2023 Women's T20 World Cup: White Ferns Squad Breakdown
Since the 2016 T20 World Cup, White Ferns have not made the semi-finals of the next four World Cups. That's two ODI World Cups and two T20WC in which Aotearoa has dipped out of the upper echelon of women's cricket, now they are preparing for a T20WC in South Africa. Adding some intrigue to this T20WC is a bronze medal at the Commonwealth Games and the joys of colonization ensure that a solid Com Games performance, could flow into a T20WC as most of the best nations played in Birmingham last year.
The White Ferns squad features the same core group of players. Any team with Sophie Devine, Suzie Bates, Maddy Green, Amelia Kerr, Jess Kerr and Lea Tahuhu is going to be competitive at a major T20 tournament. This can be narrowed down to the Devine, Bates and A-Kerr trio who could drag White Ferns through to T20WC semi-finals without much support.
That was the Com Games recipe. Devine (177 runs) and Bates (151) were the only kiwis to score 100+ runs. A-Kerr (90) joined them as the only WF to score 40+ runs in this tournament and this is thanks to these ladies batting in every game. WF won a Com Games bronze medal with three batters scoring most of the runs, while every other WF batter averaged 15 or below.
Devine, A-Kerr and Hayley Jensen were the only kiwis to take 4+ wickets in the Com Games. Hold the Jensen thought for some yarn below. Devine and A-Kerr were in Aotearoa's top-three for runs and wickets which highlights their value, which could be boosted now that Bates is back bowling. Aotearoa's three best batters may be the best bowlers and that might be good enough for the best WF World Cup finish since the 2016 T20WC.
Green has now stacked a decent Super Smash (30.25avg/108sr) on top of her best WBBL campaign. Green has a T20I average of 15.43 which improved to 30.75avg last year and will soon jump up around 20avg. Green's T20I career strike-rate of 97.5 has she now has three consecutive years operating over 100sr.
As of Saturday morning (21st Jan) J-Kerr leads all SS bowlers for wickets (11w @ 15avg/5.53rpo) and she was also impressive in WBBL alongside A-Kerr with Brisbane. Tahuhu rolled out a solid WBBL campaign for Sydney Thunder and returned to Aotearoa with wickets against Bangladesh, wickets in HBJ Shield and SS mahi of 6w @ 19.33avg/4.83rpo. J-Kerr averages 24.16 in T20Is and Tahuhu averages 20.26, both also have batting strike-rates over 100.
WF funk comes in the form of spin, with Fran Jonas and Eden Carson emerging as influential WF bowlers alongside A-Kerr. Jonas has a T20I record of 13.46avg/4rpo and Carson's started her T20I career with 11.81avg/5.2rpo. Jonas has been away with the U19 wahine at their T20WC but an injury halted that campaign and she will now prepare for the big mana wahine T20WC.
Jonas took 5w @ 15avg/6.25rpo for Auckland in SS. Prior to Otago's game on Saturday, Carson has 5w @ 21avg/5.47rpo. With A-Kerr taking 9w @ 19.11avg/5.54rpo, these three spinners will be crucial to WF success at the T20WC. The best WF team features all three spinners as they offer different styles of spin, which along with J-Kerr and Tahuhu, plus the bowling options of Devine and Bates, gives WF a funky group of bowlers.
That's the blueprint for WF success and the performances in this core group will dictate how many games WF win. Com Games success featured Izzy Gaze playing all five games and her WF selection also came with plenty of yarn about Gaze as a young wicket-keeping phenom. Gaze was then selected for the West Indies tour where she only batted once (15 runs @ 107.14sr), before being dropped in favour of Jess McFadyen for the Bangladesh series late last year.
McFadyen didn't bat in the ODIs vs Bangladesh and barely featured in the T20I series. McFadyen has 20 runs @ 133.33sr in SS where she bats down the order in a destructive Wellington team. Gaze and McFadyen have now been ousted by Northern's Bernadine Bezuidenhout as the wicket-keeper for the T20WC. This is where we bump into the murky estuary of WF selection planning once again.
Gaze probably shouldn't have been in any WF squads until playing a few seasons of domestic cricket, let alone scoring some runs (11.15avg/90sr). There are better wicket-keepers like McFadyen in domestic cricket who can play their role in a WF team and selecting Gaze did not come close to representing the best wahine cricketers in Aotearoa. WF did win a Com Games medal with Gaze as their main wicket-keeper though and given the lack of WF success over the past five years, that's a hearty nod of reinforcement for Gaze.
Three different wicket-keepers were used last year which includes Green playing that role. Now Bezuidenhout is in the T20WC squad and this fits snug into WF storylines. Bezuidenhout also enjoyed yanky-janky WF selection prior to her break from cricket and she has a T20I record of 10.3avg/84sr in 13 innings.
Bezuidenhout has showcased her talents in SS and HBJ Shield this season. In SS she has 133 runs @ 22.16avg/112sr and she whacked 101 runs @ 106.31sr in a rained off HBJ Shield game. While Bezuidenhout has been a leading figure for Northern this summer, she hasn't dominated SS to the extent of the WF mentioned in the upper echelon.
Bezuidenhout's game time could come at the top of the order if any changes are made to the Bates, Devine, A-Kerr, Green group. She could also add hitting down the order and WF would then have a powerful slugging unit in Tahuhu, J-Kerr, Bezuidenhout and Hannah Rowe.
New coach Ben Sawyer laid out his desire to see WF dominate SS. Now he has selected a bunch of players who did not dominate SS and the weird WF yarn gets a quirkier. Rowe is the only player outside the upper echelon who has dominated SS and her combination of quick runs/lovely out-swing is a considerable improvement on her previous SS mahi.
Despite Central struggling with an 0-6 record in SS prior to their game vs Otago, Rowe churned out emphatic mahi. Rowe has scored 111 runs @ 37avg/126sr and is leading Central's bowlers with 8w @ 14avg/5.89rpo. This is the marker for WF dominating SS and commanding selection as a 1st 11 player for Aotearoa.
Then we have those who should dominate, but don't (SS | T20 career)
Lauren Down: 119 runs @ 19.83avg/90.15sr | 19.9avg/92.96sr
Molly Penfold: 3w @ 51.66avg/6.73rpo | 39.4avg/6.91rpo
Brooke Halliday: 1 game | 14.12avg/87.12sr
Hayley Jensen: 3w @ 41.33avg/6.35rpo | 22.59avg/6.36rpo
Georgia Plimmer: 49 runs @ 16.33avg/113.95sr | 10.30avg/101.28sr
These players aren't among their team's best performers in SS, let alone dominating and winning games as coach Sawyer wanted. Down, Penfold, Halliday and Plimmer have never actually dominated SS in the first place.
Jensen was Aotearoa's leading wicket-taker in T20Is last year. Before taking 3w in 19.3ov for Otago in SS, Jensen took 7w @ 39.57avg/7.32rpo for Hobart in WBBL. Jensen is worthy of White Ferns squad selection for both formats, although this is a clear example of coach Sawyer's mixed messages. If coach Sawyer has players he likes and wants to build with, just say that. Publicly stating that he wants WF players to dominate SS and the rocking with those who are below-par in SS ... is weird.
There are fringe-WF dominating SS which amplifies how weird this is. Rebecca Burns was called up for the Bangladesh series and she's got 257 runs @ 36.71avg/123.55sr, with five consecutive scores of 20+ all of which feature strike-rates over 100. Burns is second for Wellington runs and she has a better strike-rate than A-Kerr, plus she has hit the most sixes for Wellington.
That is Super Smash domination.
Burns is joined by Natalie Dodd, Kate Anderson and Kate Ebrahim in averaging 35+ with strike-rates over 100 in SS. WF earn selection averaging less than 25 with one-day strike-rates. One of the most dominant WF of the past 10 years is also dominating SS. Leigh Kasperek has 10w @ 12.7avg/5.77rpo with 65 runs @ 32.5avg/116sr. Of the 10 bowlers with 9+ wickets in SS, seven of them don't play for WF.
None of this may matter as WF wiggle through the T20WC with the best players winning games for Aotearoa. This positive tinge is boosted by Com Games success and thus, fresh vibes permeating from WF. Lacklustre performances in the last four World Cups were rooted in weird selection decisions and the general premise of not selecting the best wahine cricketers in Aotearoa. WF head into the T20WC with both ideas working alongside each other, making this a fascinating juncture for White Ferns cricket.
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