Maddy Green got the job of explaining away an underwhelming performance by the White Ferns during their opening T20 game against Pakistan.
The tourists clinched a historic seven-wicket win in Dunedin yesterday.
It was their first T20 win against the White Ferns in nine games.
Green was the best of the Kiwi batters. She posted an undefeated 43 from 28 deliveries.
But the White Ferns’ tally of 127 for six was at least 20 runs shy of a more competitive tally.
"Obviously it is disappointing any time you lose, but I thought that the Pakistan team played really well," Green said.
"[They] bowled really tight lines and the intent that they came out with, with the bat, through the middle made it really hard for us.
"Hopefully, we can bounce back on Tuesday."
That match is in Dunedin as well and the White Ferns will be hoping to bowl a lot better than they did. They will need to bat more aggressively as well.
"We talked about trying to bowl a bit fuller and hold the sticks a bit more. But it took us a little bit to get to that.
"We got together at the 10-over mark and said we just needed to be tighter.
"But, look, we didn’t bowl our best, but credit to the way the Pakistan girls came out.
"They were pretty ruthless and put the pressure on us.
"From a batting point of view it is about how do we get going quicker, and be able to have a platform to finish off the last three or four overs with a bang.
"We probably just lost a few too many wickets through the middle which made it hard for ourselves."
- The Otago Volts’ one-day game against Northern Districts was abandoned without a ball being bowled yesterday.
The Volts had won the toss and elected to bowl but steady rain meant the covers were never removed.
Otago’s next game is against Central in New Plymouth on Thursday.
The Central-Wellington game scheduled for Palmerston North was also washed out but Auckland beat Canterbury in Christchurch to go from second-bottom on the Ford Trophy points table to second behind Northern Districts.
