This summer's Women's Big Bash League was meant to be all about the Indian wave and South Africa's women bolstering their WBBL crew. Each summer a small army of White Ferns had suited up to play WBBL and this hit a climax last season as a tour of Australia prior to WBBL allowed various kiwis who didn't have WBBL gigs to stay on in Australia as a pool of replacement players. This saw the likes of Rosemary Mair and Lauren Down get game time, while Kiwi-WBBL regulars went about their standard mahi.

India toured Australia prior to WBBL07 which when combined with most kiwis opting to stay in Aotearoa after returning from England, saw the stars align for eight players from India to get WBBL gigs. All that remains of the illustrious Kiwi-WBBL crew are former White Fern Rachel Priest who is free to do what she wants in the cricketing world and Sophie Devine - the only White Fern in WBBL07.

WBBL07 has been rolling along for a week or so and most teams have played four games. As of Monday morning, six players had scored 100+ runs so far and two of them are kiwis who smacked centuries. First we had Hobart skipper Priest leading by example with 107* @ 157sr late last week. Last night we had Perth skipper Devine smack 101 @ 168sr.

Only six players have scored over 100 runs so far in WBBL07, these two kiwis hit that marker with a lone knock. Priest currently sits 1st in runs with 143 runs @ 47.66avg/126.5sr and Devine is 2nd with 138 runs @ 46avg/158.6sr, plus they have had 7 sixes each while no other batter has hit more than 4 sixes.

Devine has a strong case for one of the best WBBL batters ever, yet her White Ferns form has matched the team's woes. 2021 is the first year in which Devine's batting average sits below 20 in both ODI and T20I cricket since 2009. In T20I cricket, Devine's strike-rate has continued to fall...

2017: 162.88sr.

2018: 144.20sr.

2019: 131.89sr.

2020: 126.47sr.

2021: 94.21sr.

No wonder everything feels fresh for Devine in WBBL. Devine has already hit more sixes in WBBL07 (7 from 87 deliveries) than she has in T20Is for Aotearoa this year (4 in 121 deliveries). The entire White Ferns team has hit 10 sixes this year and Devine will likely pass that mark soon, as will Priest who played in The Hundred prior to WBBL07.

Priest is part of a lost White Ferns group who have been ousted from international cricket in favour of younger players and her WBBL form highlights how useful such veterans could be to the Ferns World Cup campaign. Priest wasn't exactly in hot form for Aotearoa though, batting with T20I strike-rates 100 or below for her last three years of White Ferns cricket. In 2020 Priest played seven T20I games with 16.57avg/95sr.

Like Devine, Priest probably feels fresher in T20 leagues and everything outside of the White Ferns struggles feels pretty damn fresh. Our Kiwi-WBBL funk has been concentrated down to Devine and Priest, while the fresh vibes will soon permeate around Aotearoa when Hallyburton-Johnstone Shield cricket starts this coming weekend.

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Peace and love.