Cricket: White Ferns' 2000 World Cup win: 'Everyone played their part'

The White Ferns face a stiff challenge to begin their Women's Cricket World Cup in India tonight against red-hot tournament favourites Australia.

But if history is anything to go by, it could be a precursor to success.

Rewind 25 years to 2000, when the White Ferns overcame an opening loss to Australia to then beat them in a nailbiting final.

At a windswept Lincoln, near Christchurch, two days before Christmas 2000, Clare Nicholson took the last wicket with her canny off-spin.

Australia needed just five runs in their chase of New Zealand's under-par 184 when tailender Charmaine Mason edged the ball to wicket-keeper Rebecca Rolls, and the umpire slowly raised his finger.

To this day, it is New Zealand's only tournament win in a 50-over World Cup for men or women.

"It was very faint, but I heard the nick as soon as it hit the bat, I think even before it reached Rollsy's gloves. I heard it loud and clear, so definitely knew it was a wicket," Nicholson said.

Huge celebrations followed for the now-58-year-old and her team-mates as the jubilant crowd ran on to the park.

"Well, funnily enough I get a bit of grief for the fact that I went straight and grabbed the stumps," Nicholson said.

"I happened to watch the Aussie men play in a test match during the week. We watched a bit of that on TV. They win the test match and they run and grab the wickets.

"I always had that in the back of my mind that if we won in the final, grab a wicket. Poor Rollsy, I left her hanging for a while."

She still has that stump, signed by the team.

"Everyone played their part through the tournament, and I think the structure of the tournament was really good in that we got to play all the teams in round-robin, then the top four went through.

"I think just the way the tournament was run, that was really good. And having the home support was memorable as well."

Nicholson retired from international cricket after the final, after struggling for a couple of years with injuries.

She has been involved in coaching at the North Shore Cricket Club and still plays social "Friday tonk" in Devonport.

Campbell's key role

A lot of the tournament's success was due to the work of Catherine Campbell who, as an NZ Cricket employee, was one of the organisers.

She then played in it - and was crucial to New Zealand's win, helping slow Australia as they chased just 185.

"My immediate memories are just the jubilation at the end. It was a huge crowd. We hadn't batted particularly well in our innings and we knew we would have to bowl and field well, and we did and we just applied heaps of pressure," Campbell said.

"It was such a dramatic finish - that last over and the crowd. To get a wicket off the first ball was amazing."

The 62-year-old still works for NZ Cricket as its chief cricket operations officer.

Even now she feels nervous when she watches the final again.

Like for this year's tournament, New Zealand faced Australia in their first game in 2000. The White Ferns lost.

"I don't think it necessarily derailed us at all. I think possibly it made us more determined," Campbell said.

"It just means that the pressure goes on for the following match and the following match after that. I can't imagine that a team would necessarily go through the tournament unbeaten."

After that opening loss, New Zealand swept aside all the other teams.

Campbell also retired after the World Cup as a successful generation of New Zealand internationals, including the legendary Debbie Hockley, moved on.

Taking her time

Captain Emily Drumm played on for another few years though. She is now involved in coaching at Parnell Cricket Club and does radio commentary.

The 51-year-old remembers taking ages to decide what to do when Australia needed five runs to win and New Zealand one wicket.

She was tossing up giving the ball to Nicholson, or all-rounder Haidee Tiffen.

"Gosh, we took about seven or eight minutes to make a decision, to get the field right. It wasn't easy, I can tell you that much.

"Lots of deep thought. I still think about it occasionally, the decision, which ultimately came good."

The White Ferns were a strong team and had played together for a few years before their win - including a loss in the 1997 World Cup final, also against Australia.

They beat Australia in a series in 1999 in Palmerston North and also had big wins over South Africa and England before the 2000 World Cup.

"Even though we're 25 years older it's certainly a memory that will live long, and so it should really.

"The event was probably the first of its kind where the women's game was taken a little bit seriously. Fast-forward 25 years and we're in a different realm."

To highlight that, Nicholson and Campbell finished their careers conceding less than three runs an over with the ball.

Now, scores of 250 or even above 300 are common in 50-over games.

All three women will follow the White Ferns' progress this year, 12 months after the team won the twenty20 World Cup.

Nicholson advises the current team to take it match by match and learn from any loss.

Campbell said it would be a great start if the White Ferns could beat Australia, although that would be difficult.

"One thing that New Zealand teams do is we tend to fly under the radar a little bit.

"I don't imagine that we'll be considered one of the favourites, and sometimes that suits our style. We prefer to be a little bit of the underdog in the background and just go about our business."

Drumm said conditions in India and Sri Lanka would be factor.

"I'll be watching to see whether we've really prepared well for playing on potentially low, slow wickets - whether we can play square of the wicket well. I think we need to over there.

"I can't wait. I'm ready."

New Zealand plays Australia from 10.30pm today. Follow all the action with a live blog on rnz.co.nz.

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