With their daughter, Grace, watching in the stands, White Ferns Amy Satterthwaite and Lea Tahuhu have led NZ to their second victory at the Cricket World Cup.
It was a happy night for the Tahuhu-Satterthwaite family, as the married White Ferns duo were standouts in New Zealand's important 62-run World Cup match victory over India in Hamilton last night.
While vice-captain Amy Satterthwaite top-scored for the Ferns with 75 in the 260 total they set India to chase, the Ferns' strike bowler Lea Tahuhu made up for some expensive overs earlier in the World Cup tournament, finishing her 10 over spell with three wickets and an incredible economy rate of 1.70.
The couple's two-year-old daughter, Grace, was sitting up in the White Ferns box for the first innings, to at least see Satterthwaite's performance with the bat.
“It’s always really special to take the field and know that your daughter’s there, watching," Tahuhu said afterwards. "It’s a pretty cool time in our lives."
Both women, who've been key players in the White Ferns for many years, talked about how frustrated they'd been with their personal starts to the tournament.
"To be honest I was probably disappointed with my first two games. It was not where I wanted to be," Tahuhu said. "I did a lot of work in the nets yesterday with [White Ferns bowling coach] Jake Oram, so it was nice to bounce back from what I would say was a pretty rocky start to the tournament for me personally."
Player of the match Satterthwaite, who reached a milestone of 4500 ODI runs early in her innings yesterday, had spent her time in the nets practising moving her feet to spin.
“I was really disappointed with how I played in the first game, and probably let [the spinners] into the game,” she said. “This wasn’t positive enough and almost brave enough. It was a real reflection to go back and look at how I was playing, and if I can walk off and say that I’m playing the way that I want to regardless of how it goes, then I can at least accept that.”
There may have been mixed feelings in the Kerr family, as the younger of the sisters, Melie, reached her sixth ODI 50 and took 3-56. Elder sibling Jess made up for her golden duck in the White Ferns' lower order batting collapse, with a maiden over and then a wicket within New Zealand's first six overs in the field.
At the end of the White Ferns innings, fans would be forgiven for thinking their total of 260 was slightly under par. "We actually thought we were probably 10-15 [runs] short. We lost a few too many wickets at the back end, and we couldn’t capitalise on the last 10 overs with the bat," Tahuhu said.
India had won the toss and chose to bowl, with White Ferns captain Sophie Devine admitting they were planning to bat anyway in fine Hamilton conditions, with an unchanged line-up from their win over Bangladesh on Tuesday.
The crowd congregated under the few trees on the sunny Seddon Park bank, with the ground looking close to its allowed 20 percent capacity.
It was a taste of what could have been - the crowd growing in size and volume as the game went on, with flags and signs for both teams waved throughout, as the White Ferns found the boundary early.
Opener Suzie Bates couldn’t replicate her performance against Bangladesh, run out at the start of the third over as she tried to run a quick single from Devine.
Number three Melie Kerr and Devine kept the score ticking along, sharing the strike until Devine was caught on 35. It was a typical speedy score for the New Zealand captain, seven fours and seven singles from 30 balls shooting their score upwards.
But it was the incoming Satterthwaite who’d make the difference for the White Ferns, notching up her 27th ODI 50. Satterthwaite shared significant partnerships with Kerr, Maddy Green and Katey Martin before being caught on 75.
“There were certainly patches where I really struggled, and tried to build an innings with whoever I was batting with to try to take it as deep as we could to set up a bit of a platform hopefully to launch from,” said.
After a damp outing in Dunedin, the only thing raining in Hamilton was fours. The first six Kiwi batters all got in on the fun, with 28 boundaries between them.
Melie Kerr became the first batter to record five consecutive 50-plus scores against India in women’s ODIs, but couldn’t push any further, her review being futile after being given out LBW, bowled by Rajeshwari Gayakwad, in the 22nd over.
The White Ferns had some lucky moments - a few dropped catches by Indian fielders giving a reprieve to the Kiwi batters, but the tail end fell apart for the Ferns.
Hayley Jensen fell for seven, Lea Tahuhu was bowled with just a single and Jess Kerr was gone for a golden duck, the Indian team snagging three wickets in nine balls - dropping the Ferns total from what could have been to a middling 260.
Pooja Vastrakar was the pick of the Indian bowlers, finishing her 10 overs with 4-34 (with the chance for a hattrick), as the Indian fans started to make themselves heard in Hamilton.
It was a tidy start from the White Ferns in the field, who decided to open the bowling with the offspin of Frankie Mackay, with India starting with two left-handed batters to the crease.
It was the ever-reliable hands of Bates that caught the first wicket of Smriti Mandhana, who had to depart for six, off the bowling of Jess Kerr.
The second wicket came at the end of the 10th over, the umpires having no interest in the LBW appeal from Tahuhu (who came in as the first change in the White Ferns bowling attack) despite the cheer from what seemed like all 11 White Ferns. The Ferns were successful with their review and Deepti Sharma departed for five, India well behind at 26-2.
Tahuhu praised the Ferns' bowling attack, their ability to strike throughout the innings meaning India couldn't develop any solid partnerships.
"One of the things with this bowling order is that anyone can do any job they’re asked to do," she said, taking three wickets of her own.
"It’s a bit of a different challenge [to bowl at first change] but its’ still nice to put a performance out there no matter when you’re thrown the ball."
As the sun set, the New Zealand supporters grew louder, showing their appreciation for Hannah Rowe who was busy on the boundary, saving a lot of runs for the home team, while Mackay used her usual smarts in the field to put pressure on the Indian batters.
A Melie Kerr/Martin stumping preceded a clean bowl from Kerr, the 21-year old sitting on a hattrick ball in the 30th over. The Kiwis in the crowd buoyed her on, but the Indian fans roared louder when new batter Sneh Rana cut the ball past the closely-packed fielders all the way to the boundary.
Harmanpreet Kaur reached 50 for India in the 42nd over, and immediately hit the first six of the game to the admiration of the crowd. She followed that up with two more fours and another six from an expensive Jess Kerr over, giving Indian fans reason to keep the faith.
With nothing to lose and an improbable equation to win, the boundaries kept coming for India but ultimately the slow start was their undoing; Hayley Jensen removing the final two batters in consecutive balls, and India were all out for 198.
The White Ferns leapfrog West Indies, India and South Africa to sit second behind Australia on the overall points table, but have played one more game than all teams (and two more than South Africa).
All eyes will return to Hamilton on Saturday, as India take on the surprise dark horses of the competition, the West Indies.
The White Ferns’ job doesn’t get any easier, taking on tournament favourites Australia on Sunday, who sit comfortably at the top with wins over England and Pakistan.
