White Ferns coach Ben Sawyer admits it's going to take time to turn things around for his struggling side, having just come off a winless tour of England.
The disappointing trip ended with a 20-run loss at Lord's yesterday in the final Twenty20.
It meant they were swept 5-0 in the T20 series after losing all three one-day internationals.
“No one’s happy with that, it's been a really tough tour and everyone's disappointed at those results, but I can say we're working really hard with our players to turn things around,” Sawyer said.
Since coming in as head coach of the White Ferns in 2022 the team has won 16 out of 36 T20 matches and eight from 21 ODI matches.
The White Ferns have only won three of their last 15 T20 matches and five of their last 15 ODIs.
"In terms of results on the field, I completely understand it. I'm a competitive person myself and we're in high performance sport and I know I'm going to get judged on that.
"I do feel that the work me and all the staff are doing individually, we are seeing gains. Are we seeing those as a team at the moment? No we're not and I have to put my hand up for that."
The White Ferns coach said he thought there were some good individual performances on the tour but ultimately they couldn’t put them together in the same match.
In the final T20 at Lord’s Fran Jonas was the first female to take four wickets in a T20 at Lord's.
Sawyer also said he felt they were "learning on the job" against England and the depth of his squad was tested.
“We don’t have the depth of other nations, England showed us that. I think we played against 18 or 19 players on this tour and when new ones came in, it didn't really make a difference to their side.”
Sawyer added that NZC are trying to help develop and build depth but that it’s going to take time.
Time is not White Ferns’ friend however, as the T20 World Cup is set to take place in Bangladesh in October.
Sawyer's contract is set to finish at the end of the World Cup.
They are in a tough group as they will face Australia, India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan, with two or three wins required to make it to the knockout stage.
Australia (1st) and India (3rd) are both ranked above the White Ferns (4th) in T20 cricket.
NZ also lost their home T20 series against 8th ranked Pakistan last summer, making surviving the group stage a more challenging task, especially with the White Ferns having to play in unfamiliar conditions in Bangladesh.
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