NEWS
Follow UsOne recurring theme in this Women’s T20 World Cup has been maximizing the powerplay. With the conditions in both Sharjah and Dubai becoming slower as the game progresses, the powerplay has become the differentiating factor for teams.
On October 8 (Tuesday), it was yet again that powerplay phase which proved to be the difference between New Zealand and Australia. The six-time World Champions knocked off 43 runs in the first six overs, while the White Ferns could only score 29.
Eventually, that proved to be the difference between the two sides as New Zealand failed to have any sort of impetus in their run-chase of 149, losing by a huge margin of 60 runs. New Zealand’s Melie Kerr pointed that out in the post-match press conference.
“I thought in the powerplay, Aussie bowled really well, but I think in this World Cup, the powerplay is going to be really important with both bat and ball, and if you can win the powerplay I think you give yourselves a good chance to win and we didn't get enough boundaries, and it's it was even harder outside the powerplay with the slow outfield,” Kerr said.
However, the leg-spinning all-rounder also insisted that the wicket was ‘better’ than what she had thought. What made it difficult for the White Ferns to clear the boundary was the slower outfield, which meant that you had to hit the ball faster than normal to get boundaries.
“I actually thought the wicket played a little bit better than I thought. I think the thing that is probably more difficult here is that the boundaries are a bit bigger, but the outfield is slower, so I think even outside the power play, it can be really hard to get boundaries, so when you're chasing nines that makes it pretty difficult,” she said.
On a personal level, Kerr had quite a stellar game, picking up four crucial wickets with the ball, including knocking off Grace Harris for a first-ball duck. It was her 4/26 that broke Australia’s momentum in the first innings, as they were reduced to 148/8 despite being 109/2.
“Yeah, it's nice to be able to contribute with the ball and I think in these conditions, hopefully, I'll play a big role for the team. I think it was pretty simple, just trying to bowl as straight as possible and make them, I guess, play shots,” she reflected on her bowling display.
“We've got a great spin group. The young spinners in the group are awesome. They've helped me love spin bowling so much. They're awesome to be around and our spin coach as well. So, I think that also helps a lot there in training and off the field, I'm absolutely loving it.”
New Zealand were victorious in their first match against India. But the huge loss against Australia has brought that net run rate (NRR) down. The group could end up being decided on NRR. For them to progress, Kerr believes that they will concentrate on the ‘wins’ first and then worry about the net run rate, starting with the clash against Sri Lanka.
“Yeah, I think things are still in our hands. If we win our next two games, we give ourselves probably the best chance possible. First, you want to win the game. I think that's the key. You don't want to, I guess, go out there thinking you've got to beat them by X amount of runs and then throw the game. So, I think first you've got to win and take it one game at a time. Because if we win both, we give ourselves the best chance to qualify,” she concluded.
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