White Ferns destroyed by Australia in historic opening defeat

By Niall Anderson

The White Ferns’ Twenty20 World Cup campaign has started in dire fashion, with Australia dishing out a 97-run thumping – New Zealand’s heaviest T20 defeat.

Victory was always going to be unlikely against the Australian juggernaut that has won five of the last six T20 World Cup titles, and even more unlikely when Australia reached 173-9 – their highest score against New Zealand.

The unlikely then became impossible once Suzie Bates and Sophie Devine were both remarkably dismissed for golden ducks in the first over of the chase, and from there it was merely a question of how bad the drubbing would be.

‘Extremely bad’ was the answer, with the Ferns rolled for just 76, their fourth-lowest total in T20 history.

New Zealand’s previous biggest defeat by runs was a 59-run loss, also to Australia, in 2012, and while margins of defeat usually don’t matter in big T20 chases, where going for broke is often the optimal strategy, this time a smarter, defeatist approach would have been more appropriate to protect their net run rate.

The good news for the Ferns is this result shouldn’t impact their chances of making the semifinals. Australia are highly likely to go 4-0 through the group stage, meaning the Ferns just have to beat hosts South Africa (Tuesday, 6am), Bangladesh (Saturday, 2am) and Sri Lanka (Monday, 6am) to advance.

They will be favoured in all three games, and with their supposed toughest test, South Africa, losing their opener to Sri Lanka, even a 2-2 record could be enough if their net run rate is healthy, hence a more measured chase would have been advisable.

Their net run rate has now been severely dented by Australia, but every team in the group will likely get a similar shellacking, as once again the defending champions had too much depth and class to overwhelm some brief Ferns flurries.

So, when Beth Mooney departed for a duck in the first over thanks to a sharp catch from Eden Carson at backward point, that just brought Meg Lanning (41 off 33 balls) to the crease to combine with Alyssa Healy (55 off 38) and set a pristine platform.

And when the dangerous Ashleigh Gardner was dismissed fourth ball, Ellyse Perry (40 off 22) simply stepped up to keep things moving.

The Ferns’ biggest regret may come in not reviewing an lbw shout when Perry was on 11. Amelia Kerr, who was New Zealand’s best bowler with 3-23, had her trapped lbw but barely appealed, thinking there had been an inside edge, and Perry was let off the hook and bashed Australia to a hefty total.

Kerr aside, New Zealand didn’t bowl well enough. Lea Tahuhu’s three wickets were somewhat deceptive, as two came from unthreatening deliveries and she leaked 37 runs, while Fran Jonas (0-31 off three overs), Carson (0-13 off one) and Hayley Jensen (1-39 off four) were equally expensive without the wicket-taking rewards.

It left New Zealand needing 174 for victory, a task that would only be accomplished if Devine and/or Bates produced a world-class performance.

But, after Megan Schutt started the innings by spraying a delivery down the legside for five wides, Bates tried to scoop her first legitimate delivery and lost her middle stump.

Devine’s approach was more traditional but the result was the same, with an inswinger trapping her lbw, and both openers were gone for golden ducks.

Kerr then struggled to get going, with Darcie Brown bowling 10 consecutive dot balls, while Bernadine Bezuidenhout (14 off 10) showed promising glimpses in her first international in three years before being dudded by an all-time howler by the third umpire, with even the Australian players looking bemused to see her given out when it looked like the ball had clearly bounced before Brown had got her fingers underneath it at mid-off.

Maddy Green briefly looked good before being sloppily run out, while Kerr struggled to eight off 22 balls, smacked 13 off an over, then was bowled for 21 off 30.

At 51-5, the Ferns should have been thinking about net run rate preservation, but with five specialist batters being followed by a mishmash of bowling all-rounders, pinch hitters and sloggers, there was little resistance, with Gardner wiping out the tail to end with 5-12.

The White Ferns haven’t made the semifinals at an ODI or T20 World Cup since 2016, and while the path to the semis is still clear, this performance has reinforced the gulf in class that will await if they get there.

This article was first published on nzherald.co.nz and is republished here with permission