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Follow UsNew Zealand have just defeated the West Indies by eight runs in a T20 World Cup semifinal, and Eden Carson, who has been at the centre of their campaign with her brilliant bowling, can’t stop giggling about all of it.
The giggle is almost ditzy; a character from Gossip Girls wouldn’t feel out of place doing that exact thing. But the watery eyes defy the light-hearted nature of all of this. She’s emotional, with her voice just slightly breaking, and then she tells the broadcasters herself with an apologetic smile that she’s a bit emotional.
This amalgamation of giddy happiness, the cathartic realisation of the enormity of their achievement, and the underlying journey of underdogs to potential champions evoked all those emotions in the 23-year-old off-spinner from Dunedin.
After all, Carson doesn’t come from a background that would make you easily associate her with cricket. She grew up amongst sheep and cows and all other farm animals on her family farm worked on a dairy farm, and then also became a veterinary nurse to take her love for animals to a professional conclusion.
After playing hockey, she became an off-spinner of all things as she became serious about her cricket career. New Zealand is no country for spinners as much as it is a country for sheep and Lord of the Rings. That’s why their leading wicket-taker in T20I cricket amongst spinners is leg-spinner Amelia Kerr, who’s actually an all-rounder and made her debut as a 16-year-old in 2016.
The fact that Carson is already fourth on that list after playing 30 games should tell us that she wasn’t inheriting a pedigreed position on the team. Along with left-arm spinner Fran Jonas (who's 20) and Kerr, she made up a very young spin bowling attack for the White Ferns.
So, when she was picked for the T20 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) where the spinners were going to reign supreme, even the most knowledgeable of experts were merely cautiously optimistic about her chances. She had taken four wickets in the T20I series against England and three against Australia right before the World Cup.
So it wasn’t as if she was making a big noise by breaking the timber often. Moreover, New Zealand’s streak of 10 losses coming into the tournament ensured that hardly anyone rated her or her team to be strong contenders.
And boy, did both of them prove everyone wrong!
Right from the first game against India, she was right on the money. In an interview with ESPNCricinfo, she said how she was already gearing up for her match-up against Smriti Mandhana. When the match arrived, Carson dismissed both the Indian openers and derailed not only India’s chase in that game but also their campaign, as India never recovered from the 58-run loss in the tournament.
It’s what you wish to see in a young player, right? The zeal to take up challenges in her stride and execute what she knows the best?
The good thing is that Carson not only knows a lot about what she needs to do, but she’s also very good at it. That’s why she has bowled almost half of her deliveires in this tournament on a full length. It has been a very smart strategy from her not to give batters a lot of time to adjust on slow turning wickets by bowling full.
The percentage of full deliveries increases even more during the powerplay, the phase in which she is the most successful spinner in the competition, with an economy of just 5.4 and an average of 9.8. In fact, six out of her eight wickets in the competition have come in the first six overs, and that was where she attacked Pakistan in the must-win group stage game and then the West Indies in the semi-final.
In Sharjah, her length became as important as her line as she didn’t leave the stumps for most of her spell, and she used her off-break delivery beautifully, bowling it around 80 kmph and allowing it to drift in the air before pitching. One such delivery was too good for Qiana Joseph, the Player of the Match in Windies's last must-win game against England, who was clean-bowled trying to slog Carson.
In her next over, she also made Shemaine Campbelle mishit one drive straight to Suzie Bates at extra cover, and suddenly, New Zealand had a new energy in their steps as their total of 128/9 started looking defendable. If those two scalps in the powerplay weren’t enough, she cleaned up the former World Cup-winning captain, Stafanie Taylor, who was just freeing up her arms after a boundary.
Up against the big hitters of West Indies, a team who has hit the most number of sixes in the history of Women’s T20 World Cup, Carson remained unfazed and finished a spectacular spell where she showed immense control on her line, length and speed.
When the result finally came, Carson was declared the Player of the Match, making it two in two for her in both the must-win games of the tournament for New Zealand.
It’s this mixture of smart brain, elite skills, unbridled happiness and unrestricted emotions that makes Carson such a fascinating character in a team that’s very soon going to see the departure of their senior most players.
However, Bates and Sophie Devine should not worry about spin bowling. This T20 World Cup has given them someone who’ll serve the White Ferns for years to come.
While her cats, cows and sheep might miss the giggling queen when she’s away from home playing cricket, the significant amount of cash she’ll bring home after being a champion can buy them treats for years. Because, at 23, Eden Carson is just starting; she has already giggled herself into stardom and her team into a T20 World Cup final.
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