th in runs, 222 runs @ 31.71avg/67.68sr, 1 x 100.
T20: 2nd in runs, 298 runs @ 42.57avg/121.13sr, 4 x 50.
Gurrey's strike-rate of 121.13 in the T20 competition was the highest the of the five batswomen who scored 200+ runs, a group that otherwise consists of current or former White Ferns; Frances Mackay (1st), Erin Bermingham (3rd), Bernadine Bezuidenhout (4th) and Amelia Kerr (5th). Gurrey did so by hitting the most fours of any batswoman, with 53 fours only matched by Mackay's 51 fours.
Decent and well worth a cheeky look at Gurrey in T20I series against a strong Indian side. Most notably though, Gurrey backed that up in the summer just gone and was even more dominant as she exploded with one-day runs to go with another fabulous T20 campaign...
One-Day: 1st in runs, 576 runs @ 72avg/82.40sr, 2 x 100, 4 x 50.
T20: 3rd in runs, 416 runs @ 52avg/133.33sr, 1 x 100, 3 x 50.
Via typically wise (??) scheduling from NZC, the top-tier White Ferns don't play much of the one-day competition as they're usually playing in the Women's Big Bash League and Gurrey's only competition in the one-day run-scoring was Mackay once again. Mackay who also hasn't been playing for the White Ferns and Mackay joined Gurrey in a stacked run-scoring list from the T20 competition which should offer some context around the performances of Mackay and Gurrey.
1st - Katie Perkins.
2nd - Suzie Bates.
3rd - Katie Gurrey.
4th - Sophie Devine.
5th - Rachel Priest.
6th - Frances Mackay.
Anyone with any knowledge of women's cricket in Aotearoa knows this list is Aotearoa' best batswomen and Gurrey's right there, having done the same in 2018/19 and also dominating the Hallyburton-Johnstone one-day competition in the same summer. Mainstream media doesn't really care about women's cricket and NZC aren't the best at promoting domestic cricket, so I'm not surprised that Gurrey's dominance hasn't been highlighted, but this also leads to some pondering about Gurrey's standing among the White Ferns.
Having grown up in South Auckland, attending Rosehill College and without such women's opportunities with Counties Manukau cricket, Gurrey played for Auckland University. Playing for Auckland University's premier women's team as a 17-year-old, Gurrey blasted knocks 225*, 187* and 145* in the 2012/13 season. Obviously Gurrey has been a batting force for a fair while now and for whatever reason, the 24-year-old Gurrey hasn't enjoyed the kind of opportunities that some others have.
Here is how Gurrey compares to other notable young batswomen who have enjoyed steady opportunities with the White Ferns over the past two seasons...
2018/19
One-Day
Lauren Down: 6th in runs, 341 runs @ 37.88avg/79.85sr.
Maddy Green: 13th, 237 runs @ 39.50avg/81.16sr.
Katie Gurrey: 15th, 222 runs @ 31.71avg/67.68sr.
Amelia Kerr: 27th, 129 runs @ 25.80avg/62.01sr.
T20
Gurrey: 2nd, 298 runs @ 42.57avg/121.13sr.
Kerr: 5th, 209 runs @ 34.83avg/107.17sr.
Green: 15th, 125 runs @ 25avg/112.61sr.
Down: 29th, 83 runs @ 16.60avg/73.45sr.
2019/20
One-Day
Gurrey: 1st, 576 runs @ 72avg/82.40sr.
Down: 10th, 261 runs @ 43.50avg/86.42sr.
(Kerr and Green played WBBL)
T20
Gurrey: 3rd, 416 runs @ 52avg/133.33sr.
Green: 9th, 266 runs @ 38avg/121.46sr.
Down: 13th, 205 runs @ 25.62avg/112.63sr.
Kerr: 15th, 179 runs @35.80avg/135.60sr.
I won't go as far as saying Gurrey's so much better than the others as they bat in different roles, with different situations for their teams so going deep into comparison notes is unfair and of course Kerr is a legit all-rounder. These comparisons do show that Gurrey's on par with the best young batswomen in Aotearoa and her T20 record suggests that if Green and Kerr are playing WBBL, Gurrey should be getting more attention and then if Green, Kerr and Down all went to the T20 World Cup, Gurrey should have probably got a look in.
Yet Gurrey's only played two T20I games for Aotearoa, scoring 19 runs @ 9.50avg/70.37sr in those two games vs India. Gurrey didn't exactly snap up her brief opportunity with the White Ferns, although that isn't any different to how other young batters have adjusted to international cricket. Down for example, has played 11 ODI games for 7.50avg/45.73sr and two T20I games for 8.50avg/113.33sr, while Green has played 29 ODIs with 18.87avg/68.84sr and 48 T20Is with 12.10avg/87.89sr.
This reinforces that something isn't quite working in the NZC development system as the White Ferns have lacked support for the likes of Bates and Devine from younger players, thus restricting the success that the White Ferns taste. I've followed the journey of the White Ferns hitting a plateau over the past few years, falling away from the group of Australia, England and India as the world's best and one of the main reasons is the reliance on a few individuals. There is immense young talent in Aotearoa, yet the youngsters struggle to adapt and ease the load on the likes of Bates and Devine.
Gurrey's two-game T20I stint reflects that, in similar fashion to how Green and Down have performed. What's weird here though is that Gurrey's domestic dominance hasn't aligned with any White Ferns shenanigans as one of, if not the single most prolific run-scorer of the past two seasons doesn't play or Aotearoa. Then again Mackay who has been near the top of the run-scoring and wicket-taking ranks in both T20 and one-day cricket over the same two year period, has also been generally absent from White Ferns cricket.
There may be genuine reasons as to why the best kiwi cricketers aren't playing for the White Ferns, I don't know. All I see is a young cricketer in Gurrey who is as dominant on the women's side as Devon Conway is on the men's side, yet Gurrey hasn't enjoyed quite the same hype in terms of White Ferns selection. This all conveniently fits into my observations of at best a White Ferns plateau, at worse a White Ferns decline and while I won't go all in on beating that up, a bunch of different pieces of this Aotearoa women's cricket puzzle do fit together.
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