2023–24 NZ women's summer

[RMBolton]

I'm quite impressed with Catton. These England A bowlers are no joke, & for someone relatively young she looked comfortable facing them, right to whacking Adams for not one, but two sixes.

She's probably still a couple of years away from the WFs, but she should be decent when her time comes.

 

[Magrat Garlick]

I dunno if anyone's mentioned it in NZ cricket media around this series but due to losing to West Indies and the Bangladesh series being rained out NZ really needs at least one win in the ODI series to come top six and qualify directly for the World Cup

 

[RMBolton]

It's why I'm still fuming about the losses in Sri Lanka & that one against Pakistan.

With 9 ODIs left vs ENG, IND & AUS, I'm still trying to figure out how many wins are enough to be safe. 2/9 is probably safe, 1/9 is probably enough, but you really don't want that. Realistically, it'll be a melee for the last few Top 6 spots, & our lot have a really hard road now, having dropped too many games (& the washouts cost likely 2 valuable points).

 

[_Ed_]

Pretty feeble top-order collapse by the Ferns today.

Such a shame, with a solid crowd in on one of Wellington's famed "good days".

 

[_Ed_]

By some distance the best I've seen Gaze bat for NZ (a fair bit better than her Auckland efforts I've seen too, to be fair).

EDIT: Into the 40s she goes with a six! Hoping this is a breakthrough day for her.

 

[_Ed_]

50!

Apparently our first by someone other than Bates, Devine and Kerr in T20Is in six years.

 

[RMBolton]

Imagine the odds of that. You'd be very rich if you made that bet.

 

[_Ed_]

Five wickets and seven balls remaining might sound like a comfortable win, but we were right in that for a long way. Knight and NSB's quality partnership was obviously crucial, and we made a few costly mistakes near the end there too.

But there were some pretty good signs, and it was probably a better performance than the game we won in Nelson. To push a full-strength England that close, without Devine and with Bates and Kerr both out cheaply, is encouraging. I liked Kerr's captaincy - wonder if it might be time for her to take over the role long-term.

 

[RMBolton]

Really good result for the A team to seal a 2-1 series win.

I seriously wasn't expecting it. For some reason, I expected the T20 series to be closer. I guess it's an encouraging sign on the development front that the pieces are there, even if a bit rough around the edges & with a few omissions.

 

[_Ed_]

Almost stopped watching after our batting collapse in the first ODI today, but we've actually started well defending this small total.

 

[_Ed_]

55-4!

EDIT: Make that 58-5! This is fantastic from the Ferns.

 

[_Ed_]

Hmm. This seventh-wicket partnership is a bit of a worry now.

 

[James]

Hmm. This seventh-wicket partnership is a bit of a worry now.

Certainly let them off the hook haven't they.

 

[_Ed_]

Jones is dominating now. After having them 79-6, this one's going to hurt if we lose.

 

[_Ed_]

I hate cricket.

But credit to Jones and Dean - brilliant partnership.

Now watch us lose the series 3-0.

 

[RMBolton]

Really f***ing frustrating. No killer instinct - if you're defending a low target, you need to wreck 'em & finsh the job.

Seddon should be a bit of a change. Can't afford a 3-0 sweep, not after that super over loss to Pakistan, getting Chamari-ed twice & the twop washouts.

 

[RMBolton]

Learnings from the A tour:

• I expected the T20 series to be competitive & for our lot to be blown out in the OD series. Turns out I don't know sh**. The 2nd T20 was a blowout but the others were reasonably competitive, & the OD series was 3 blowouts, with NZ A winning two by 100+ runs & losing the other by <100 runs
• Both squads had similar levels of international experience, apparently
• Winning the OD series is such a massive tick in terms of assessing the quality of our domestic scene, as was the real awakening that was the 2nd match with Cross.
• Anderson (who is now probably in the box seat to succeed Bates) & Jensen (who I've argued to be our best T20 bowler in the last few years) are our big winners from the T20s, while our big winners in the One-Dayers are probably Greig, Inglis & Shahri. Penfold, Jensen & Carson did well too.
• In the context of the batting, it was so good to see players stand up on that front, especially younger players like Catton. Seeing her smack Georgia Adams (a player who is probably an injury away from an England callup) for two sixes was so amazing to watch. They still need a bit of work, but there's some good stuff to work with
• I still would've liked to have seen players like Gurrey & McFadyen (even if you could make a case that the WFs need them more)

 

[_Ed_]

Not an ideal start with the ball today - it would have been a wicketless first 15 overs if it hadn't been for a great catch by Rowe.

 

[RMBolton]

Oh. We're doing this again: no wickets, then all the wickets.

 

[_Ed_]

Fantastic turnaround. Still not sure I trust our batting to chase it down, though.