White Ferns vs Bangladesh Series Preview
Aotearoa's White Ferns face Bangladesh in three T20Is and three ODIs, starting with the first T20I game on Friday. This year got underway with the ODI World Cup and since then White Ferns mahi has been all about T20I matters as they grabbed a bronze medal at the Commonwealth Games, now building towards the T20 World Cup in South Africa early next year.
While White Ferns won't stack up international fixtures this summer there will be a funky Super Smash campaign to bridge the gap between this Bangladesh series and the T20WC. This frames the Super Smash as White Ferns will be eager to dominate and other jokers can push their selection case, but those in the squad to face Bangladesh will have the first crack at commanding further opportunities.
The group of wahine who played Women's Big Bash League recently are all selected. Here's how their WBBL08 campaigns finished...
Suzie Bates: 10th - 318 runs @ 6.5avg/104.6sr
Amelia Kerr: 295 runs @ 26.81avg/118.47sr | 7th- 59ov, 21w @ 19.42avg/6.91rpo
Maddy Green: 240 runs @ 24avg/105.26sr
Sophie Devine: 182 runs @ 16.54avg/97.32sr | 36.3ov, 8w @ 32.87avg/7.2rpo
Hayley Jensen: 37.5ov, 7w @ 39.57avg/7.32rpo
Jess Kerr: 30ov, 6w @ 30.83avg/6.16rpo
Lea Tahuhu: 22ov, 4w @ 38.5avg/7rpo
Devine endured a niggly WBBL08 and a bunch of fixtures against Bangladesh in Aotearoa should reset Devine's form. Jensen leads Aotearoa for T20I wickets this year and is fourth in ODIs, which wasn't on display in WBBL08. Given that Jensen has opened the batting for Aotearoa in the past, it's also worth highlighting that Jensen averaged 4.4 in WBBL08 and she is averaging below 10 with the bat in both formats this year.
The funkiest WBBL08 wrinkle is Green settling into a run-scoring groove. 2022 is Green's first year averaging 20+ in T20Is since her debut in 2012 and she went eight years without a T20I score over 30 before this year. Green's record of 23.14avg/108sr in T20Is this year is divinely aligned with her WBBL08 mahi and this development bolsters the WF batting core.
The batting core of Bates, Devine, A-Kerr and Green may be good enough to dominate Bangladesh. Devine and A-Kerr are second and third for Aotearoa T20I wickets this year, meaing that two of Aotearoa's best T20I bowlers this year also bat in the top-four. A basic element of WF cricket is that this core can dominate weaker opponents and against stronger teams, the pressure can pile up on these leading figures.
Lauren Down, Brooke Halliday and Georgia Plimmer are role-playing batters who are competing for a couple spots in the batting line up. Down is the only one with a T20I or T20 batting average over 15 and in the tour of West Indies, Plimmer played five games while Down grabbed four games and Halliday played once. Here are their T20I | T20 batting stats...
Lauren Down: 14.5avg/92.55sr | 19.93avg/93.3sr
Brooke Halliday: 12.55avg/92.62sr | 14.32avg/87.4sr
Georgia Plimmer: 9.2avg/88.46sr | 10.16avg/100sr
There is a high chance that these ladies do very little in the T20Is vs Bangladesh, unless coach Ben Sawyer promotes them up the order. While the best players may jack up big scores that catch headlines, WF batting intrigue revolves around this group of role-playing batters. Who can hit 20 runs off 10-15 deliveries? Who has the mana to bat through adversity and salvage an innings?
This is amplified by the selection of wicket-keeper Jess McFadyen who has a T20 batting record of 10avg/74.68sr. McFadyen has been one of the best HBJ Shield batters (36.42avg) over the past five years and this is the foundation of her selection. With world-class bowlers in the top-four and low key sluggers such as Lea Tahuhu and Jess Kerr, McFadyen may slide further down the T20I batting order.
Isabelle Gaze has been the wicket-keeper this year after Katey Martin's retirement. Gaze averages 6.8 in List-A cricket and 11.6 in T20 batting, neither of which suggests that she is a certain selection ahead of other keepers. There is a group hearty domestic wicket-keepers who will be hungry for opportunities as well, most notably Central's Natalie Dodd and Northern's Bernadine Bezuidenhout.
Gaze clearly has potential, although it's not realistic to portray her as the best wicket-keeper/batter who is a mandatory selection. There is depth in this position and McFadyen's claim to the 1st 11 gig is just as good as Gaze's, let alone anyone else.
Molly Penfold and Hannah Rowe are selected for the ODI phase, with Plimmer and Tahuhu only playing the T20Is. Jensen, J-Kerr and Devine are the leading seamers who will play both formats and a balance of skills allows Aotearoa to deploy their trio of spinners. A-Kerr, Fran Jonas and Eden Carson provide a funky angle to WF bowling as they are among Aotearoa's best T20I bowlers right now.
Conditions may dictate the balance of seam vs spin. Coach Sawyer may opt to build his favoured combination throughout this T20I series vs Bangladesh. This could mean all three spinners play, or A-Kerr is joined by either Jonas or Carson with the seamers filling the bowling stocks.
Join the Niche Cache Patreon whanau to support our kiwi sports content straight up, get a karma boost and find extra podcasts.
Every Monday and Friday we fire off an email newsletter with bonus content. Sign up here!
Peace and love.