White Ferns In England: Tied T20I Series
Having been deep in White Ferns woes, the first two games of their England tour don't provide much clarity as to how the Fernies are tracking. The good news is that the kiwis grabbed a win in the second T20I which adds some juice to the series decider and we now enter a weird phase where two games will be played in just under two weeks. The third T20I game won't be played until Friday, then the first ODI isn't played until the following Friday. Two games in 12 days.
The first game was concerning as the kiwis dropped many catches and fumbled fielding stops. Having seen the White Ferns social media content all winter in which they had a clear focus on diving/athleticism, not a whole lot from the first game reflected that mahi. England hit 184/4, then Amy Satterthwaite led the kiwi batswomen with 43 runs @ 138.70sr and any Satterthwaite form is low key great considering she has just one 50+ score in 110 games.
The second game saw a far better fielding performance, along with tighter bowling. Leigh Kasperek took 2w @ 5rpo, Sophie Devine took 2w @ 7rpo and Hannah Rowe took 2w @ 6rpo to restrict England to 127/7. Devine then led the Ferns chase with 50 runs @ 121.95sr to set up the win and this is where the path gets foggy; England were mediocre in the field and Tash Farrant bowled consecutive wides to hand Aotearoa the win.
England conceded 2 wides in the first game, then 19 wides in the second game.
The stars aligned for Aotearoa to toil their way to a much needed win. This was all about the vibe and grabbing a win. Aotearoa were sub-par in their fielding and bowling in the first game, then England caught that virus for the second game and now we've got to wait until Friday to see who emerges with more confidence.
All the attention zones in on Sophie Devine, Amy Satterthwaite and Suzie Bates. Bates is yet to fire, while the other two have registered a handy knock and Devine's knock was crucial in snapping the biggest form dip of her career. The best way to ease the pressure on Devine which has clearly taken a toll, along with Satterthwaite and Bates is to have others scoring runs. This lack of runs from the rest of the batting line up has been detrimental to the Ferns and continues to be the key thing to keep tabs on.
Maddy Green is the only player other than Satterthwaite and Devine with a 20+ score in these two games. Green is a White Ferns batting staple with 12.28avg/89.53sr in her 59 T20I games and a highest score of 29. Her knock of 21 @ 110.52sr in yesterday's win came in the #4 slot, behind the big-three and Green is the best equipped player to take much of the run-scoring burden away from the big-three.
Green is yet to really bask in the run-scoring glow though, presenting a good opportunity to build on this knock. The other player I'm most intrigued about with the bat is Brooke Halliday, who has 5 runs in her 2inns so far. Halliday settled into her ODI career nicely last summer but with 41 runs @ 8.19avg/75.92sr in her 7inns of T20I cricket, Halliday hasn't flexed in the shorter format.
In the Super Smash last summer, Halliday scored 175 runs @ 19.44avg/87.93sr. While she finished 13th in total runs, Halliday had the lowest average and strike-rate of the batswomen ahead of her. This is all in tune with Halliday's 14.50avg/83.84sr in 54 T20 games at the domestic level, which doesn't suggest automatic T20I selection.
Green has been in the White Ferns T20I team since 2012, without really kicking on to be a factor. Halliday has enjoyed free passage into the T20I 1st 11, without building a favourable T20 record in Aotearoa. How these two go about supporting their senior batswomen will not only be crucial to Ferns success but also intriguing in painting the picture of White Ferns talent identification and development.
Can the White Ferns bowl England out?
Aotearoa took 4w and 7w in the first two games. Last summer the kiwis took 3w, 4w and 9w against England in three T20I in Aotearoa. Including that three ODIs vs England in Aotearoa, the Ferns dismissed England in one of the six games and they served up a far better bowling effort in the win yesterday.
Leigh Kasperek is overlooked as one of the best spinners in the world, bowling alongside Amelia Kerr. Kasperek is the best kiwi bowler so far in this series, joining two England bowlers as the only players with 3 wickets. That makes Kasperek the key figure for Aotearoa's bowling mahi, while Jess Kerr is the bowler to watch out for as she has 1w @ 43avg/7.16rpo from the first two games.
This is on-trend for Kerr as she bowled 7ov @ 7.42rpo without a wicket in the three T20I games vs England earlier this year. Kerr has taken no wickets in nine of her 12 T20I games and hopefully we will see development in her T20I mahi.
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