White Ferns vs England: Mid-Series T20 Notebook
Thankfully the White Ferns vs England T20 series is a five-gamer and New Zealand still has a chance at building on their 1-2 start, otherwise the last three games would fall into the status-quo of White Ferns melancholy. Aotearoa lost the first two games and scored less than 135 runs twice in pursuit of decent but reachable targets before Suzie Bates came out of nowhere to the bowl the final over and win the third game on Sunday.
White Ferns have a habit of losing the first two games of a three game series, then bouncing back in the last game for a meaningless win. This happened in December when the kiwis were beaten twice by Pakistan in local conditions, thus losing the T20 series, before winning the third game. As usual, White Ferns were in strong positions in both losses against England. Whether it was barely having a whack to chase runs in the first game or collapsing from 100/4 in the 14th over to 134/8 in 20 overs while chasing 150; White Ferns regularly find ways to lose.
This all changed in the third game? Kinda.
White Ferns relied on the top-five to score 155/3. That's a winning recipe and issues arise when the best players don't score runs because no one else will step up.
England went from 127/3 in the 15th over to 152/8 at the end. England lost a wicket in the first 10 overs and then lost 7w in the second half. Relying on England to collapse is admirable, but not a winning recipe.
One other thing sums up the White Ferns right now. Eden Carson was specifically selected for the first three games and the announcement stated that Carson would be replaced by Leigh Kasperek for the last two games. Carson hasn't played yet and seems to have been selected to run drinks.
The first game was in Dunedin and that's Carson's home deck for Otago Sparks. Only three White Ferns took 6+ wickets last year in T20Is and these three all took 10+ wickets while averaging less than 20. Lea Tahuhu and Amelia Kerr are in this trio, along with Carson. After 19 innings of T20I cricket, Carson has 23w @ 15.3avg/5.8rpo. Carson has 1st 11 talent as she is also one of the best fielders in Aotearoa and her non-selection fits snug alongside a group of seamers who aren't making a dent with wickets.
White Ferns Bowlers This Summer
Sophie Devine: 7w @ 12avg/8.4rpo
Amelia Kerr: 5w @ 17avg/5.6rpo
Fran Jonas: 4w @ 34avg/5.7rpo
Eden Carson: 3w @ 23avg/6.2rpo
Rosemary Mair: 2w @ 47avg/7.8rpo
Suzie Bates: 2w @ 6avg/6rpo
Molly Penfold: 2w @ 17avg/7rpo
Hannah Rowe: 2w @ 57avg/9.5rpo
Lea Tahuhu: 2w @ 57avg/9.5rpo
Jess Kerr: 1w @ 106avg/6.9rpo
Regardless of how you feel about Carson as a 1st 11 player, the idea of selecting a player for three of the five games and then not giving them a crack to play is goofy. Hoo-rah Kasperek finally gets an opportunity? Well, she is selected for two games might not play.
Mair, Rowe, Tahuhu and J-Kerr are playing against England. All four have 2w or less while averaging 35+. Devine is suddenly the most important bowler and credit where it's due, the Devine/A-Kerr/Bates holy trinity is leading White Ferns mahi with bat and ball.
White Ferns Batters This Summer
Suzie Bates: 195 runs @ 39avg/112sr
Amelia Kerr: 125 runs @ 41avg/113sr
Sophie Devine: 93 runs @ 23avg/127sr
Maddy Green: 89 runs @ 29avg/91sr
Bernadine Bezuidenhout: 54 runs @ 10avg/91sr
Georgia Plimmer: 53 runs @ 17avg/91sr
Hannah Rowe: 47 runs @ 23avgg/117sr
Brooke Halliday: 28 runs @ 28ag/103sr
Lea Tahuhu: 28 runs @ 155sr
Jess Kerr: 10 runs @ 10avg/111sr
Rosemary Mair: 9 runs @ 100sr
Kate Anderson: 7 runs @ 7avg/77sr
Izzy Gazy: 2 runs @ 1avg/28sr
There has been a major dip in Green's form as she has 25 runs @ 12avg/64sr in three innings vs England. The big three are the only players with 50+ runs and averages over 20 after three games. The niggliest White Ferns thing right now is mayhem at the wicket-keeping position as Izzy Gaze still doesn't appear to be an international calibre keeper.
The best observation about Gaze's wicket-keeping is that the ball finds a way out of her gloves. Some keepers make it look easy (Amy Jones is elite) and everything about their mechanics (moving feet, staying low etc) means the ball goes straight into their gloves. Gaze can make hard mahi look easy, meanwhile lots of basic deliveries hit her gloves and bounce away, let alone stuff sliding down the leg-side and stopping wayward byes.
Gaze is not the best wicket-keeper in New Zealand. Aotearoa has plenty of depth considering the best wicket-keeper is Jess McFadyen and she does not get selected. Not only is Gaze a weakness at this level with the gloves, she is being put in tricky batting roles; Gaze opened the batting in game one with a T20 record of 8.5avg/77sr and a T20I record of 7.5avg/78sr.
Bernadine Bezuidenhout's a good wicket-keeper? She was the wicket-keeper in all three games vs Pakistan, playing alongside Gaze in the third game (Gaze earned batter-only selection). This opens up a different can of worms though as Gaze was the wicket-keeper for a washed out game in South Africa and with Bezuidenhout injured, Green took the keeping gloves when Gaze was dropped after one game. As the best wicket-keeper in Aotearoa doesn’t get selected, White Ferns have used three different wicket-keepers in their last three T20 series.
Wash out vs South Africa: Gaze wk
Win vs South Africa: Green wk
Loss vs South Africa: Green wk
Loss vs Pakistan: Bezuidenhout wk
Loss vs Pakistan: Bezuidenhout wk
Win vs Pakistan: Gaze wk
Loss vs England: Gaze wk
Loss vs England: Gaze wk
Win vs England: Gaze wk
Like the wonky Carson selection stuff, this is shambolic. But White Ferns still have a chance in this series vs England and if the best players dominate, it's possible to win two games in a row.
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