NZealand Women arrive for cricket series
NEW Zealand Women’s cricket team arrived in Jamaica yesterday morning for what their coach Katrina Keenan believes will be a tough series against West Indies Women.
Keenan, who said “women’s cricket is getting very competitive internationally”, believes the series in the Caribbean, which includes seven ODIs and as many T20s, will come down to the team that is prepared the best.
She said that “a lot of the series (women’s cricket) now being played are in sub-continent countries, so (in the Caribbean) it’s different from the tougher wickets we used to play on. “It’s going to come down to the team that’s prepared the best, and to follow through on the plans that they set out. “It will be a new experience for our players playing on West Indies wickets.” She further stated that the aim was to get in and read those conditions early.
New Zealand will have one practice game against Jamaica’s Under-17 male team tomorrow at Up Park Camp, before the start of the series on Sunday.
On the West Indies team, Keenan, a former fast bowler for New Zealand, said while she is well aware of Stafanie Taylor, who played in the Auckland team she coaches in New Zealand, as well as Deandra Dottin, whom she described as a “very exciting cricketer”, the focus will not be on those two big names.
“West Indies have talented players,” she said while adding, “the moment you focus on any one or two key players, then you have the young players or some you didn’t think about may come through … So I think it’s about looking at every player and getting a sense of what their strengths are, and their weak areas to see how we can exploit those (areas).
“At the end of the day it’s about us sticking to our plan and if we can do that, then we will have a good result,” she added.
New Zealand Squad — Suzie Bates (23), Erin Bermingham (19), Nicola Browne (14), Rachel Candy (9), Sophie Devine (77), Natalie Dodd (33), Maddy Green (51), Frances Mackay (71), Morna Nielsen (54), Katie Perkins (70), Rachel Priest (13), Sian Ruck (42), Amy Satterthwaite (17), and Lea Tahuhu (6).