PREVIEW
The White Ferns will be without two of their best players when they begin the road to the T20 World Cup.
But coach Ben Sawyer has found a couple of positives in the absence of Sophie Devine and Amelia Kerr.
Commitments in the Women’s Premier League will keep Devine and Kerr from the first of a five-match T20 series against England, starting at University Oval in Dunedin on Tuesday.
Devine helped Royal Challengers Bangalore eliminate Kerr’s Mumbai Indians over the weekend, but travel complications meant the allrounder would not return to New Zealand in time to take her place.
The White Ferns skipper, meanwhile, was set to head home after the final of the T20 competition on Monday. Devine made 32 from 27 balls as her Royal Challengers Bangalore chased down 113 to beat the Delhi Capitals by eight wickets.
Both players are set to be available for the second match at Saxton Oval in Nelson on Friday, as New Zealand begin their preparations for this year’s T20 World Cup in Bangladesh.
Sawyer stressed the importance of this series — which will be followed by three ODIs against the same opposition — but felt the positives outweighed the negatives when contemplating a start disrupted by franchise cricket.
“We tried our best to get Melie here as quickly as we could, but logistically it was just a little bit difficult to do that, and Sophie’s on a plane as soon as that final’s done,” the coach said.
“We always knew that this was a possibility, but there’s two things to it. It’s being able to play in those really big games in front of huge crowds, and to get that experience in the subcontinent in similar conditions we’re going to come up against in Bangladesh.”
Both Devine and Kerr will be integral when the White Ferns attempt to improve on their efforts from the 2023 edition, failing to advance from pool play after losing to hosts South Africa and eventual champions Australia.
Tuesday’s clash with England will be the first of 10 against the world No 2, with the teams playing a return series in the northern summer.
“It’s huge,” Sawyer said of the series. “It’s 10 games to get our order right and get our matchups right. It’s a huge part of preparing for Bangladesh — even though it’s not the same conditions, it gives us the opportunity to play the way we want to play over in Bangladesh.”
As a result, spin might play a greater part than typically expected in home conditions, with Sawyer anticipating three or four spinners to make the final squad for the tournament starting in September.
The White Ferns lost twice at University Oval in their most recent T20 action — a 2-1 series defeat by Pakistan in December — and Sawyer thought his team would need to be even better given the calibre of opposition.
“It’s always been a good pitch here and looking at the numbers, that 130-140 score has been a winning one most times,” he said. “I think England could produce more than that and we’ll have to be up for that.”
