Exploring The Frances Mackay World Cup Resurgence
At the start of the Women's World Cup in Aotearoa, Frances Mackay was running drinks. A few weeks later and Mackay finished as Aotearoa's best bowler, while also impacting games with her fielding and elevating White Ferns competitive mana. This marked the peak of Mackay's ODI career after opening the batting in her 2011 debut and highlights how White Ferns decision makers failed to prepare Aotearoa's best wahine cricketers for an epic home World Cup.
Having missed the first game of the World Cup against West Indies, Mackay went on to snare 10w @ 19.50avg/4.02rpo. Fellow Cantabrian Lea Tahuhu also bagged 10w at a slightly higher average of 20.80 which is a teeny-weeny margin in favour of Mackay, yet Mackay's mahi was more efficient than Amelia Kerr's 9w @ 31.77avg/4.46rpo. The only other White Ferns bowler to take 9+ wickets was Hannah Rowe and she snared 9w @ 29.88avg/4.98rpo.
The context around Mackay's campaign is important here as she wasn't suppose to be Aotearoa's best bowler. Take game tahi against Windies as the first example with 18-year-old Fran Jonas selected for her fifth ODI game ahead of Mackay. Big ups Jonas as she will be a White Ferns factor in the years to come, yet the hype around Jonas has seen her take 2w @ 104.5avg/5.97rpo. Dive deeper into the wahine cricket mangroves and folks may find that Jonas isn't the best young spinner in domestic cricket.
Jonas was selected ahead of Mackay for the opening extravaganza and Windies won. What happened next was a hefty indicator of no clear plans in operation as Jonas was kicked out and Mackay injected into the playing 11. Jonas has played 24 LA games and White Ferns decision makers are complicit in building too much hype, then throwing Jonas to the wolves in a World Cup ... then swiftly ushering Jonas out of the 1st 11.
Mackay snapped up her opportunity though and was consistently impacting games. The lack of planning may have worked in Mackay's favour as opposition teams had no idea about Mackay's fielding off her own bowling. Mackay quickly settled in as a crucial fielder either at slip or nearby in the circle. Mackay isn't Glenn Phillips whipping around the outfield, so her ability to impact games in this role makes it all a bit more impressive.
It never felt like Mackay was meant to be there though. That's evident in how fielding plans and positions were flipped with the inclusion of Mackay, also evident in Mackay playing little international cricket ahead of the World Cup. Despite blatantly being among Aotearoa's best wahine cricketers, Mackay didn't play international cricket between 2014-2019. Mackay may have opted to drop out of the quasi-professional set up, so fair play.
Mackay then played a T20I in 2019, followed by two T20Is and two ODIs in 2021. T20I cricket provided the funkiest moment here as Mackay delivered a 'Player Of The Match' performance against Australia in March last year. Mackay took 2w @ 5rpo while four other White Ferns bowlers went without wickets, before smacking 46 runs @ 117.94 as an opener with a bung calf muscle to set up an epic win for Aotearoa.
Something tricky went down before that though. A month prior in the ODI series against England, Mackay played her first ODI games since 2014. Mackay struggled in the two games she played and that's not surprising considering how fringe White Ferns have been deployed.
Despite not playing ODI cricket since 2014, Mackay averaged 40+ for seven consecutive seasons of LA cricket in Aotearoa. This included 70.20avg in 2016/17 and back to back seasons of 90+ batting averages in 2018/19 and 2019/20. Mackay has a career LA batting average of 42.47 and such batting dominance in Aotearoa is rewarded with lower order White Ferns gigs. That ODI series against England saw Otago all-rounder Hayley Jensen fill the opening batting spot left vacant by Suzie Bates; Jensen averages 18.57 in LA cricket.
Alongside Jensen at the top of the order in the two games Mackay played vs England was Natalie Dodd. Dodd is similar to Mackay in that she is among Aotearoa's best domestic batters and that series was the last taste of ODI cricket for Dodd. A year prior to a home World Cup and White Ferns decision makers opted to prepare for the World Cup with two opening batters who wouldn't play those roles at the World Cup.
Mackay played a leading hand in a T20I win over Australia, while shuffled into weird roles for her ODI opportunities against England. Mackay did end up playing three games against India in the weeks prior to the World Cup, although that series was a glorified warm up. There were ample signs that Mackay should 1st 11 White Fern and having tracked White Ferns selections closely in recent years, Mackay's lack of steady performances isn't surprising given sporadic selections in foreign roles.
Along with averaging 40+ for seven straight summers and 50+ in three seasons prior to the World Cup, Mackay has been equally dominant with her offies. Mackay has 10+ wickets with averages below 26 in eight of her last nine seasons. Such performances and consistency instantly puts Mackay among the best wahine cricketers in Aotearoa, yet the theme of White Ferns woes has been the non-selection of best players.
Check out how Mackay's LA batting and bowling stats compare to younger White Ferns hunting World Cup selection...
Frances Mackay: 42.47avg (batting) | 22.06avg (bowling).
Brooke Halliday: 22.76avg | 29.92avg.
Hayley Jensen: 18.57avg | 28.70avg.
Hannah Rowe: 18.97avg | 26.45avg.
Molly Penfold: 36.92avg (bowling).
Fran Jonas: 27.35avg (bowling).
Georgia Plimmer: 15.46avg (batting).
Comparing the experience of Mackay to these players is rough but that's where White Ferns decision makers put Mackay. Some of the players above were selected ahead of Mackay in squads and teams, while the deployment of Mackay as a fringe player is the same treatment these players receive. Mackay's LA stuff is even better than Amy Satterthwaite's 40.65avg batting and 25.95avg bowling.
Is Mackay better than Sattertwhaite? Maybe not. This shows what level Mackay operates at though and when such players are overlooked for players with potential, winning vibes vanish. No one should then be shocked when Mackay performs at this level for a World Cup and while Mackay didn't dominate her previous opportunities, White Ferns selections didn't put players in positions to succeed.
Under pressure in a massive World Cup event, Mackay settled in as one of the White Ferns best players. Mackay didn't step up to do so, she just churned out the same high level mahi that has made her a dominant force in domestic cricket. That's what happens when the best domestic players are treated as such and Mackay's mana is evident in how she performed when it mattered most.
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