White Ferns continue to impress early in the Melie Kerr era with a 4-1 T20I series win vs South Africa and now they enter ODI mode for three games starting on Sunday. All Kerr sister angles were covered in this dispatch of our newsletter but basically Melie is the superstar of Aotearoa cricket, her leadership is tremendous, she is playing better as captain and Jess is also playing better under the captaincy of her younger sister.

The development of White Ferns is clear in how A-Kerr's strike-rates have increased for T20I batting in recent years and while some commentators think that the franchise leagues are responsible for everything, others who only operate in the NZC bubble have shown clear improvement.

That's evident in players at different stages of their careers. Maddy Green is a mature batter who has added more hitting ability to her game every year, while Izzy Sharp has entered the White Ferns group with good strike-rates around 130. Between those two examples are batters like Georgia Plimmer and J-Kerr who are playing their roles perfectly with strike-rates that match their duties in the order.

Usually it's only Sophie Devine hitting sixes but five different batters hit a six vs South Africa. Three of A-Kerr's five sixes in her T20I career were against South Africa and Plimmer has already hit three sixes this year, so she is likely to pass her previous best of three in 2024. Sharp had a strike-rate of 133 vs South Africa without hitting a six as an example of how White Ferns batters can score quicker without going aerial.

Having Sharp and J-Kerr batting down the order with Suzie Bates seems like the best combination in T20Is. While Bates' hitting ability has been overstated in recent years and she was the most expensive bowler for White Ferns vs South Africa (8.8rpo), it's clear that her team loves her and that she offers value with team culture, maturity etc.

Bates will be given ample opportunity to find her groove in this role and the best White Ferns team for the T20 World Cup will probably feature Bates, so best to get comfy with this. The change for the fifth game of this series with Flora Devonshire and Nensi Patel coming in for Bates and Rosemary Mair offered a glimpse into the depth available.

Devonshire and Patel are among the best batters for their domestic teams, so having them batting so low along with Sharp will be an asset moving forward. Some would suggest that Devonshire and Patel are better spinners than Bates, which at the very least sums up the impressive all round ability of the youngsters.

None of which takes away from the seam bowling department. Devine, J-Kerr and Lea Tahuhu took 3+ wickets with averages below 17 in the series vs South Africa. That is the best T20I seam trio available for White Ferns and then there are Rosemary Mair and Bree Illing next in line. Molly Penfold's in a funky spot competing with Kayley Knight for opportunities as an example of the seam depth.

Mair didn't take her opportunity vs South Africa and that's a theme that stretches further back. Mair joined Bates as the only White Ferns who conceded more than 8rpo vs South Africa and she took 1w @ 124avg. This year she has 2w @ 81avg/6.4rpo and last year she took 1w @ 106avg/9.2rpo.

None of which suggests that Mair should be a 1st 11 regular but she has played seven of the eight games this year and 12 of the 13 games since the start of 2025. Illing didn't take a wicket in her two games vs South Africa (6ov @ 6.1rpo) but Illing has been better than Mair since the start of 2025...

Bree Illing: 20ov, 4w @ 29.7avg/5.9rpo
Rosemary Mair: 36.3ov, 3w @ 89.3vg/7.3rpo

Izzy Gaze struggled for runs against South Africa but that won't be enough to shake her out of the opening spot and lead wicket-keeper duties. Gaze scored 30 runs @ 6avg/97sr which means that a batter who has one of the highest T20I strike-rates for White Ferns was the only batter who scored 10+ runs and was below 100sr vs South Africa.

Brooke Halliday's one of the funkiest hot pockets in the White Ferns T20I team. She played her role in the line up nicely vs South Africa and had four 10+ scores in the series, so she was chipping in around more aggressive batters. That may be the main focus for Halliday in this team, especially with so much power down the order and Halliday has 1st 11 talent as a batter as seen in her excellent ODI mahi.

Halliday's T20I record doesn't suggest she should be a 1st 11 batter and at every checkpoint, she is among the lowest averages and strike-rates for White Ferns batters.

ODI: 33.35avg/79sr, 1 x 100, 8 x 50
T20I: 14.71avg/98sr

Gaze had the lowest strike-rate for 10+ runs vs South Africa and Halliday was the only other batter below 125 (104.2sr). That's the lowest strike-rate for 10+ runs this year and she is the only batter below 130sr and Halliday's 101.6sr since the start of 2025 gives her the lowest strike-rate in the group of eight batters with 100+ runs in that period.

Halliday adds class, experience and a lefty to the middle order. She won't be the only lefty batter in White Ferns teams moving forward though as Devonshire will snap up her opportunity soon. Halliday will probably keep her spot for the T20WC and this will be another indicator of White Ferns development in the future as strike-rates around 105 won't be good enough.

White Ferns have winning records in both formats since the start of 2025

ODI: 6-4
T20I: 8-5

The ODI team offers a better glimpse into White Ferns depth as senior players have retired in this format and the younger players deserve their opportunities. Sharp and Patel have already dabbled in ODIs, while Devonshire and Knight can make their ODI debuts vs South Africa.

Knight showed her batting ability all summer and she could develop into a White Ferns all-rounder along with Patel and Devonshire. All four wahine mentioned here are excellent fielders as well and under the captaincy of A-Kerr, White Ferns showed how they can impact winning as a fielding team. A-Kerr's high standards are matched by the fielding talent in this team and that is a lovely recipe for winning cricket.

Here are the best White Ferns in ODIs since the start of 2025 who are in the current squad...

Batting

Brooke Halliday: 473 runs @ 59.1avg/95sr
Maddy Green: 405 runs @ 45avg/99sr
Melie Kerr: 277 runs 2 34.6avg/75sr
Izzy Gaze: 269 runs @ 44.8avg/112sr
Georgia Plimmer: 248 runs @ 35.4avg/72sr

Bowling

Melie Kerr: 23w @ 17avg/4.6rpo
Jess Kerr: 16w @ 24.1avg/4.3rpo
Bree Illing: 9w @ 36.6avg/4.7rpo
Rosemary Mair: 6w @ 31avg/4.5rpo

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Peace and love.