2023 T20 World Cup White Ferns Debrief
Despite new coach Ben Sawyer ushering in fresh vibes for the White Ferns, they missed out on the T20 World Cup semi-finals for the third tournament in a row. Add two ODI World Cups in which White Ferns missed the semi-finals for five consecutive World Cups finishing outside the top-four teams, although that sneaky Commonwealth Games bronze medal lingers as a point of intrigue.
Aotearoa lost to Australia and South Africa in their first two games before grabbing wins over Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. White Ferns still had a chance of sliding into the semi-finals after their win over Sri Lanka, but South Africa handled their mahi and have now steamed into the final against Australia.
Being rolled for 76 by the Aussies and 67 by South Africa stunk. White Ferns had done fairly well in bowling first to restrict Australia to 173/9 and keeping South Africa to 132/6, but the theme for White Ferns across multiple coaching regimes has been their passive/timid/scared response to game-winning moments. The players don't elevate in these moments. It is important to note that all staff members look as if they have witnessed a comet of doom approaching this planet when on camera and that was what made the World Cup in Aotearoa last year so strange. If all staff members on the sideline look scared, no wonder the players can't step up.
This brings us to the biggest White Ferns issue. Everything changed after the downbuzz home World Cup and yet everything feels similar from the ODI WC to this T20 WC. For all the cool things coach Sawyer has apparently done over the past year in this role, the theme of a bloke making strange decisions in charge of the White Ferns has carried over from ol' mate Bob.
As noted in this T20 WC Squad Breakdown, coach Sawyer went public with his desire to see White Ferns dominating Super Smash via game-winning performances. Considering that White Ferns have consistently selected squads based on potential instead of performance, this was a fabulous nugget from the new regime. Until coach Sawyer ignored his own advice and selected players on potential instead of performance for this T20 WC.
If you're reading this, you have probably seen headlines around Aotearoa about domestic cricket hindering White Ferns progress. That's a dramatic response and overlooks the fact that the best domestic players are not selected for White Ferns, thus White Ferns cricket does not serve as a fair reflection of women's domestic cricket.
Coach Sawyer ignored Super Smash players who offer maturity, comfort in themselves and their skills along with a winning edge. Wahine cricket fans know the names. Considering that this idea has been a flaw of all White Ferns cricket since 2018 and a feature of Niche Cache yarns deep in the mangroves, let's keep this simple: White Ferns don't represent the best female cricketers in Aotearoa.
One can only expect, let alone hope for so much when the national team doesn't have their best players. White Ferns were always going to struggle against Australia as they are leaders in women's cricket and a dominant force. Maybe coach Sawyer (who is an Aussie) thought his team could upset Australia, so he rolled out a team that I consider to be the strongest 1st 11 possible from the squad selected.
Then coach Sawyer got busy tinkering, as if being smoked by Australia had shifted the whole paradigm of White Ferns T20I cricket. Hannah Rowe was dropped for Georgia Plimmer and suddenly the best opening pair Aotearoa's ever seen was broken, with Sophie Devine sliding down to the middle order and Bernadine Bezuidenhout opening. Drastic changes from a game that the kiwis were highly likely to lose.
Coach Sawyer kept on tinkering though. Hayley Jensen and Fran Jonas were dropped after the loss to South Africa, replaced by Rowe and Molly Penfold for the win over Bangladesh. A winning team was then changed again with Jonas returning to the team in place of Penfold.
After outlining a desire to see White Ferns winning Super Smash games and then ignoring that yarn, coach Sawyer made changes for each game at this T20 WC. Did the coach have a plan? Whatever the plan was, like selecting potential over performance, the plan was not conducive with winning games.
Part of this seems to revolve around an injured Devine. The skipper scored 19 runs @ 6.33avg/61sr and considering that Devine was below her best in WBBL, then scored 10 runs @ 67sr in two Super Smash games, this isn't a fresh wrinkle. None of this resembles Devine's status as an elite T20 batter and thankfully, White Ferns can still win games against weaker nations via quality batting from Suzie Bates, Amelia Kerr and Maddy Green.
Devine is also one of, if not the best White Ferns T20I bowler and she didn't bowl at this tournament. That's a clear sign of injury. Devine scored 177 runs @ 44.25avg/116sr and took 6w @ 14.8avg/6.6rpo at the Commonwealth Games, now she's barely hitting boundaries and not bowling.
Again, that has nothing to do with domestic cricket. This is either an unfortunate case of the best player grinding to stay on the field or throwing the best player out on the field when she may not be able to perform at the required level. Based on what we know about Devine's mana, the former feels more like a more suitable explanation.
Another aspect of weird White Ferns stuff is how Hayley Jensen and Fran Jonas fell off a cricketing perch from their T20I mahi last year. This is most evident in Jensen and Jonas being the most economical kiwi bowlers in the Com Games, now they are the most expensive bowlers at the T20 WC.
Jonas was in the Under 19 T20 World Cup squad but pulled out due to injury a few weeks prior to the big donnie T20 WC. Given her performances for White Ferns, it seems like Jonas may have also been hindered by injury niggles and if that's the case, why were injured players being yanked in and out of the line up during a World Cup?
Regardless, two of Aotearoa's best T20I bowlers from last year weren't factors at this tournament. There were some positive performances with the ball...
Lea Tahuhu: 14.75avg/6rpo (2022) | 11.87avg/6.33rpo (T20 WC)
Amelia Kerr: 19.57avg/5.56rpo | 12.5avg/5rpo
Eden Carson: 11.64avg/5.5rpo | 11.33avg/6.18rpo
Hannah Rowe: 17.66avg/6.62rpo | 9avg/4.5rpo
Even the positive stuff is a bit weird with Rowe, who did dominate Super Smash despite her Central team struggling for wins. Rowe scored 123 runs @ 30.75avg/118sr with 8w @ 16.37avg/5.95rpo in Super Smash and then she finished as Aotearoa's most economical bowler at the T20 WC, as well as being one of five (not enough) batters with a strike-rate of 100 or better.
Rowe was viewed as good enough to start against Australia, but not good enough to bowl in that game. Then she was dropped from the 1st 11 and brought back for the last two games. In this squad, Rowe has 1st 11 talent and yet she didn't seem to have a clearly defined role, nor did these selections fill her with confidence.
The wicket-keeping situation was already weird prior to the tournament. Izzy Gaze was selected for her potential and even when White Ferns enjoy success, they have to shake it up. Gaze was in the Com Games team and played in all five games to win a bronze medal, then she was one of three batters to score over 100sr (Green and Rowe as well) in a T20I series against West Indies.
Gaze was then dropped for Jess McFadyen with Green shining as a wicket-keeper in the series vs Bangladesh earlier in the summer. None of that mattered though as Bernadine Bezuidenhout was selected for the T20 WC and while she performed well in her role with the highest batting strike-rate of all kiwi batters (90 runs @ 22.5avg/155sr), none of this felt planned nor was it adequate preparation for a major tournament.
Bezuidenhout was the player to facilitate Devine's move down the order after batting third against Australia. Again, there is no clear plan in place here. Why not start the tournament with Bezuidenthout opening against Australia? Well, she did open in the warm up game against West Indies but batted third in the warm up game against England.
Getting deep into the mangroves helps one understand what is really hindering White Ferns cricket. While the domestic cricket narrative offers an easy headline and fits into wider themes around women's sport, White Ferns don't select the best players in Aotearoa. Players who do earn selection lack confidence because they haven't played much domestic cricket and across two different regimes, we have numerous examples of players not enjoying consistency of selection or roles.
The issue isn't domestic cricket, it's the White Ferns. Until White Ferns prioritize winning, they probably won't win as many games as folks hope they can.
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Peace and love.