White Ferns Tour Of England Preview
The White Ferns PR machine has once again whipped up a positive tinge to their latest squad announcement ahead of their travels to England, despite White Ferns struggling to make any progress under coach Ben Sawyer. Another squad named means more weird selection antics which are amplified when trying to piece together the pieces offered to us by White Ferns selectors and coaches.
Lauren Down is back in the ODI squad, while Leigh Kasperek and Lea Tahuhu will only play the T20Is over in England. Tahuhu is only available for the T20Is and with Rosemary Mair out injured, the White Ferns seam department will be under pressure in England. Seam bowling should be a strength for White Ferns but they struggled last summer in kiwi conditions, where they lost three out of four series.
Tahuhu is averaging 30+ in ODIs and T20Is this year which is her first year doing that double. Mair wasn't given a crack in ODIs last summer despite being the liveliest seamer not named Tahuhu and along with Hannah Rowe and Jess Kerr these seamers all averaged 30+ in T20Is last summer.
White Ferns have been chatting up their T20 focus ahead of the T20 World Cup last year so most notably, Rowe averaged 68 and J-Kerr averaged 162 in kiwi conditions last summer. Sophie Devine and Molly Penfold were the only seamers who averaged below 30 during this period, with Penfold holding on to her spot to tour England.
Hayley Jensen was the best bowler across for NZ-A in their one-dayers and T20s against England last summer but she is out injured again. Bit niggly that Jensen didn't play for Aotearoa last summer when the White Ferns were losing and she responded with strong mahi for NZ-A.
Penfold averaged 37 in the NZ-A one-dayers and 17 in the T20s, now she gets her opportunity to command a consistent role in the seam attack. Averaging 51 in ODIs and 26 in T20s, Penfold is yet to genuinely dominate domestic cricket where she averages over 31 in both formats. Most of that can be washed away with impressive performances in England.
Fran Jonas also struggled in Aotearoa last summer and unless there are super favourable conditions, Jonas is more of a lefty-swing bowler than spinner. Opponents have seen plenty of Jonas by now and in home conditions last season, Jonas averaged 35 in the ODIs and 40 in the T20Is. This is also evident in Jonas (who is graced with consistent selection) averaging 42 in ODIs and 27 in T20Is for her career, getting more expensive now with 4.5rpo in ODIs and 5.5rpo in T20Is.
Eden Carson is selected for both formats which is a positive, but there is little to suggest that she will shine in this current White Ferns environment. Carson played one ODI last summer and conceded 7rpo, while rolling out 23avg/6.2rpo in three T20Is. Like Jonas, Carson averaged 40+ in ODIs but she is maintaining her nice T20I mahi of 15avg/5.8rpo; Carson concedes over 5rpo in both formats.
Kasperek continues to be confined to T20 cricket, even through widespread White Ferns struggles. Kasperek is one of the few kiwi bowlers with lovely bowling stats across both international formats (below 20avg in both) and in another universe she would be a valued 1st 11 trooper capable of playing any role. Not only does Kasperek have a good ODI record, she also averages 19 in List-A along with her 15avg in T20s.
Kasperek averages below 20 across all four formats but she is only selected in the the T20 squad. Even if things flow in her favour, White Ferns love to give players awkward roles or minimal mahi before flicking them aside and Kate Anderson is the latest White Fern to be graced with such selection wizardry.
Around this time last year, Anderson and Bernadine Bezuidenhout were celebrated as the latest White Ferns contract winners. A year later and Bezuidenhout has retired. White Ferns have gone from selecting three different specialist wicket-keepers (Bezuidenhout, Jess McFadyen, Izzy Gaze) in less than a year to relying on Gaze as the sole wicket-keeper for this tour.
Anderson has been shunned after four T20I appearances in her weaker format. Anderson played three T20Is in South Africa and then one in the series loss to Pakistan last summer, before being brushed aside from a team that kept losing. Anderson played in the NZ-A series vs England A and her 17avg/98sr in the one-dayers improved to 32avg/100sr in the T20s where Anderson was the best NZ-A batter.
White Ferns told us as fans that Anderson was an important player by giving her a contract and then a brief flurry of consistent selections. A few months later and White Ferns are telling us that Anderson is no longer important, which is the latest example of how White Ferns contracts/selections are in tune with the team's cricketing performances; rather stinky, kinda goofy.
Things get even more strange though. Anderson was shunned while Mikaela Greig and Lauren Down have been selected to tour England. Greig deserves her selection, just like Anderson deserved her contract/selections last year, but there isn't much of a difference in their mahi for NZ-A last summer aside from Anderson playing better in the T20s which is apparently a focus for White Ferns.
NZ-A T20s
Kate Anderson: 65 runs @ 32avg/100sr
Mikaela Greig: 13avg/81sr
NZ-A One-dayers
Kate Anderson: 51 runs @ 17avg/98sr
Mikaela Greig: 144 runs @ 48avg/81sr
Whether it's selection stuff like Bezuidenhout's brief stint of consistent selection and rolling with Gaze, or all the yarns coming from coach Sawyer/White Ferns; they want batters who offer power and oomph. The NZ-A stats suggest that Anderson ticks that box but she joins a long list of wahine cricketers who have fell out of favour. Ideally, Anderson and Greig are in the team together because their performances in domestic cricket warrant White Ferns opportunities and they are mature players who are best suited to playing roles alongside the best White Ferns.
Down is a solid White Ferns batter and before going any further, it's important to note that her best year of White Ferns batting was her most recent in 2022; her first year averaging over 23 and scoring more than one 50+ knock. Down took a break from cricket and is now straight back in the White Ferns squad with a level of faith that many wahine cricketers would envy.
There is nothing to suggest that Down deserves a 'straight back in' selection nod. Down didn't score many runs in her last stanza of games before taking a break: 13, 44*, 9, 10, 11, 24, 8, 3, 10.
All of those scores were in Super Smash/T20Is and all but the last score were in Super Smash, so Down wasn't dominating domestic cricket. Coach Sawyer always chats about dominating domestic cricket but his actions are not aligned with his chat. Ponder how a player who averages 19 in ODIs and 13 in T20Is can earn 'straight back in' selection.
Things get even goofier when comparing Down, Anderson and Greig in domestic cricket...
Kate Anderson
List-A: 31.89avg/88.1sr
T20: 21.57avg101.59sr
Lauren Down
List-A: 28.96avg/69.61sr
T20: 19.5avg/91.87sr
Mikaela Greig
List-A: 19avg/72.82sr
T20: 13.46avg/93.8sr
Anderson has higher averages and strike-rates than both players selected for the White Ferns. All of the stats about Anderson offered here highlight how she is a punchy batter who is capable of grinding out an innings as well as whacking boundaries. Taking out personal opinion, Anderson provides what White Ferns apparently want and trying to track what White Ferns want only leaves one puzzled.
In New Zealand last summer, England grabbed a 4-1 ODI series win and cruised to a T20I series win before White Ferns grabbed their typical 'win when it doesn't matter'. It would be rude to expect anything different in England where they play three ODIs and five T20Is, but maybe White Ferns prefer conditions overseas so we'll keep an open mind.
Aside from back to back series against England providing a gauge of where White Ferns are at, they are also building towards a T20 World Cup. There are lots of positive stories about White Ferns and yet they lost both T20 series in Aotearoa last summer with a horrible loss to Pakistan. White Ferns are 7-10 in T20s since the start of 2023 and didn't make the quarter-finals of the 2023 T20 World Cup, which was the third consecutive T20 World Cup where White Ferns didn't make the semi-finals.
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