White Ferns continue to build out their development pipeline with another New Zealand A tour and after the tour of England last year, the NZ-A women's team will get some much needed experience in Asian conditions with a tour of Sri Lanka. It's important to remember that there is lots that we don't know as far as player availability goes and while the NZ-A squad is described as the best domestic cricketers, some of the best domestic cricketers are not selected and that may be due to work/study commitments or injuries.

This only amplifies the growing depth for women's cricket in Aotearoa and it's possible to build out a secondary squad of players not in White Ferns or NZ-A that looks just as strong as the NZ-A squad selected to tour Sri Lanka. The 'NZ-B' squad includes Eden Carson who has been out of action due to injury and a few veterans in Caitlin Gurrey and Rebecca Burns who provide experience, as well as being deserving of selection based on their runs scored.

Here's how the NZ-A and NZ-B squads match up...

NZ-A 1st 11

Kate Anderson
Prue Catton
Bella James
Jess Watkin
Hannah Rowe
Bella Armstrong
Kayley Knight
Kate Gaging (wk)
Emma Black
Marama Downes
Fran Jonas
Squad: Natasha Wakelin, Darcy Prasad (wk), Xara Jetly, PJ Watkins

NZ-B 1st 11

Caitlin Gurrey
Rebecca Burns
Hannah Francis
Cate Pedersen
Anna Browning
Holly Topp (wk)
Missy Banks
Josie Penfold
Amie Hucker
Eden Carson
Sarah Asmussen
Squad: Eve Wolland, Ayaan Lambat, Lucy Boucher, Stella Cornelius

The value of NZ-A cricket is shown in the group of players who were involved in the tour of England last year and have since settled into the White Fern mixer. Georgia Plimmer, Izzy Gaze and Molly Penfold were already in comfy White Ferns positions, while the rest of this group backed up their White Ferns debuts with valuable experience over the winter in England; Emma McLeod, Izzy Sharp, Flora Devonshire, Nensi Patel, Polly Inglis, Bree Illing.

All those players are now in the White Ferns squad to play in England. Many of whom were among the best players of the NZ-A tour to England last year...

One-dayers

Georgia Plimmer: 114 runs @ 38avg/87sr
Bella James: 109 runs @ 36.3avg/91sr
Bree Illing: 6w @ 19.1avg/6rpo

T20s

Jess Watkin: 88 runs @ 29.3avg/129sr | 8w @ 7.3avg/4.9rpo
Georgia Plimmer: 78 runs @ 39avg/110sr
Izzy Gaze: 74 runs @ 24.6avg/161sr
Flora Devonshire: 37 runs @ 18.5avg/103sr | 2w @ 25.5avg/8.5rpo

Players from last year's tour who are named in to tour Sri Lanka are Jess Watkin, Bella James, Hannah Rowe and Emma Black. Black is yet to debut for White Ferns and she had another dominant summer as Otago's best bowler. Watkin, James and Rowe have already played for White Ferns and Watkin slipped out of the top-tier a few years ago, while there has been a clear shift away from Rowe in recent years.

James only had a limited taste of White Ferns cricket and couldn't quite demand selection for international cricket last summer. Along with Kate Anderson, who was shuffled out of the White Ferns squad as soon as she got into it, these selections ensure that mature players who still have plenty to offer White Ferns are given more opportunities to develop.

Blackcaps have shown that development has no age barriers and having older players competing for international selection is just as important as the steady flow of youngsters. Anderson piles up runs for Canterbury most seasons, Watkin hasn't dipped away from being an excellent all-rounder for Northern Districts and is still the most powerful hitter in Aotearoa.

Rowe's the most reliable player for Central Districts most seasons as well, meaning that these players have dealt with the adversity of falling out of the White Ferns tier by performing at the domestic level. While it's clear that there are skills and styles that White Ferns selectors want, domestic performances weren't very important for White Ferns selections in previous years and now we are seeing this change to reward domestic mahi.

Fran Jonas was also a regular member of White Ferns squads before being overtaken by other spinners and then she withdrew from Super Smash to 'make techinical changes to her bowling'. Jonas has been overtaken by Flora Devonshire and Nensi Patel, who are both far better batters and fielders than Jonas while also being just as good, if not better spinners.

Carson's injury opened up more space for the spinny all-rounders which offers a fabulous example of the depth now available to White Ferns. It's hard not to be excited about the presence of Devonshire and/or Patel in White Ferns teams given their skills, while Jonas and Carson must now fight for their spots in future White Ferns squads after enjoying regular selection early in their careers.

Jonas has played four games in just over a year. All four games were in HBJ Shield where Jonas took 8w @ 16.3av/4.8rpo and that wasn't quite as efficient as Maddy Green's tweakers (13w @ 15.8avg/4.5rpo) but much more efficient than Bella Armstrong (5w @ 60.2avg/4.7rpo) who has switched from seam to spin. Jonas was obviously bowling well before her break and now we wait to see what she has been working on.

Armstrong is another player who got a brief taste of White Ferns cricket with one game in 2023. Her change to spin bowling follows a trend in Aotearoa as PJ Watkins also made the switch from left-arm seam to lefty spin and both players have been selected in the NZ-A squad after making those changes.

Much of which revolves around their batting ability and how they bat. Armstrong scores quicker than most thanks to her punchy strokes and power through the off-side. Watkins is a strong hitter who has moved up the order for Otago each season since moving from England and this follows on from Devonshire/Patel showing their quick scoring abilities to White Ferns last season.

They are also part of the abundance of spinners in New Zealand. White Ferns can have three spin options moving forward with Melie Kerr joined by Devonshire and Patel. Carson's out injured and the NZ-A squad has Jonas, Armstrong, Watkins and Xara Jetly as capable spinners. Jetly's been one of the best domestic spinners over the last five years and she had her best summer with the bat, scoring slower than the others but showing that she has plenty of potential.

Natasha Wakelin can bowl spin as well but she is mainly a batter and along with Prue Catton, they are the two young specialist batters selected for NZ-A. Kate Gaging and Darcy Prasad are the wicket-keepers selected in this squad, neither of whom have scored many runs at the domestic level but show the depth in this bracket. Holly Topp's either unlucky to not be selected or unavailable as she looks just as good a wicket-keeper/batter as the other two.

Kayley Knight and Marama Downes are seamers selected along with Black and Rowe the all-rounder. Knight made her White Ferns debut this summer and adds to the hostile seamer depth behind Rosemary Mair, Bree Illing and Molly Penfold. Downes is similar to Black as she lacks the pace/bounce of the others and this could restrict her White Ferns opportunities, but Downes' ability to move the ball off the pitch is undeniable and like Black, she eats up wickets at the domestic level.

Pondering an NZ-B squad is important because there doesn't seem to be much difference to those players and the NZ-A group. Anna Browning was part of the NZ-A tour last year and she is just as good, if not better as a spinny all-rounder than Armstrong and Watkins. Wakelin's selected for NZ-A but Eve Wolland is just as good for Northern Districts, let alone Topp in the wicket-keeper bucket.

Hannah Francis and Cate Pedersen have just as much potential as Catton, with Francis brewing as an excellent seaming all-rounder. Amie Hucker was part of the NZ-A tour last year as a mark of her talent and her Auckland comrade Josie Penfold has a style of bowling that could add to the seam depth for White Ferns in coming years. Missy Banks has been one of Canterbury's best bowlers in recent seasons and continues to grow as a powerful batter.

Last summer Ayaan Lambat made her domestic debut for Auckland at 17-years-old and she was comfy at this level as a supremely talented all-rounder. Add in the emerging lefty seamer Stella Cornelius at Canterbury and she joins Illing in this bracket. Suddenly there are two lefty seamers in the women's pipeline as well as Devonshire joining Brooke Halliday as lefty batters in the White Ferns.

The players not selected for White Ferns and NZ-A highlight the exciting depth just as much as those who have been selected. The NZ-A team start their tour of Sri Lanka on May 12th with the first of their three one-dayers before moving into three T20s. NZ-A went 1-5 on their tour of England last year and in even trickier conditions it will be intriguing to see how NZ-A adapt to Sri Lanka, perhaps even getting a few wins.

Career stats for NZ-A squad…

Kate Anderson

LA: 35.5avg/87sr | 27.9avg/5.1rpo
T20: 22.7avg/103sr | 26avg/7.1rpo

Bella James

LA: 21.1avg/69sr
T20: 14.3avg/100sr

Prue Catton

LA: 20.2avg/69sr
T20: 18avg/98r

Jess Watkin

LA: 26.6avg/84sr | 25.4avg/4rpo
T20: 18.7avg/122sr | 23.9avg/6.4rpo

Hannah Rowe

LA: 20.6avg/65sr | 26.1avg/4.3rpo
T20: 18.3avg/93sr | 28.6avg/6.9rpo

Bella Armstrong

LA: 23.5avg/82sr | 25avg/4.3rpo
T20: 18.2avg/109sr | 26.4avg/6.6rpo

Xara Jetly

LA: 16.3avg/52sr | 22.4avg/4.1rpo
T20: 14.1vg/93sr | 18avg/5.9rpo

Natasha Wakelin

LA: 14.8avg/72sr | 43.3avg/5.6rpo
T20: 14avg/107sr

PJ Watkins

LA: 17.3avg/68sr | 37.6avg/5.4rpo
T20: 18.8avg/100sr | 23.4avg/5.9rpo

Kate Gaging

LA: 12.7avg/56sr
T20: 9avg/79sr

Darcy Prasad

LA: 12.3avg/47sr
T20: 10avg/57sr

Kayley Knight

LA: 9.8avg/34sr | 20.8avg/5.1rpo
T20: 15.5avg/109sr | 26.9avg/6.9rpo

Emma Black

LA: 8.2avg/55sr | 23.9avg/4.3rpo
T20: 5.7avg/91sr | 20.3avg/6.5rpo

Marama Downes

LA: 14.4avg/68sr | 29.3avg/4.1rpo
T20: 11.2avg/80sr | 15avg/5.4rpo

Fran Jonas

LA: 5.5avg/34sr | 29.7avg/4.3rpo
T20: 5.6avg/40sr | 23.2avg/6rpo

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