2022 Women's World Cup: Australia Hijack Wellington's White Ferns Party
Hosting World Cups is all about buzz and riding the wave of momentum. We have all experienced this before in a cricket World Cup and before Ashleigh Gardner showcased exceptional slugging straight out of lock up, it felt like the Aotearoa White Ferns wave was brewing. Australia were 214/5 when Ellyse Perry was dismissed and a hearty Wellington crowd played their role, then Gardner exploded with 48* (266sr) to snatch the wave away from Aotearoa.
Aotearoa weren't at their best with the ball, but without Garnder's knock they could have kept Australia below 250 runs. Instead, Australia reached 269/8 and we can forget the 250-run mark when no team has won a game in this World Cup chasing down 200+ runs. 11 games and no team has chased down 200+ runs to win, so why win the toss and bowl against Australia?
The phase before, during and after Gardner's knock was immense because of its tangible and vibe importance. Gardner sucked all the fizz out of the Basin Reserve, flipping momentum in favour of Australia and Aussies love nothing more than a whiff of dominance. Nek minute, Aotearoa is all out for 128.
Amy Satterthwaite hit 44 runs (65sr) and Lea Tahuhu scored 23 runs (92sr) as the only kiwis to pass 20 runs. Tahuhu also snared 3w @ 5.88rpo with the ball as the only kiwi to take more than 1w and having previously pondered which bowler would be the commanding figure, Tahuhu's is doing just that. Tahuhu has 9w @ 4.86rpo and this is the most wickets of any bowler in the tournament, doubling down as one of the fastest and effective bowlers in the world.
Aotearoa is now 2-2 in the WC, ranked 4th. As of Monday morning four teams have two wins, while Australia is undefeated from their trio of games. Being torched by Australia impacts Aotearoa's net-run-rate as well given how tightly packed the second tier of teams is below Australia. England have lost their first two games and loom as a team to shake things up above them as well; England have a better NRR than Aotearoa right now.
Funky game between England and South Africa today. Australia face West Indies tomorrow. England play India on Wednesday. Aotearoa play South Africa on Thursday. This World Cup is super duper fun.
I'm more cautious about White Ferns fun. Their losses have come with icky vibes and while Aotearoa felt shook throughout the whole game against West Indies despite losing in the final over, the loss to Australia featured a more concentrated dose of shooken. Gardner did her mahi and flipped the contest around, to the point where Wellington's Sophie Devine and Amelia Kerr played weird shots to be dismissed on home turf. Both would have been eager to step up, lead Aotearoa and the Wellington crowd through the run-chase. Both were dismissed within a combined 9 deliveries faced.
Devine drove strongly through the off-side, then Perry went wide of the crease and Devine played around a straighter delivery. Kerr played a lovely leave to Darcy Brown's out-swing, then Kerr flashed at a similar delivery for the next ball and was caught at slip. At that point, the vibes were heavy.
I'm curious about how this plays out in must-win games. West Indies and Australia put Aotearoa under pressure in big games, Aotearoa didn't respond in their best competitive fashion. Aotearoa can beat up the weaker teams and when humming they were too slick for India. Aotearoa has not responded in their biggest games so far.
Satterthwaite, Devine, A-Kerr, Martin and Bates all have 100+ runs. No one has two 50+ scores, but they have all chimed in with notable knocks to lead the batting mahi. Devine, A-Kerr and Bates have strike-rates over 90 which is fabulous, allowing for Satterthwaite to anchor innings (72sr).
Maddy Green has 39 runs @ 13avg/68sr. That's a wee issue, then again it's in tune with her ODI career record of 20.48vg/69sr and her ODI record in Aotearoa where she averages 14.52 (61sr). Green has x-factor ability but hasn't really tapped into her potential under coach Bob Carter and this plays into the angle of taking early WF wickets, then the middle order crumbles.
Three bowlers are averaging under 30 in the tournament. Joining Tahuhu are Satterthwaite (3w @ 8.33avg) and Hayley Jensen (4w @ 25.75avg). Unfortunately, Satterthwaite only bowled in one game (5ov) and Jensen is the only other notable bowler who has bowled less than 20 overs (17.4ov). This is another pocket of intrigue...
Frances Mackay: 21ov, 2w @ 41.5avg/3.95rpo.
Amelia Kerr: 34ov, 5w @ 31.80avg/4.67rpo.
Jess Kerr: 30ov, 3w @ 47avg/4.7rpo.
Hannah Rowe: 24ov, 3w @ 43avg/5.37rpo.
Tahuhu wants all the smoke, take her out of the equation and the bowlers doing the most mahi are not quite as efficient as one would hope. Mackay is playing a role nicely with 3.95rpo being the most economical of all WF bowlers, so that's all good. A-Kerr is chipping in with wickets, although the trend of her being less effective in ODI cricket recently still apply; first three years averaging below 22 and 2022 is her fourth year averaging 29+.
A-Kerr has a heavy workload and I'm curious how her bowling pans out in the next few games. Not only is she batting #3, A-Kerr has bowled the most overs of all WF bowlers and is being deployed as a frontline weapon. What does that look like deep in a WC, against the best teams in the biggest games?
J-Kerr has 3w in four games and that's a dip that I'm also curious about. Not quite as intriguing as Hannah Rowe though as she appeared to make a leap forward on last year's tour of England and is now in a strange spot of generally being a non-factor while always being selected. Here's how Rowe has performed in England and Aotearoa...
In England: 57ov, 15w @ 16.8avg/4.42rpo.
In Aotearoa: 129.20v, 12w @ 52.33avg/4.85rpo.
How do the White Ferns wiggle through the tournament from here? There are many reasons to be hopeful and this window ahead of their next game might be nice to take stock of matters, settle down and find a groove. I'm most curious about whether the Ferns get better or fall off from this point as the best coaches and teams, stack up improvements throughout tournaments. What are the WF coaches doing to make the team better? How do the players respond to must-win games in front of hefty kiwi crowds?
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 with bonus content. Sign up here!
Peace and love.