White Ferns In England: T20I Series Wrap / ODI Preview
Aotearoa's White Ferns put up a hearty performance in their T20I series decider vs England in a game that went down to the last couple of balls as England chased down Aotearoa's target of 145. This wrapped up a pretty fun T20I series where the kiwis were well off the pace in the first encounter, then bounced back with England having a relative shocker in the second game and the final game saw a fairly even contest.
Suzie Bates looked at her best for 34 runs @ 113.33sr and the knock of Brooke Halliday batting #5 was also impressive as her 25* runs @ 156.25sr was the most important T20 knock of her career - Super Smash included. This knock was crucial as such contributions from role-players in support of the big-three batswomen don't come around too often and along with Katey Martin's finishing role where she hit 13 runs @ 216.66sr; these are the knocks that put the Ferns in competitive spots.
Martin finished the series with 128.57sr and that was the highest strike-rate of the notable White Fern batswomen. Two not-outs for Martin in her 3 innings as well, pointing to Martin settling into the finisher role. Maddy Green was the other supporting batswoman in this line up with 16 runs @ 114.28sr to ensure that all six batswomen reached double figures. In a pure White Ferns scenario, Green has a highest score of 29 in 60 T20I games and that's enough to seal consistent selection. Green's scores of 19, 21 and 16 were at least reliable.
Maybe all of that signals growth in the batting unit. The bowling department lacks a bit of oomph though and Leigh Kasperek's offies were the leading force with 6w @ 16.50avg/8.25rpo. Kasperek finished as the only bowler to take more than 4 wickets. Kasperek is 2nd all time for Aotearoa T20I wickets and she is the only kiwi to take 50+ wickets in less than 50 games. Kasperek's got 75 wickets in 46 games and the next best player who played 40-odd games is Morna Nielsen who took 41 wickets.
Devine finished with a solid 3w @ 27avg/6.75rpo. The group to highlight moving forward is Hannah Rowe, Jess Kerr and Hayley Jensen who all took 2w and conceded over 7rpo. Given that Aotearoa took 17 of a possible 30 wickets in this series and rarely take all 10 wickets, the Rowe/Kerr/Jensen trio wasn't overly threatening. In six games vs England (ODIs included) back in Aotearoa earlier this year, Aotearoa took 5+ wickets twice and this series was slightly better with 4w, 7w and 6w; ain't no chat around bowling coach Jacob Oram though.
White Ferns context is all about ODI cricket as Aotearoa hosts a World Cup next year. Skipper Devine alluded to this...
"We've had a lot of 50-over focus leading into this so it's actually quite nice to get the T20s out of the way now because for the last couple of months all we've been focused on is 50-over cricket with a World Cup around the corner, We'll take some learnings out that we can take to the 50-over format which will be really exciting for us and give us confidence, but we're certainly looking forward to being able to build on what we've been able to accomplish in this T20 series."
The thing is that the White Ferns are much worse in ODI cricket than they are in T20I cricket. Since the start of 2019, Aotearoa is 11-11 in T20I games and 2-16 in ODIs. Both of those ODI wins came in the last game of a series that was already lost and borderline horrible ODI record frames the Aotearoa World Cup, which is then reversed further to frame this five-gamer vs England as a crucial stepping stone.
Devine also stated that Lea Tahuhu would be unleashed in the ODI series. I reckon the 1st 11 from the T20I series should be rolled out for the ODI series and there is an easy spot for Tahuhu to take as Thamsyn Newton batted #8 and didn't bowl in the T20I series. Replace Newton with Tahuhu and bump Rowe a spot up the batting order for a bowling unit that has a bit more firepower.
Exactly what 'unleashing' Tahuhu will result in will be a low key yarn to track. Tahuhu averages 32.30 through 71 ODI games and that's far from the worst career stat in this White Ferns team, but what really perks my antenna is Tahuhu's recent mahi…
2019: 6inns, 2w @ 39.80avg/4.14rpo.
2020: 2inns, 0w @ 7.61rpo.
2021: 3inns, 3w @ 35avg/6.56rpo.
In this period Tahuhu has suffered various injuries and she became a mum alongside wife Satterthwaite, hence Tahuhu played less than six games after five consecutive years of six or more games. This coincides with that 2-16 ODI record and the lack of peak 115-120km/h Tahuhu does feel related to White Ferns ODI results. Perfect opportunity for Tahuhu to stack up overs, take wickets and gather confidence ahead of that home World Cup.
One last thing...
See Tahuhu's ODI record up above? That's not unique to Tahuhu as other key White Ferns have fell into ODI holes after periods of genuine world-class cricket.
Amelia Kerr averaged below 22 with her leggies in each of her first three years of ODI cricket (hence she became a star). Since then Kerr has averaged 29.87 (2019), 33.85 (2020) and 40.83 (2021).
Devine averaged 30+ with the bat for seven years in a row, two of which came with strike-rates over 100. The last of those 30+ average years was 2019, with a hefty dip in Devine's strike-rate as it went down to 71.42sr before averaging 25 last year and 12.33 this year with strike-rates in the 60s.
Bates averaged 40+ with the bat for four consecutive years prior to 2019 with strike-rates over 80. Bates averaged 24.50 in 2019 and 39 in 2020 with 70-ish strike-rates.
Satterthwaite is the only one here to sustain kinda world-class numbers. With 37avg last year and 38.60avg this year, Satterthwaite has still taken a dip from the same 2016-2019 period where the above players dominated.
These are all super nerdy notes, but they highlight the plight of White Ferns woes. These players dragged the White Ferns to be a top-tier team for a few years and their dips in form which are always to be expected, have had an impact on results. Wondering why Devine and Kerr are open with their mental health battles? There is a clear connection between lack of cricket form and their headspaces, which stems from pressure to perform and the best way to rectify this on the field is to build a better supporting cast around these players.
There is a connection to the dips in production and the Bob Carter regime - is coach Carter doing a better job than Haidee Tiffin? Expecting these key players to sustain exceptional mahi is unrealistic and those expectations may have impacted the wellbeing of these players. The lack of supporting role-players is most important here though with older players who are best equipped to do their jobs thrown away and a dubious record of talent identification/development ensuring that younger players don't do much as far as lending a helping hand scoring runs and taking wickets.
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