Cricket’s a funny game. As much as geographical borders divide, when sport mandates it, those dotted lines blur quite easily. Look at Group A in the Women’s T20 World Cup. New Zealand, India and Australia – as things stand – have a tussle among them to squeeze past the league stage and into the knockouts.
In the fight for survival, India needs to beat Australia and will hope a wounded Pakistan manages a final roar against New Zealand so it can keep one playoff berth for itself.
New Zealand will bank on Australia thrashing India and expect to see off Pakistan without a fuss to ensure the Trans Tasman neighbours hold hands and step into the final four.
It’s understandable then that White Ferns captain Sophie Devine wants to throw on an Aussie shirt and silently cheer for the defending champion when it takes on India in what promises to be its hardest challenge yet in this World Cup.
“Yeah potentially. We might schedule a training session at the same time,” Devine said after a comfortable win against Sri Lanka in Sharjah on Saturday. “I think a few of us might be donning an Australian shirt and cheering them on a little bit. We know it’s going to be a great game. They’re two fierce competitors and two quality sides, so at the end of the day, let’s just hope there’s a good game of cricket and that Australia win,” she quipped.
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New Zealand began its T20 World Cup campaign in the United Arab Emirates on a euphoric high, beating India by 58 runs in Dubai. A deflating loss to Australia followed where the Kiwis were outperformed in every department in a 60-run loss. The White Ferns resurrected their playoff bid with an eight-wicket win over an already battered Sri Lankan side and will hope to make short work of an inconsistent (albeit courageous) Pakistan side come Monday.
“We’re really pleased with the position we’re in. Our fate is in our hands in terms of whether we can progress through to the semifinal. We’re fortunate as well that we play last in our pool. So we know exactly what the situation will be before we play our last game. So for us, it is simple. We will now reflect, review and watch the game between India and Australia with a lot of interest. Hopefully, our Aussie mates can do us a favour and win against India,” Devine explained.
The win against India was New Zealand at its all-round best. Since then, Devine and her side have not been able to replicate a complete performance of the same kind. Against Sri Lanka, the bowling left much to be desired with the Sri Lankan batting order given plenty of extras (15 - 8 wides, 1 no ball) to ease their starting trouble with the bat.
“The thing about cricket is that we hit the win today but there are still so many areas of improvement that we can focus on. I think we probably missed the stumps, we were a bit too wide and we got punished for that. On the field, we missed a couple of opportunities here and there. But I think I would be more concerned if we felt that we were perfect,” Devine said.
Should Australia lose to India and by a big margin, what was a two-way fight for the semis will become a three-way tussle. Net Run Rate will then be the campaign saver or party pooper depending on which side of the line you’re on. But Devine is wary of letting the math dominate the side’s competitive mindspace ahead of the final few days of the group stage.
“ Cricket has a funny way of biting you in the bum if you don’t give it the respect you deserve. I have seen situations in different competitions and different leagues where if you start focusing on those little things like Net Run Rate, teams lose games completely after being in a position to win. We wanted to make sure that we won the game today and we still did it comprehensively with a couple of overs to spare and with wickets in hand. The Kiwis are placed well because we will know where the group will lie before that last game and have a flexible squad and bowlers on the side who can come out and do the job,” she added.
It’s expected then that there potentially could be a lot of anxiety floating around the group but Devine says it’s key to deal with it all with balance.
“It’s very Kiwi in nature that we stay pretty placid. We don’t want to ride the highs and lows of the cricket because if you’re doing that it’s going to be an emotional rollercoaster and you can exhaust yourself, especially in a World Cup event,” the outgoing skipper said.
Up against them in the final game is Pakistan which will be buoyed by the return of skipper Fatima Sana. The all-rounder is set to return to Dubai after rushing home following her father’s demise. The team began its World Cup with a sleek win over Sri Lanka on the opening day of the tournament, but has since slumped to two losses on the trot against India and Australia.
While the gate to the knockouts looks shut for Sana and Co, there’s no reason why they wouldn’t want to take New Zealand out of contention along the way.
‘Pakistan is in a really dangerous position in that they’re playing for pride and obviously with Fatima Sana’s loss, wanting to play for her… You don’t get any more motivation to get up than that. So we know it’s going to be a big ask and it will be on us to make sure we are focusing on how we want to play moving forward,” said Devine.
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