With just 47 days to go for the 2022 ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup, New Zealand is all decked up with excitement to host seven more teams in the race to the ultimate title and so are its players to keep the trophy home. While the Cup begins from March 4, the White Ferns welcome India early as they play a T20I and five ODIs against them from February 9 onwards which both the teams are looking towards as practice matches before the major tournament. In order to prepare for the packed cricket schedule lined up, Sophie Devine led team has assembled in Nelson for a national camp. Talking to stuff.co.nz, Devine who led Perth Scorchers to their maiden WBBL title last November, was all praise for her team.
She said, “I was really impressed with the focus of the group. There actually wasn’t too much talk about the World Cup because obviously the team hasn’t been named and there’s a World Cup selection still to come, so people were obviously focused on making sure that they put their best foot forward,”
Further, talking about the need for maintaining a balance between training and rest going into a hectic season with a World Cup scheduled as well, the experienced all-rounder said,
“It’s great that the World Cup’s at the back end of the summer, but it also means that we’re coming off a lot of crickets, so management becomes really important there, but we’ve got a great team around us to make sure that those sorts of things are well-managed, and the players are fighting fit and ready to go when the tournament starts.”
New Zealand captain Sophie Devine said she was really impressed with the focus in the group at the national camp.#NZvIND #CWC22 #CricketTwitter @WHITE_FERNS pic.twitter.com/fFR7Wo6ls4
— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) January 16, 2022
The two times WBBL Player of the Tournament who missed out on her hattrick of the title by a close margin to India’s Harmanpreet Kaur, also commented on her experience in WBBL|07,
“It’s been huge. It was a tough decision to go over to the WBBL because I would be missing some (part) of the domestic season here and some of the camps, but I think the experience that I’ve gained from playing in a winning side, being able to play under pressure, being able to play in a final situation, that’s really going to help me.”
The Skipper concluded the interaction with the hope of leading the team to the Finals of the World Cup that will take place at Hagley Oval in Christchurch on April 3.
Source: stuff.co.nz
Author of the poetry book ‘The Scent of Rhythm’, I am a passionate writer and a Sports enthusiast who writes on Cricket and plays Badminton.