White Ferns v England - Coach's View

Back out to the suburbs playing at the Chemplast sporting ground.

Going into the final pool game we have come to expect the lightning fast Chemplast ground to give all batters an advantage.

We are in the position of knowing that our place in the final is secure.

Again the opposition sent us in to bat and unfortunately we lost Maria Fahey’s (four) wicket early through a run out. This was followed by Tiffen’s (13) wicket in the sixth over.

A good partnership from the returning Tsukigawa (45) and Bates (48) settled things down a little.

However wickets fell regularly throughout the remainder of our innings with all players getting starts but unable to post a high individual score. Mason (45), McGlashan (30) and Milburn (25) were the culprits in this area.

We were saved when Milliken (10 n.o.) and Charteris (20 n.o.) came together and added 28 run in 23 balls. Lou’s highlight up until this time surely was that the English spead the field each time she took strike

Obviously this new found respect for her batting lifted Lou’s (4/42 off 10) spirits and she came out firing taking early wickets to destroy the English top order.

The English were 6/82 off 19 overs before the lower order embarked on some heavy hitting, which we were unable to counter.

They pushed past the bonus point mark and certainly looked as if they could take full points. Again on this wicket we were unable to get the ball full enough to stop the big hitters from getting underneath the ball.

However, we were able to pull it together to take our fifth win, following Louise’s performance others that bowled well were Sophie Devine with 3/38 off nine, and Selena Charteris who bowled well in her first three overs, before changing ends and finding the English in full flight.

Game Seven awaits us and Australia stands between the White Ferns and title holders. This again is a chance to show how far we have come.