The summer of international cricket isn't over yet as New Zealand's White Ferns have an ODI and T20I series vs Sri Lanka coming up, with the T20I portion forming a double-header extravaganza alongside Blackcaps vs Pakistan. This offers an intriguing thread to follow throughout March as kiwis love cricket and these T20I double-headers, including three White Ferns T20Is vs Australia, will reinforce the popularity of cricket in Aotearoa with bumper crowds expected.

While we are here to dissect a fresh White Ferns squad to play Sri Lanka, the seed of mid-March cricketing hype needs to be planted. Auckland FC's big crowds aren't unique in the kiwi sporting landscape as New Zealand Warriors have been drawing consistently booming crowds for two seasons in a row, meanwhile there are always big crowds for New Zealand cricket teams regardless of who they are playing and what format it is.

This is not a battle between football, rugby league and cricket. This is a change in tides around Aotearoa as the only sport with smaller crowds is rugby union and the mid-March window will amplify this as White Ferns and Blackcaps will generate the same buzz as Auckland FC/NZ Warriors, positioned against Super Rugby Pacific.

White Ferns have three ODIs to play vs Sri Lanka first though and then three T20Is. After winning the T20 World Cup last year, White Ferns now lean into ODI cricket ahead of the ODI World Cup in India later this year. Aotearoa grabbed automatic qualification by a narrow margin via the Women's Championship and while they are a better T20 team, there are decent foundations to build upon in the one-day format.

Sophie Devine is taking a break from cricket and Amelia Kerr has gone T20 walkabouts. This invigorates the White Ferns set up with space for others to step up as leaders in the team, as well as fresh selections that signal a shift in women's cricket as there is more depth early in 2025 and the quality of emerging players has increased.

On the surface, selecting Bree Illing for the ODIs, Izzy Sharp for the T20Is and Emma McLeod for both falls into the same old White Ferns tale of promoting youngsters too early when there are plenty of experienced players operating at a high level in domestic cricket. There is a major difference between this crop of youngsters and previous cases in that this young wave has gathered confidence from performances in domestic cricket, plus they have the benefit of playing Under 19 T20 World Cups and/or NZ-A cricket.

We covered the weird selections closely over the past six years where White Ferns selected players who clearly had potential, but they had no grounding in domestic cricket. Young players were asked to play for White Ferns having barely played domestic cricket, let alone scoring runs and taking wickets. As these players had role-playing duties, White Ferns performances suffered and yet Aotearoa still won a Commonwealth Games bronze medal and a T20 World Cup, so one could argue it worked out well.

Izzy Gaze is the most notable youngster who has steadily improved with more White Ferns cricket and more importantly, lots of reps for Auckland. Molly Penfold is out injured and still hasn't dominated domestic cricket yet, while Fran Jonas offers an interesting example as she has now been overtaken by Eden Carson as the second best spinner (behind A-Kerr) selected in both formats.

Carson had to earn her way into the White Ferns set up with wickets in domestic cricket while playing in a winning Otago Sparks team. Right now, Carson is the leading wicket-taker in HBJ Shield ahead of another final for Otago and that followed a fabulous Super Smash campaign in which Carson finished as the leading wicket-taker.

Same goes for Bella James who is selected in the T20I squad after making her debut in the Rose Bowl vs Australia. James has played almost a decade of domestic cricket and was only selected for White Ferns after dominating the first half of HBJ Shield season in the best team. There is still caution offered by recent selections like Kate Anderson and Mikaela Greig who were celebrated when they got promoted, then they were quickly discarded.

Now White Ferns have opted to select younger batters in Sharp and McLeod, as well as the lefty seam of Illing. Illing is an easy selection to make given that Lea Tahuhu and Penfold are out injured, plus Illing is already the premier lefty seamer in Aotearoa at 21-years-old. Illing has the most wickets of all HBJ Shield seamers this summer and after three seasons of HBJ Shield, she is in her second consecutive season with 10+ wickets averaging below 30.

Despite being selected in the ODI squad with Rosemary Mair taking her spot in the T20I squad, Illing has potential to play T20Is. Illing has only had two Super Smash seasons but like her HBJ Shield mahi improving with each summer, she went from 7w @ 39avg in 2023/24 to 8w @ 24avg this summer in Super Smash.

Illing has also toured India with NZ Development and played for NZ-A vs England, showcasing how NZC's investment in female development pipelines is starting to flow through to White Ferns. Illing also played for NZ U19s along with 20-year-old Sharp and 18-year-old McLeod, with McLeod playing in the 2023 tournament as a 16-year-old before playing again a few weeks ago.

As a young squad member, McLeod finished third for NZ runs in the 2023 event (93 runs @ 31avg/150sr) and she was joined by Georgia Plimmer as the only kiwis to hit a 50+ score in that tournament. McLeod then led Aotearoa for runs this year (81 runs @ 16avg/99sr) and at 18-years-old, she is in her third season of HBJ Shield with two seasons of Super Smash.

Not only has McLeod been a regular U19 NZ cricketer and consistent member of the Central Districts 1st 11 when not at U19 T20 World Cups, she is the youngest player with 300+ runs in HBJ Shield this summer. 10 ladies have scored 300+ runs and while McLeod is bang on 300 runs, she is one of three batters who have hit this mark in eight innings or less. Add in a knock of 62 runs in her first summer of HBJ Shield and McLeod has three 50+ List-A scores with an excellent LA batting average of 26.3 relative to previous benchmarks set by White Ferns selection.

Sharp was less effective at the 2023 U19 T20 World Cup (35 runs @ 11avg/69sr) and only has one 50+ score in both formats. That one 50+ score was a glorious knock of 52 runs @ 153sr this summer in Super Smash against a Wellington Blaze bowling attack featuring Xara Jetly, Jess Kerr, Maitlan Brown, Sophie Devine and Amelia Kerr.

At 20-years-old, Sharp has played four seasons of HBJ Shield and three Super Smash season. She has scored 100+ runs in her last two HBJ Shield and Super Smash campaigns, earning White Ferns selection with career best mahi in both formats this summer. While Sharp hasn't churned as many runs as McLeod, her potential is blatantly obvious and her crisp hitting makes her a wise selection in the T20I squad.

Interestingly, McLeod is selected for both formats while Illing and Sharp are selected for one format each. This shows what a phenom McLeod is and also highlights how this White Ferns camp is an important juncture in bringing players together under the Aotearoa umbrella. 16 players have been selected across both formats and this includes Georgia Plimmer who is in both squads having only returned from injury recently to play one HBJ Shield game.

Plimmer may not play many games in this series and she could slide straight back into the 1st 11. Either way, Plimmer will be back in the White Ferns environment after an injury lay off and as we enter autumn, this camp is a nice opportunity to re-establish the White Ferns culture in a wide range of players.

This isn't solely a young White Ferns squad though. Polly Inglis is selected for the ODIs and will be one of two wicket-keepers in the camp alongside Izzy Gaze, increasing the depth in this position and offering a splash of competition that should increase performance. Inglis and James have been grinding away on the domestic circuit for years before stepping up to White Ferns, plus Otago veteran Hayley Jensen returns to boost the seam department.

Jensen has been fantastic in HBJ Shield taking 15w @ 13.4avg/2.5rpo, along with 98 runs @ 24avg/87sr. With 11w @ 24avg/6.4rpo and 87 runs @ 17avg/110sr in Super Smash, Jensen has put herself back in the mix as one of the best players in the women's circuit and is thoroughly deserving of her return to the White Ferns.

Along with Jensen demand a call up, players like Maddy Green and J-Kerr have elevated their mahi this summer. Green is the best batter in HBJ Shield (272 runs @ 63avg/86sr) and was impressive in Super Smash as well (269 runs @ 33avg/108sr), now she is a leader for White Ferns who will need to step up with her run-scoring and supporting skipper Bates.

J-Kerr was perhaps the most dominant player in Super Smash, after not cracking the 1st 11 for the two Rose Bowl losses vs Australia. J-Kerr finished a smidge behind A-Kerr for wickets and runs, but she was slightly more efficient in both departments...

Kerr sisters in Super Smash

• Amelia: 441 runs @ 63avg/108.6sr, 3x 50 | 15w @ 17.4avg/6rpo

• Jess: 326 runs @ 36.2avg/119.4sr, 3 x 50 | 14w @ 16.2avg/5.1rpo

J-Kerr has also responded strongly in HBJ Shield to not playing in the recent ODIs. J-Kerr is part of the 300+ runs group (305 runs @ 33.8avg/80sr) and is sixth for wickets (16w @ 20.3avg/3.4rpo) before the HBJ Shield final between Otago and Auckland. This means that J-Kerr is averaging 30+ with the bat in both domestic formats this summer, while also offering typically excellent mahi with the ball.

Aside from players injured or unavailable, a notable omission is Lauren Down who scored 44 runs @ 7avg/43sr in her seven innings of ODI batting last year. Down didn't take her opportunity but she was also selected in a middle/lower-order spot for the Rose Bowl and that was a strange move by coach Ben Sawyer given that Down's a top-order batter, plus J-Kerr's hitting ability would have been useful in that role.

Jonas and Rowe are also in curious spots. Jonas was decent in her 16 T20Is last year (14w @ 26.6avg/7rpo) but blew out to 3w @ 76avg/4.7rpo in her seven ODIs. Now she is only in the T20I squad. Rowe is only in the ODI squad after taking 4w @ 30avg/10rpo in six T20Is last year and 8w @ 27.2avg/5rpo in six ODIs.

Rowe is a skillful batter as well but that is yet to flow into White Ferns runs with 12.5avg in ODIs and 15.5avg in T20Is. She has had a nifty HBJ Shield season for CD though with 250 runs @ 27.7avg/61sr and 18w @ 16.6avg/3.7rpo, so this could be an important phase for Rowe as Aotearoa has more talented cricketers on the rise.

2025 White Ferns stats for players selected vs Sri Lanka…

ODI - Batting

• Brooke Halliday: 318 runs @ 31.8avg/70sr

• Suzie Bates: 249 runs @ 22.6avg/71sr

• Maddy Green: 244 runs @ 30.5avg/72sr

• Georgia Plimmer: 172 runs @ 19.1avg/70sr

• Izzy Gaze: 127 runs @ 14.1avg/63sr

• Hannah Rowe: 52 runs @ 13avg/76sr

• Bella James: 51 runs @ 25avg/82sr

• Jess Kerr: 49 runs @ 9.8avg/106sr

Bowling

• Jess Kerr: 12w @ 24.5avg/5rpo

• Hannah Rowe: 8w @ 27.2avg/5rpo

• Eden Carson: 6w @ 48avg/5.1rpo

• Suzie Bates: 4w @ 23.2avg/5.1rpo

• Brooke Halliday: 3w @ 25avg/6.6rpo

T20I - Batting

• Suzie Bates: 466 runs @ 24.5avg/103sr

• Georgia Plimmer: 282 runs @ 18.8avg/105sr

• Brooke Halliday: 268 runs @ 16.7avg/101sr

• Maddy Green: 178 runs @ 13.6avg/98sr

• Izzy Gaze: 166 runs @ 16.6avg/115sr

• Jess Kerr: 86 runs @ 17.2avg/126sr

Bowling

• Eden Carson: 16w @ 17.1avg/7rpo

• Rosemary Mair: 14w @ 20.4avg/6.1rpo

• Fran Jonas: 14w @ 26.6avg/7rpo

• Brooke Halliday: 6w @ 11.5avg/7.9rpo

• Jess Kerr: 2w @ 115avg/7rpo

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