A painful three-run loss in the opening game of the Cricket World Cup wasn’t what the White Ferns expected, but they’re hoping the history of the last two tournaments repeats itself, writes Suzanne McFadden.
More than an hour after Sophie Devine had walked off the Bay Oval with another century to her name, she was still padded up.
The White Ferns skipper joked she could have had “another go” out in the middle, and maybe steered New Zealand to victory in the opening game of the Cricket World Cup at Mt Maunganui.
Because if Devine could have a go at rewriting the script of what turned out to be a first chapter thriller in this tournament, she’d make sure New Zealand wouldn’t have lost to a fierce West Indies side by three runs in a heartbreaking final over.
The White Ferns would have fed off the energy of 10,000 cheering fans packed into Bay Oval, instead of the several hundred who were dotted safely around its banks.
Devine would have had herself staying at the wicket long after she’d been spectacularly caught and bowled by Chinelle Henry for 108 - her sixth ODI century and her first in four years - just when the swashbuckling captain was ready to “launch” in the New Zealand innings.
And she would certainly not have had Barbadian Deandra Dottin convincing her Windies skipper Stafanie Taylor to hand her the ball for the final over - when the White Ferns needed just six runs for victory. It was Dottin’s only over of the game, and the only over the wily, experienced all-rounder has bowled for two years after a serious shoulder injury almost ended her career.
Instead, Dottin became the unexpected hero of day one, as New Zealand lost their final three wickets in the next five balls (trapping Katey Martin LBW, Jess Kerr holing out at mid-off and teen Fran Jonas run out at the non-strikers' end, before she’d even faced a ball), leaving the home nation well and truly stunned.
But that, of course, is big match cricket, and it was the kind of crazy nail-biter any World Cup organiser would dream of for the first-up match - an encounter that went a long way to prove just how entertaining and skilful women’s cricket is.
Of course, no one would be bonkers enough to rule out the White Ferns after one loss. Had they reached the 260 they needed for victory (after the West Indies piled on 259/9), it would have been the greatest run chase in World Cup history.
And the home side have to hope recent World Cup history will repeat itself. At the last two tournaments, the host nations lost their first matches and then went on to win the title.
“There is hope!” Devine said afterwards. “It becomes really clear to us now - if it wasn’t before - that we’ve got to win from here on in, and that’s something we’ve got to embrace. It’s in our control now.”
The White Ferns don’t have time to dwell on it, with their next game on Monday in Dunedin, against Bangladesh in their World Cup debut.
“We know we’ve got to go back to what our strengths are, particularly when we play against a side we haven’t played much in the past,” Devine said.
It was a gutsy, ground-out century from Devine (her 108 coming off 127 balls, notching up 3000 runs in her ODI career as she went). But she struggled to find partners to stick around at the other end.
For her fellow opener, Suzie Bates, it was just bad luck - sent back to the pavilion with just three runs to her name in the fourth over, when Henry got her fingertips to a ball driven back to her by Devine, deflecting it onto the stumps as Bates was out of her crease. Amelia Kerr went uncharacteristically cheaply too.
Then Devine’s deputy, Amy Satterthwaite, joined her and contributed a solid 31 in a 76-run partnership. When Henry’s smart one-handed juggling catch dismissed Devine, New Zealand had 45 runs from 35 balls remaining in their chase.
Devine felt the White Ferns could take heart from the fight from Martin (44) and Jess Kerr (25), who looked to have set up a New Zealand victory. Especially when Martin hit consecutive fours off the last two balls of the 49th over, and the White Ferns needed six runs off six balls - still with three wickets in hand
“That shows the grit of this team, a bit of mongrel, to try and take it as deep as possible,” Devine said.
But then as Shakera Selman stepped up to bowl the last over, Deandra Dottin took charge.
“Deandra pretty much just came up to the stumps and said give me the ball,” West Indies player of the match Hayley Matthews said. “And we were like ‘well you haven’t bowled international cricket in about a year now, literally hasn’t bowled to anyone in the nets since we’ve been here.
“A player like Deandra Dottin, when she says give me the ball, you just give her the ball.”
Still the West Indies could have sealed their victory a lot sooner, but dropped half a dozen catches (including Devine twice before she reached her ton).
Matthews was a stand-out with both bat and ball, despite a tweaked hamstring. She unexpectedly opened the West Indies’ batting after Rashada Williams was ruled out of the match with a concussion.
She was aggressive from the outset, when the White Ferns bowling attack got off to a scratchy start, giving away too many runs. Matthews went on to score her third ODI century - as wicketkeeper Martin unceremoniously landed on top of her in an unsuccessful run-out attempt. She responded by hitting the only six of the match.
Matthews’ sweetly-timed 119 off 128 balls, which included 16 fours, was her highest score in ODI cricket, and the best innings by a Windies batswoman in New Zealand. She finished her all-round performance with impressive off-spin bowling figures of 2-41.
A home team victory was what the small crowd allowed into Bay Oval (10 percent of the ground’s 10,000 capacity) had come to see.
It was hard not to look out around the banks - sparsely populated by picnicking families - and imagine the opening spectacle it might have been were it not for Covid.
But CEO of CWC22, Andrea Nelson, was still proud of what unfolded on Friday - the first of 31 matches in 31 days - played amidst a global pandemic which has done its darnedest to delay and derail the tournament over the past two years.
“I feel pride for our team pulling [the tournament] together under such trying circumstances, pride for the players for making the journey here, enduring quarantine, and putting up with the same level of uncertainty. And pride for New Zealanders for embracing the event,” Nelson said during the match.
“As an events person, you’re used to judging success by the number of people in the stands, so this is a real mindset shift. But we’re so delighted we could open up to the people who are here.
“And there’s a long time until the final on April 4. We are ready to respond to whatever might happen, and if that means eventually we can have more people coming in, that would be great.”
Devine hopes that’s the best-case scenario, too.
“Absolutely we’d like to be playing in front of sold-out crowds. But, look, it’s the environment that we live in now, and fingers crossed by the end of the tournament we’ll have a few more through the gates,” she said. “But until that point we are just going to have to create the energy ourselves.”
