Annihilation of India proves the biggest obstacle to New Zealand’s World Cup dream will be self-doubt, says Scotty Stevenson.
Second place is a tough spot to find oneself in a two-horse race, and the White Ferns had finished second more times than they would care to remember in the months leading into the T20 world cup in Dubai. A tough tour to England was followed by a three-match sweep by Australia enroute to the Middle East. Losing is a habit, for sure, but in T20 cricket it’s one that can be swiftly broken.
It never feels like that when you’re in the middle of a slump. The vultures start to circle and whirl above the latest carcass of defeat, just when the bones of the last one have been picked clean. Answers can be hard to find at such times, but when the chips are down the teams that truly believe in their work ethic and their collective ability will turn things around.
To sign up to Scotty's weekly newsletter go to 1News.co.nz/subscribe
It is an unrelenting heat inside the Dubai International Stadium. Outside, a flotilla of school buses has been unloading tiny Indian patriots upon the sun-bleached sand lot. They have sung and chanted their way here, accompanied by the horns and toots of the afternoon traffic, crawling along the freeways as the sun sinks over the ocean and backlights the skyline of this impossible city.
Inside they pack out the lower decks and a brass band strikes up for the first number in a three-hour marathon performance. As the light withdraws from the darkness, the stadium traps the heat of the day. There is no sea breeze inside, no respite from the evening’s oppressive hold. Into this furnace step the White Ferns and India. This is where the mettle will be tested.
Sophie Devine wins the toss and chooses to bat. It could be considered a safety-first tactic – the Ferns are a team that feels confident setting a total and trusting the bowlers to stymie the chase – but it also makes sense for a team wanting so desperately to trust in their strengths. Up top: Suzie Bates, in her ninth world cup, and Georgia Plimmer, in her first.
It was Bates who set the tone. The veteran pulled the first and third delivery to the boundary and allowed Plimmer (34 off 23) to settle into her rhythm and accelerate. The pair saw out the power play and took New Zealand to 67 before Bates looked to up the ante and fat batted one to mid-wicket.
Plimmer fell three balls later, but that brought the skipper to the crease, and Devine had a platform upon which to show the world why she is so feared with bat in hand. By the time the innings was over, Devine had a 21st T20 half century and ended unbeaten on 57.
Confidence
There were raw numbers to consider, but there was something more: there was a confidence inherent in how the team put together a total. The power play frustrated the Indians. The remonstrations of their captain Harmanpreet Kaur when the umpires called a dead ball instead of a Melie Kerr runout showed a fragility beneath the affected tough exterior. India thought this game was theirs for the taking. The White Ferns were taking it away.
New Zealand’s 160 was bang on the magic number, but this team had been capable of decent scores in the past without the requisite close out required. Not this time. Jess Kerr bowled tough in the powerplay. Eden Carson, the diminutive offspinner with the big occasion temperament snared Shafali Verma with her first delivery and had Smriti Mandhana two overs later. Rosemary Mair trapped Kaur in the sixth, on her way to taking career-best figures of 4-19.
New Zealand dominated in the field, celebrated every wicket, grew taller every over. By the end of the power play the atmosphere had been vacuumed from the stadium and the predominantly Indian crowd had begun to recede at pace, rushing for the exits as quickly as they had poured into their seats.
Everything the White Ferns did worked, and there wasn’t much the White Ferns did that they hadn’t done before. They simply believed in what they were doing. It was 36 degrees celsius and the Indians were melting.
To be there live was to bear witness to a lesson in belief. Here was a Ferns team unburdened by the travails of the past. Here was a team that knew its constituent ingredients were effective when combined in the right measures, in the appropriate order. There was joy in this alchemy; the smiles and celebrations on the field more than made up for the shrinking silence of the crowd that watched its team demoralised and destroyed.
Tough assignments remain, but on that sultry steaming evening, a truth revealed: destiny does not depend on the past, and the love, gratitude, fight and spirit of this team are its greatest strengths. If they can find a way to keep believing, keep fighting, keep being thankful for each other, and remain uncowed by any team that awaits them, their path can be lined with gold.
And self-doubt is no companion to be taking on that walk.
SHARE ME