New Zealand's team to face England

New Zealand's team to face England

Fellow blogger Syd Egan recently speculated on the England squad to tour
New Zealand in February - a tour that I will be lucky enough to be
covering. I have to say I cannot wait. For those of you that haven't
read Syd's piece yet it is here. His 15 are:

Edwards, Knight, Taylor, Greenway, Winfield, Beaumont, Sciver, Gunn,
Hazell, Brunt, Shrubsole, Cross, Jones, Wyatt and Farrant. For what it's
worth (which is not a great deal) I think they will probably take Marsh
and Grundy rather than Wyatt and Beaumont.



But what of the New Zealanders they will be facing? So far New Zealand
have played just three games in the ICC Women's Championship, all
against the West Indies, in the West Indies, and they have lost them
all. They are bottom of the ICCWC table of eight teams. They will be
desperate to get something out of England's tour to New Zealand.



New Zealand currently have 10 contracted players - Suzie Bates, Sam
Curtis, Sophie Devine, Holly Huddleston, Hayley Jensen, Felicity
Leydon-Davis, Sara McGlashan, Morna Nielsen, Katie Perkins and Rachel
Priest. In addition to these another 10 players were also named in the
White Ferns High Performance Squad in October - Kate Broadmore, Nicola
Browne (who declined a contract), Maddy Green, Georgia Guy, Frances
Mackay, Hanah Rowe, Sian Ruck, Amy Satterthwaite, Lea Tahuhu, and
Natasha von Tilburg.



The squad that went to the West Indies in September was the contracted
10, plus Green, Guy, Satterthwaite, Tahuhu. No-one really came out of
that disastrous tour with any great credit, except perhaps Sophie Devine
who averaged 40.25 in the four ODIs - only Bates, Priest and
Satterthwaite averaged in double figures and only Devine, Bates and
Priest scored 50s. Debutant off-spinner Georgia Guy also did well and
was the top bowler with seven wickets.



You would guess that the selectors will stick with the contracted 10,
plus vice-captain Satterthwaite, which leaves just 3/4 slots available.
Guy deserves to keep one of them, but the others seem to be up for
grabs. Seamer Tahuhu only bowled five overs in the Windies and has not
put down a huge marker in the current New Zealand domestic season.
Frances Mackay on the other hand has had a good start to the domestic
season both with bat and ball, but may already be behind Guy in the
off-spinning pecking order. On the opening bowler front Hanah Rowe is a
young contender. She has had a decent start to her season with Central
Districts and at 18 could provide back-up to Nielsen, Huddleston and
Leydon-Davis.



A few of the New Zealand batsmen seem to be in decent nick. Sophie
Devine scored back-to-back hundreds in the domestic OD competition for
Wellington against Canterbury earlier this month; Amy Satterthwaite
scored a hundred for Canterbury against Wellington and 97 against Otago;
Sara McGlashan scored a hundred against Otago and was 96* against
Northern Districts for Auckland; and Kate Broadmore has scored 53* and
115* for Central Districts, which must put her name in the frame for the
final squad. Keeper batsman Rachel Priest has also scored a ton for
Central Districts against Canterbury in her first OD of the domestic
season.



However there have been few stellar bowling performances by any members
of the High Performance squad, which could account for the glut of
centurions, and must be of concern to the selectors with only just over
two months to go until the England tour begins. To add to their woes
captain Suzie Bates has not been in sparkling form with either Otago in
New Zealand or, beforehand, in the Aussie WNCL with Western Australia
(alongside Charlotte Edwards). She, along with the rest of the White
Ferns, will have a maximum of six more domestic ODs and three domestic
T20s to find some form and force their way into the squad for a very
important series for both teams.