The White Ferns will host England and Australia. Photo / Getty
The White Ferns will host England and Australia. Photo / Getty
The White Ferns' 21-year wait to lift the Rose Bowl is set to drag on, after they were hammered by seven wickets by a rampant Australian side in the first ODI in Brisbane this afternoon.
There is still a chance of a turnaround in the best-of-three series, but it would have to be a drastic one, as they were completely outplayed by a side that is not only the best in the world, but one of the best of all time.
Make it 19 consecutive ODI victories for Australia, and by the end of the series they could equal the all-time ODI record of 21 wins on the trot, set by the Australian's men side in 2003.
So, when on one hand you have a losing streak spanning decades, and on the other a potentially historic winning streak, the odds were always firmly against a White Ferns series victory, and today's performance did nothing to change that.
Inserted to bat, the White Ferns started well, albeit streakily, to reach 23-0 after four overs, but they soon tumbled to 60-4.
After batting somewhat conservatively – or at least slowly – in the Twenty20 series – all of a sudden the White Ferns top order was swinging with intent to attempt to up the run rate, only to hole out tamely. Natalie Dodd picked out mid-wicket, Suzie Bates got a full toss but sent it straight to deep mid-wicket, and skipper Sophie Devine's attempted slap merely looped to mid-on.
In retrospect, the aggressive approach was better than what followed, as 64 balls went by without a boundary, yet two further wickets still fell to put the Ferns in a dire position – 83-6 in the 28th over.
Having selected a seam-heavy attack for the tour, somewhat enforced with Leigh Kasperek and Anna Peterson unavailable, the White Ferns have instead seen the Australians dominate them with spin, with Georgia Wareham (10-1-23-2), Jess Jonassen (9.1-0-29-2) and Sophie Molineux (10-3-28-2) combining to bowl a staggering 125 dot balls, and then profiting when the rash shots emerged.
The White Ferns will host England and Australia. Photo / Getty
Maddy Green (35 from 49) and Katie Perkins (32 from 51) provided a tad of respectability with a 62-run stand for the seventh wicket, as the White Ferns scraped through to 180 all out, but the classy Australian top order knocked it off with ease, cruising to a seven-wicket victory with 16 overs to spare.
"No excuse", said Devine. "I thought we were poor with the bat today, the lower order showed us what needed to be done with a strong partnership between Perkins and Green.
"Then with the bowling, we never found our line and lengths and we got put to the sword by a fantastic Australian side."
Game two is Monday afternoon, and Devine knows there is a lot of work to do.
"We don't have long to find out what's wrong, and get back on top."
