CRICKET - Aussie gals keen to retain their title

Karen Rolton is glad her team is playing the New Zealand White Ferns in Whangarei, rather than Australia.
"It's sweltering over there at the moment," the Australian cricket captain said. "I'm from Adelaide and I left temperatures of about 40 degrees. In Melbourne it's the same, the tennis players (in the Australian Open) are struggling."
So Rolton found the temperature at Cobham Oval yesterday - where the team was practising ahead of Sunday and Tuesday's Rosebowl series matches - a lot easier to handle.
Rolton, a long-time fixture in the Australian squad, has played at several grounds around New Zealand. The venue she knows better than others is Lincoln in Christchurch, where the transtasman Rosebowl series has been played for years.
But, for the first time, the Rosebowl is on tour around New Zealand, heading to Hamilton's Seddon Park and Wellington's Basin Reserve after the Cobham Oval matches.
"It looks like a good ground, the facilities are great," Rolton said. "The outfield's really quick and flat."
International female cricketers have struggled to get recognition in the face of their high-profile male counterparts, but Rolton said her team was making progress in Australia.
They played a Twenty20 game at the SCG last year before the men's team took to the field, and also did the same at the MCG. "I think that's a good way of promoting women's cricket, just getting more exposure."
The Australians are the Rosebowl defending champions, after winning a close series last year three games to two.
After this year's series, the White Ferns head to Australia for several games, before the Women's World Cup there in March.
"I think this (Rosebowl) series will be a good warm-up for the World Cup," Rolton said. "The squads playing are the World Cup squads but, having five matches, means it's a chance to try out different combinations."
• White Ferns v Australia. Cobham Oval, Sunday and Tuesday, 10.30am start both days. Entry is free.