White Ferns vs Pakistan T20I Series Preview
Aotearoa's White Ferns start their T20I series vs Pakistan today and will play three T20Is before sliding into ODI mode for their Women's Championship fixtures against Pakistan. White Ferns are 5-4 in T20Is this year and while this is better than their 2-4 record in ODIs, which has them sixth on the Women's Championship ladder (5-5), New Zealand enters this T20I series having lost two of their last three games.
The T20I squad features Eden Carson and Izzy Gaze. Carson is currently the best HBJ Shield (one-day) bowler and is ranked second for White Ferns T20I bowlers this year (9w @ 17avg/6.2rpo). Carson was overlooked for the ODI series and Gaze will be in the ODI squad, as well as being available for the first T20I with Amelia Kerr returning from her WBBL stint.
Amelia and Jess Kerr have been playing WBBL along with Suzie Bates and Sophie Devine. They join Lea Tahuhu (who has 14w @ 10avg/5.9rpo in T20Is this year) as key players for Aotearoa who should be good enough to win this series against Pakistan. who are 5-9 in T20Is this year.
Playing in Aotearoa also provides an opportunity for role-players to chime in. A lack of contributions and development from these players stops White Ferns from winning games against the better nations/overseas, which may also be evident if Pakistan are competitive. A lovely example of this is Georgia Plimmer who scored 147 in the HBJ Shield recently and while she has showcased her potential, this was Plimmers first 50+ score in domestic cricket and she has a T20I record of 15avg/75sr this year.
Another intriguing pocket is Fran Jonas who has taken 1w @ 143avg/7.5rpo in T20Is this year. This is a hefty diversion from Jonas' T20I career record of 22avg/5.1rpo and she is a far better T20I bowler than ODIs where she has a record of 46avg/4.6rpo. Molly Penfold shares a similar split between the formats as she has a T20I record of 32avg/8.3rpo which is better than her ODI mahi of 77avg/4.9rpo.
Penfold has taken all of her T20I wickets this year and she could play an enticing role alongside Tahuhu, bullying Pakistan's batters. This will be an important series for Penfold as she has a better match up than the White Ferns spinners, plus she has a hearty leader in Tahuhu to support her and for all the potential she displays; Penfold needs wickets.
Hannah Rowe takes wickets. Rowe has a T20I record of 23avg/7rpo and this is her best year of T20I bowling with 19avg/7rpo, which gives her the third best T20I bowling average of White Ferns this year. How White Ferns build their seam attack will be interesting as Tahuhu is a 1st 11 certainty, leaving Rowe and Penfold to compete with Jess Kerr (29avg/7.2rpo in T20Is this year). Skipper Devine has no wickets in 11 overs (7.6rpo) of T20I bowling this year and this is her first year of T20I bowling since debuting in 2006 with no wickets.
Here's how the core White Ferns batting unit stacks up in T20Is this year...
Suzie Bates: 338 runs @ 37avg/105sr
Amelia Kerr: 328 runs @ 41avg/118sr
Sophie Devine: 141 runs @ 20avg/127sr
Maddy Green: 121 runs @ 24avg/122sr
Bernadine Bezuidenhout: 118 runs @ 19avg/131sr
Kate Anderson: 55 runs @ 18avg/100sr
Georgia Plimmer: 31 runs @ 15avg/75sr
For all the weird vibes around coaching and selection, White Ferns are good enough to win this T20I series vs Pakistan. All three games will be in the deep south with the first two in Dunedin and the third in Queenstown, which should boost White Ferns seam bowling while also offering comfort to Suzie Bates who will celebrate her 300th game for Aotearoa. Bates is fresh off a WBBL campaign in which she scored 173 runs @ 14avg/93sr and like White Ferns form, none of that is likely to matter when Bates is batting in her corner of the world.
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