New Zealand's White Ferns start their tour of England next week with one-dayer to warm up and then three ODIs. The White Ferns have had five consecutive ODI losses vs England in England and have a 2-10 record since the start of 2015, all of which featured a cluster of legendary kiwi cricketers who have already bowed out of ODIs and in the case of Suzie Bates will step aside in this format after the series.

2026 South Africa Women's Tour Of New Zealand: White Ferns T20I Review & ODI Basics

2026 South Africa Women's Tour Of New Zealand: ODI Series Win For White Ferns

New Zealand's 10 Best Young Women's Cricketers After The Summer Of 2025/26

White Ferns were also mediocre in the 2025 ODI World Cup where they went 1-4 and while they had two washed out games, New Zealand weren't good enough in the others to suggest they could have made the semi-finals. White Ferns lost by margins of 5+ wickets or 50+ runs and that included a loss by 8 wickets vs England to finish the tournament.

With respect to White Ferns legends, they weren't doing much winning in ODI cricket and after younger players were given game time in series while those legends were busy elsewhere, the start of the Melie Kerr era refreshed all White Ferns matters. They had a series sweep of Zimbabwe then New Zealand won their ODI series vs South Africa 2-1 with the core group performing well and new players adding their flavour to the team.

No player in the White Ferns ODI squad to play in England is yet to debut. Nensi Patel and Flora Devonshire are the only women who have played less than five ODIs, but Patel has already played four ODIs and eight games for White Ferns. Devonshire has played one ODI and three T20Is but she was selected in the ODI World Cup squad last year only to suffer an injury that ruled her out of the tournament.

Bree Illing has already stacked up 11 ODIs and 18 games total for New Zealand, while Izzy Sharp has played six ODIs and 11 T20Is. Add in Izzy Gaze who is 21-years-old and has played 76 games for New Zealand, plus Georgia Plimmer who is 22-years-old and has played 83 games for New Zealand.

Molly Penfold returns to the squad and at 24-years-old she has played 27 internationals. The youngest White Fern is Emma McLeod and she has already played six ODIs and nine games overall. This means that all the players younger than 25yrs have quietly gathered various levels of international experience and perhaps more than many seem to assume.

The main change from the ODIs vs South Africa is Penfold selected ahead of Kayley Knight. Penfold played two ODIs vs Zimbabwe and dipped out of the White Ferns mix with Knight impressing as a seamer who is quicker than most and has flashed her batting ability. That may have signaled that Knight had overtaken Penfold but this selection clarifies things and Penfold is coming off her best summer of domestic bowling so she deserves to be in the mix.

During the phase in which White Ferns went 1-7 for ODIs in England vs England (2020 onwards), Bates churned out 102 runs @ 12.7avg/62sr. Tough match up coming up against England in a losing team but that was the start of Bates' slip in production and it is matched by her T20I stuff that led to a change in roles.

The T20I stuff can wait for the series vs England but it's the most important pocket of White Ferns heading into the T20 World Cup, especially as White Ferns have more aggressive batters in the lower order and better bowlers. Here's how Bates' last three years of ODI cricket look...

2024: 22.6avg/71sr | 23.2avg/5.1rpo
2025: 14avg/66sr | 34.3avg/4.2rpo
2026: 9.3avg/44sr | 76avg/6.9rpo

Bates was the weakest player in the ODIs vs South Africa. She scored the fewest runs with the lowest strike-rate for batters who had three innings and took the fewest wickets with the highest economy rate for bowlers who had 10+ overs. It's been trending in this direction for both formats in recent years, to the point where Bates' performances are no longer crucial to winning and losing for White Ferns.

Along with A-Kerr, Maddy Green was tremendous against South Africa and Brooke Halliday continues her journey as one of Aotearoa's best ODI batters ever. This gives Plimmer space to continue her development and Gaze has emerged as the quickest run-scorer for White Ferns, while Sharp and Jess Kerr add more oomph to the middle order as batters who can punch boundaries all around the park.

Rosemary Mair was the best bowler in ODIs vs South Africa and she is joined by the Auckland seam duo of Illing and Penfold. Along with Knight, all of these seamers can nudge 115km/h and are among the fastest, most hostile seamers the White Ferns have had in the last 20 years.

As is the case with the T20I squad, the funkiest pocket for White Ferns is their lower order where Patel and Devonshire provide all-round skills as spinners. White Ferns will probably have Gaze in the middle order with Polly Inglis as her back up, while J-Kerr leads the all-rounder department.

Patel and Devonshire are two of the best batters for their domestic teams. They didn't need to do much in the ODIs vs South Africa but showed their value down the order as Patel had a knock of 12* @ 200sr and Devonshire had a knock of 9 runs @ 150sr. Devonshire only bowled a couple of overs vs South Africa but she's a very handy lefty spinner and Patel was more effective than Bates in a similar sample size (9ov, 1w @ 4.4rpo).

There are ways for White Ferns to have Patel and Devonshire in the same team, operating alongside A-Kerr as the spinners. This will depend on conditions and how busy Bates is with the ball, while Penfold will probably sit behind J-Kerr, Mair and Illing in the group of seamers.

McLeod is brewing towards regular 1st 11 selection as the best emerging one-day batter in Aotearoa but she is unlikely to hit that checkpoint in England. That depends on Bates though and whether she can score runs, as well as how willing White Ferns are to move Gaze into the opening slot with Plimmer which would then open a middle order spot for McLeod.

Despite how many cling to the past, there is no reason to doubt White Ferns in the Melie Kerr era. She is one of the best leaders in New Zealand sport and in her brief time as captain, she has combined excellent individual performances with getting the best out of others. It's unlikely that White Ferns win the ODI or T20I series but they are an awesome fielding team that is scoring quicker and has more skillful bowling variety than many New Zealand teams of the past.

White Ferns were smoked 0-8 during their 2024 tour of England in which many senior players didn't do much. Any improvement on that with a fresh ODI group will be a boost for White Ferns and having slipped far behind England in the last five years, this tour will be informative on how White Ferns are tracking as an exciting group of young cricketers take over the squad.

Support our cricket coverage by joining the Patreon whanau or donate through Buy Me A Coffee. A little goes a long way to fund our mahi. Smash an ad.

Peace and love.