Which 6 New Zealand Cricketers could make their Women’s ODI World Cup debut this year?

The home favourites New Zealand are looking forward to repeating the 2000 historic Women’s Cricket World Cup win which was the last time prior to this year they hosted the big tournament. Sophie Devine led team looks in good shape in the ongoing bilateral series against India with the experience of vice-captain Amy Satterthwaite, former captain Suzie Bates, the young star Amelia Kerr along with several other players coming to display ahead of the 2022 ICC Women’s World Cup where they compete with West Indies in the inaugural match on March 4.

The 15 players squad for the White Ferns looks to be an experienced line-up and it seems that the 6 players mentioned below who would be playing their first ODI World Cup from the country would learn a lot from them.

1. Lauren Down:

Captain of Auckland in domestic cricket, Batter Lauren Down made her ODI debut in March 2018 against the West Indies. In the 19 ODI matches she has played; Down has accumulated 253 runs with the highest score of 90 that came against Australia in 2021. In the ongoing New Zealand Cricket Women’s One Day Competition which Down had to leave midway following her national team call-up, she is currently ranked as the 3rd highest run-scorer with 261 runs that includes 3 50+ scores, the highest being 124.

2. Brooke Halliday:

All-rounder Brooke Halliday made her international debut in February last year and was awarded her first central contract with New Zealand Cricket in May 2021 ahead of the 2021-22 season. Contributing majorly with the bat, Halliday has played 13 ODI matches and has aggregated 298 at 24.83 with the highest score of 60 while she has bowled in just 3 of them taking a wicket each in her 2nd and 3rd match.

3. Hayley Jensen:

The experienced all-rounder Hayley Jensen was New Zealand’s leading wicket-taker in the 2020 ICC Women’s T20 World Cup with 7 wickets. Talking about ODIs, the 29 years old has played 25 matches with a total of 255 runs (Highest- 53) at 12.14 and 16 wickets (2-26) at 44.06.

4. Fran Jonas:

Emerging bowler Fran Jonas is a player to watch out for. The 17 years old plays for Auckland in domestic cricket was the youngest to get a development contract by New Zealand Cricket in 2020. Months later in February 2021, she made her international debut and on Tuesday took her 1st international wicket that came in the 2nd ODI against India, a spell in which she conceded 60 runs.

5. Jess Kerr:

Star all-rounder Amelia Kerr’s sister, Jess Kerr made her international debut in 2020 and since then has been a consistent performer for the White Ferns. With 15 wickets in 12 ODIs, Kerr’s career-best spell came last Saturday in the 1st ODI against India where she took 4 wickets giving away 35 runs. As a lower-order batter, she has aggregated 76 runs as well.

6. Rosemary Mair:

Bowler Rosemary Mair returned to international cricket on Tuesday in the 2nd ODI against India after a gap of around 10 months. With her best ODI spell of 2/21, Mair has made an appearance in 12 ODIs and has got 5 wickets from them- 4 of which have come against the Aussies & the remaining one against India.