Cricket: White Ferns' plan questioned by players before World Cup win

Going from a record losing streak to the top of the world the White Ferns had a rollercoaster season that was full of high and lows for both the team and individual players.

Coach Ben Sawyer had to keep believing success would come even when outsiders - and some experienced players - could not comprehend how the team would turn around their fortunes and compete with the top three of women's cricket Australia, England and India.

With six months until the 50-over Cricket World Cup in India, Sawyer has some big contracting decisions to make in the coming weeks while the team are on a end of season break, but there were positives from last season to reflect on - including winning the T20 Cricket World Cup - and areas for improvement while he plots the path to another title.

When the underdogs pulled off the unbelievable

In October 2024 the White Ferns made their first final in an ICC women's event since 2010, and went on to win their first T20 title.

Leading into the T20 World Cup in Dubai the White Ferns were not favourites on form or recent history.

The White Ferns were on a record 10-game losing streak in T20 cricket.

They had won one of their 13 T20s played in 2024.

But Sawyer was not deterred, he had a benchmark number in mind - a score of 160 - and a plan on how to achieve it.

However, his plan was questioned.

"Just before the World Cup started Suzie Bates and Sophie Devine came into my room and and asked me do you actually 100 percent believe in this the way that we're going.

"And that's because we'd been on the back of losses. And I said I did, and we all agreed that we did. And then that was it. We were going to continue on with it."

Sawyer did not want to be stubborn but the statistics backed him up and he knew strike rate would be key to their success in the shortest format of the game.

"We looked at years of data and I think 160 won something like 85 percent of games."

So he made a call to get Georgia Plimmer to open the batting and move the experienced Devine to number four to strengthen the middle order - a major change that he did not waiver from even when the wins were not coming before the world cup.

"I didn't think we were going to get anywhere chopping and changing constantly so had a plan and stuck to it.

"With the team that we had and the strike rates that we had, we didn't think we were going to be able to get to 160 consistently.

"So we thought that this way of doing it and generating a bit more of a strike rate up top, but then also having the power of Sophie at the back end would be a way that we'd get 160 and and I guess it was spreading our our options, as opposed to just having Sophie and Suzie merely up top, and then if they got knocked over the team felt like there wasn't a lot left.

Lesson learnt after the unsuccessful T20 World Cup in South Africa in 2023 included the need to make the entire squad believe they could contribute.

"Something that we worked really hard on after that T20 World Cup in South Africa, that if it wasn't your day, it's the next person's day, and you've got trust that, that they're going to be able to do that.

"I think of Maddy Green and the six that she hit at the end, and the strike rate that she generated in the final and the way that Brooke Halliday came on, and all those girls played huge roles and were not just depending on one or two players.

"And that's the way that we felt we were going to win a world cup and or be much more competitive, but more importantly, how we were going to score 160 each time.

"I look at that top seven for us, and I can honestly say that every single one of them gave us probably a match winning performance at some stage throughout the world cup and I would be hesitant to say that that's happened before, and I think that's the the greatest achievement that we had at the world cup that it wasn't just one person."

Sawyer was pleased to see the magic number appear throughout the world cup.

"Basically that number won us the game against India to start with, and then, ironically, I think we scored 159 they needed 160 I think it was to to win the final South Africa needed.

"So it was really nice that we'd worked towards that number for probably two years, and ironically, it was that number that that got us home."

The low point

Losses are hard to take for the players and the coach.

The White Ferns tour of England, where New Zealand lost five T20s and three ODIs, was the low point of the season for Sawyer.

The support he received from New Zealand Cricket during that horror run of results buoyed him because he knew that they understood what he was trying to do.

"If I'm completely honest, I don't think it was building for to win the world cup in terms of, didn't think it would happen that quickly, but it was more a bit of a longer term thing.

"So throughout that time I knew that we were working towards something and the way that we wanted to play the game and and what we thought we needed to do to win. But it is tough sitting there day in day out, and being told that you're constantly losing and things like that, that is tough to hear at times."

He was also aware of player welfare during that time.

"It was always a real concern of mine, and and the coaching staff that, if I use an example of Georgia Plimmer, are we throwing this girl in the deep end of international cricket and asking her to open the batting and is that going to affect her and her well being?

"So there is that balancing act, and that was a question that we asked ourselves a lot, that we are exposing these girls to some really tough cricket and some tough results, and what effect is that going to have on them?"

With the Cricket Players Association and mental skills providers Sawyer hoped the team felt supported along the way even when the going was tough.

After the highs of the world cup the White Ferns did come crashing back down with a series loss to Australia to end the season.

The appeal of a good strike rate

Sawyer wanted to put the White Ferns in the shop window for franchise cricket.

He acknowledged "it sounds a little bit backwards" for the national team coach to be pushing for more players to join Melie Kerr and Sophie Devine as regulars in overseas franchise competitions - especially if that means they miss some White Ferns games - but he believed the rewards outweighed the risks.

"We speak a lot about if you can generate a really good strike rate, or if you can bowl and take wickets at a really good economy rate then you are going to get picked up by franchise cricket.

"If we can get you into franchise cricket, the experiences and how much you're going to learn there, because you've got all those world class players in one spot, is going to be massive for your game. So we would love to see those younger girls like the Izzy's and Georgia's get picked up in in franchise leagues."

New Zealand was a small player market and Sawyer said global appeal started at home.

"We have to be pushing our domestic game in terms of the Super Smash I think lots of scores at the moment of 120, 130 are probably winning matches and that then means that our batters are probably only striking at 100 or 110.

"So if we can get everybody in New Zealand cricket really pushing that Super Smash game and making sure that we're trying to post some really big scores, then all of a sudden, Georgia Plimmer, as an opening bat, has to strike at 140 or 150 to win the game and then franchises will see those strike rates, and they'll come knocking.

"I've been involved in franchise cricket and it is a bit of a game sometimes just done on an Excel spreadsheet where you're looking at the best strike rates and the best economy rates.

"So if we can push the game in Super Smash and internationally in the White Ferns to be posting some really big scores regularly, then franchises are going to sit up and take notice and start picking our players."

Coaching the best player in the world

Melie Kerr was named ICC Women's Player of the Year in January marking the first time any New Zealand cricketer, male or female, had won the governing body's top accolade.

What set Kerr apart from her peers was her skillset and her ability to ask questions of those around her, Sawyer said.

"She's world class on both sides of the of the game, batting and bowling. She's probably the world's best leg spin bowler and she's right up there as one of the top batters.

"Off the field she's got a great work ethic. I think she's learned that a lot from someone like Suzie Bates, who spent a lot of time with her over the years.

"Even in the last game [of the home summer] against Australia, she walked up to me and said that she'd had a bit of a chat to [batting coach Dean Brownlie], who'd done something with her grip, and she felt way better.

"So she's constantly asking questions because she probably didn't perform as well as she wanted to in those first two games so she has that conversation with a coach and makes a little adjustment and got 50 off 40 balls.

"So just her want to be better each and every time is is what's making her great at the moment."

Who is the next White Ferns captain?

Devine stepped down from captaining the White Ferns in T20 cricket at the end of the world cup, leaving a void New Zealand Cricket was not hurrying to fill.

The process to find the next skipper would play out over the winter, Sawyer said, with a focus on making sure that the new captain and Devine - who remained ODI captain - were on the same page.

Kerr's name was thrown around a lot and she was part of leadership groups in domestic cricket here and overseas and had filled in when Devine was unavailable in the past.

The White Ferns do not have another T20 game until February 2026.

"I don't think there's any need to rush it. We can get back in October, and we've still got three or four months before we need to make a firm decision on that."

Sawyer was interested in identifying more leaders and had asked other coaches as well as mental skills providers about who could potentially be the best leaders.

"It's not only obviously a new captain, but potentially a slightly changed leadership group. [There is] great leaders in Sophie and Suzie but who could the next crop be?

"I think the captaincy in particular is two jobs. You've got to be an outstanding on field captain who hopefully saves us 10 or 15 runs in the field with your decisions and then you also need the qualities off the field to be able to lead a group.

"So I think there's some leadership around decision making on the field, but also other leaders, apart from just the captain, can lead this team off it...And obviously it's a decentralised programme so who are the leaders maybe even in each Major Association that can really drive the daily training habits of our girls so that we're getting better each and every day."

Injuries expose next tier of talent

As the home summer neared its conclusion Sawyer had player after player go down with an injury concern as he tried to put together a squad to play Sri Lanka.

Forced to dig deeper into the domestic cricket talent pool Sawyer believed they had unearthed some players who would make a name for themselves at international level in the not so distant future.

"We had spoken about in particular that the Sri Lankan series was one that we were going to target to start to have a look at [some players] with a view as far ahead as 2029.

"What could our World Cup team start to look like? So while I don't think we were probably going to look at five or six players, it was always our intention to to actually look at maybe two or three and where they would fit in."

Selecting 19-year-old Emma McLeod and not hiding her in the batting order was a conscious decision - "we threw her in the deep end at three."

Throwing the ball to rookie Bree Illing to open the bowling was part of the test.

"We wanted to have a good look at them so it was never about bringing them in just to make up the numbers."

Sawyer believed there was still work to do on identifying talent at a younger age but thought the Under-19 programme and the New Zealand A tour were a step in the right direction for preparing up and coming players to be ready for the rigours of international cricket.

"I still honestly believe in that if you can dominate Super Smash and HBJ and post up some big scores, now, I think you've got to do that for more than one season, but I still think there's a pathway into the White Ferns."

Can one world cup win become two?

Nearly a year after winning the T20 World Cup the White Ferns could win the ODI World Cup for a second time (after first winning in 2000) in India in October.

"After winning this one, there's no reason why not again.

"I think we've got a really good plan for India of how we want to go about it. We had a good experience over there a few months ago and we're trying to get maybe a training camp over there as well. So I think we're going to be really, really well prepared.

"We've shown to everybody that tournament play is something that we can excel in a little bit. And again, if you get out of the group stage and you get to that semi final, then everyone's human, and everyone feels the pressure, and I think anything can happen."

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