White Ferns Trends From The T20I Series Sweep Defeat in Australia
The White Ferns lost all three T20Is against Australia and they are now preparing to start their T20 World Cup campaign in a couple weeks. This T20 World Cup preview covers plenty of White Ferns things but that was published prior to the series in Australia so here are some updated trends and wrinkles.
New Zealand has lost 10 T20Is in a row and are now 2-14 since December 1st 2023. During this period the White Ferns have lost T20I home series against Pakistan and England, then they lost series in England and Australia. While not related to the White Ferns T20 World Cup campaign, the NZ Development team have lost three consecutive T20s during their tri-series with Australia and Sri Lanka Under 19s.
NZ Development have one more T20 to play against Sri Lanka on Thursday afternoon before switching to one-dayers. Three losses and their losing margins of 8 wickets vs Australia, 69 runs vs Sri Lanka and 35 runs vs Australia are aligned with how White Ferns have been performing.
Not a good phase for White Ferns cricket but Georgia Plimmer hit a 50 against Australia. Plimmer hit 53 runs @ 110.4sr in the third loss against Australia and this is her first 50+ score in 38 innings for White Ferns (ODIs/T20Is). After hitting an HBJ Shield century last summer, Plimmer now has two 50+ scores in domestic and international cricket.
Stretching the sample size out further to the start of 2022, only two White Ferns have hit 50+ scores in T20I cricket aside from Suzie Bates, Sophie Devine and Amelia Kerr. Plimmer joins Izzy Gaze and two youngsters scoring runs deserves to be celebrated, before snapping back to reality...
2022 Onwards
Georgia Plimmer: 24 innings, 246 runs @ 12.3avg/88.4sr
Izzy Gaze: 17 innings, 189 runs @ 13.5avg/103.2sr
White Ferns batted first in two of the losses vs Australia and scored less than 150 runs in both games. The game when White Ferns were chasing, they did well to dismiss Australia for 142 and then White Ferns cruised along at 5.65rpo to finish on 113/7 in their 20 overs. Maddy Green was the only batter in this series for Aotearoa who scored 5+ runs with a strike-rate over 115 (68 runs @ 121.4sr) and since the start of 2022, Lea Tahuhu is the only White Ferns batter who has a strike-rate over 120 (aside from Katey Martin's 9* @ 300sr, legend).
In T20Is this year, White Ferns have a batting strike-rate of 105.5 as a team. England, India, South Africa, Australia and Sri Lanka are all over 115sr. Of the 10 teams playing in the World Cup, New Zealand is slightly ahead of Pakistan while West Indies, Scotland and Bangladesh are below 102sr.
White Ferns aren't in the same T20 slugging zone as five teams at the T20 World Cup. They also have a batting average of 18.04 this year and there are only two teams below 20avg in 2024 T20Is with Bangladesh averaging 14.93. India, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Australia and England are all above 24avg. Scotland, West Indies and Pakistan are all at 20avg or above.
Bates, Devine and A-Kerr vs Australia...
Suzie Bates: 86 runs @ 28.6avg/110sr
Amelia Kerr: 53 runs @ 17.6avg/101.9sr
Sophie Devine: 9 runs @ 4.5avg/52.9sr
There are similar warning signs in the bowling department. White Ferns took 5 wickets in two games vs Australia and did well to bowl them out for 142 in the second T20I before their batting woes appeared. In 2024 T20Is, White Ferns have a bowling average of 28.75 and an economy rate of 7.91rpo. The only team with a higher bowling average is South Africa (34.06) and New Zealand has the highest economy rate of the 10 World Cup teams this year.
England, India, Sri Lanka, West Indies and Australia all have bowling averages below 23. South Africa and New Zealand are the only World Cup teams who have conceded over 7rpo in T20Is this year.
Spin will be a factor at the T20 World Cup in the UAE, so A-Kerr's 5w @ 15.6avg/6.5rpo and Eden Carson's 3w @ 18.3avg/6.8rpo against Australia were nifty. Fran Jonas was less effective though with 2w @ 35.5avg/7.8rpo and for all the hype about Bates the spinner, she still isn't bowling; Bates has bowled 15ov in 40 T20Is since the start of 2022.
Seam bowling is a weakness for Aotearoa, heading into conditions that probably won't offer much assistance. Lea Tahuhu is the only seamer with 5+ wickets in T20Is this year and the only other White Ferns bowlers above this marker are A-Kerr, Jonas and Carson. Here are the White Ferns seamers in T20Is this year...
Rosemary Mair: 4w @ 42.2avg/7rpo
Sophie Devine: 4w @ 42.5avg/9.2rpo
Hannah Rowe: 4w @ 30avg/10rpo
Jess Kerr: 2w @ 109avg/7.2rpo
Molly Penfold: 2w @ 28.5avg/8.1rpo
Mair (4ov), Devine (1ov), Rowe (2ov) and J-Kerr (3ov) played one game each against Australia. They combined for 1 wicket. White Ferns can roll out a bowling attack featuring the three spinners with Tahuhu and Penfold, along with sporadic overs from Brooke Halliday. Devine has bowled 11.2ov in her last seven games with no wickets and 9.6po, so her involvement with the ball will be an intriguing wrinkle to track during the T20 World Cup.
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