White Ferns Sophie Devine (left) and Suzie Bates. PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES
Hitting the mark
White Ferns Sophie Devine (left) and Suzie Bates. PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES
Regular readers may have noticed the rather gentle poke I had at the White Ferns leading into the T20 World Cup — something about them being the worst team in the country.
This was all a cunning ruse with the purpose of inspiring greatness.
That greatness looked like it might elude them when they were soundly thrashed by Australia in game two.
But the stumps were aligned for the White Ferns.
They did not have to play either England as expected in the semifinals nor Australia in the final.
That does not diminish their achievement at all.
They grew throughout the tournament and produced their best in the final to beat South Africa.
It is hard not to get a bit emotional for the likes of Suzie Bates and Sophie Devine, who have tried so hard over the years and must have had their doubts as well.
Now they can finally call themselves world champions.
Crease bound
If you think the Volts had a bad day at Hagley Oval on Wednesday then spare a thought for Gambia.
Quick refresher — the Volts were thumped by 240 runs in a one-day against Canterbury and opener Chad Bowes pummelled a double ton from 103 balls to set a list-A world record.
But Gambia had a worse day by a large margin. They played Zimbabwe in a T20 and their opponents smashed a world record 344 for four.
Sikandar Raza swatted a century off 33 balls and finished unbeaten on 133 from 43 balls, having clouted 15 — 15! — sixes. Gambia replied with 54. That’s right. They were all out for 54 and lost by 290 runs.
Oh, and Gambian bowler Musa Jobarteh took none for 93 from four overs. Ouch.
Clubbing it
Premier-grade cricket gets under way next week and we promise only to make positive mentions of that awful scoring system which New Zealand Cricket thrust upon community cricket.
Word is PlayHQ has actually made some positive changes this season.
We shall see. In lieu of some actual club cricket to report on we can confirm the Swamp Rats beat the Old Rats in a preseason game at Sunnyvale last weekend.
Some very familiar names featured for the Old Rats. Dion Lobb (23), Ant Harris (18) and Geordie Scott (42) emerged from retirement to clout a few.
The declaration
Spotted this headline on Cricinfo: "India’s invincibility under threat as NZ look to complete the impossible". Offered with no further comment.
