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“There's no easy matches anymore”: White Ferns prepared for anything in Sri Lanka
Logan Swinkels • June 27th, 2023 9:34 am
The New Zealand White Ferns are scheduled to begin their tour of Sri Lanka on Tuesday with the first of three ODIs.
Greeting them in Galle are scorching hot temperatures with Tuesday’s forecast set for a high of 31 degrees Celsius.
Speaking with NZC media, White Ferns captain Sophie Devine was her honest self about competing in the heat.
“I’m not sure I’d say I’m happy to be bowling in this heat,” Devine quipped.
“We certainly knew what we were in for coming from the cold winter of New Zealand, but it’s fantastic, we’ve had two great trainings to acclimatise.”
The ODI series is part of the 2022-25 ICC Women’s Championship series – India is currently top of the standings with a maximum twelve points from six matches, Pakistan is second with ten points through nine matches, New Zealand sit third on eight from six.
Sri Lanka have also played nine matches through the current IWC period, but with a 2-5-0 record, they seventh out of the ten competing nations on six points.
“These series play in an important role in developing the women’s game – we’ve seen over the last couple of years with the IWC that it’s important to build depth in the women’s game and Sri Lanka are a real threat, especially when you have to play them at home,” the captain said.
“They’re going to suit the conditions for them, so it’s going to be a real challenge for us to come over here and steal some points.
“There’s no easy matches anymore, it puts pressure on which is what we want.”
Rival captain Chamari Athapaththu poses as one of the biggest threats at the crease, but through scouting and analysis, the White Ferns skipper believes they are ready for whatever the hosts might throw at them.
“We know the impact she can have on the game, she’s a big wicket – we’ve identified a few key ways of dismissing Chamari, but we also know we need to keep our eyes peeled for some of their other player to and we need to focus on,” Devine said.
Weather could impact the opening match of the series with a 48% chance of thunderstorms, according to AccuWeather. So, what condition are the Sri Lankan pitches in?
“What we were preparing ourselves for was difficult spinning wickets, so I think if we keep things nice and simple, back the strengths and what we’ve worked on for the last couple of months at home hopefully we’ll be able to go alright,” Devine stated.
UPDATE: NZ Cricket have confirmed that the White Ferns tour of Sri Lanka will be livestreamed on YouTube.
