Cheers Ferns, for being you and for the Great Ride

By The Spotter

I want to cut the White Ferns some slack and negate a bit of the angst. There’s been plenty said and written since the England defeat. Most of it negative; rightly, or wrongly.

I much prefer to think of the gutsy fightback from an almost hopeless situation in the England match, not forgetting they were as well dogged by a bit of bad luck in that game.

Most of all though, I’ll savour and recall the ride they’ve given me/us during the tournament. I thought they had some of the spirit of KZ7 1986-87 about them (without quite as much winning, perhaps.)

Yes, with a bit clearer heads they probably could have got there in a couple of the close ones they eventually lost, against the West Indies- particularly the West Indies- and South Africa. A case, some might say, of almost snatching defeat out of the jaws of victory.

But not enough credit has been given to the opponents for the expert bowling and batting we faced at the death in those two encounters- against South Africa Marizanne Kapp was in such rare form that even a good block-holer got sent at breakneck speed for four.

In every single interview I heard over radio or on TV, I want to thank our team for their sincerity- if that sounds hokey, so be it. I want to thank them too for the way they fought so hard to be great and to never give up in the way that our sports teams do. I’m so proud of that.

Something I think we could have done better tactically was to be a bit more flexible. I can hardly recall an instance of us bowling from around the wicket when we were being hit around a bit, or as a change of line to a batter who was set at the crease.

On the positive side again, the future is bright. We have a world-class player in Amelia Kerr as the Captain-in-waiting to eventually succeed Sophie Devine. And I reckon she’d be brilliant at it. You can see and sense her determination and ability- I watched so many of the Ferns’ matches very closely, and I swear that a go-to shot for the camera people in the end was of her steely look and urging on of those around her. If she doesn’t become a great leader I’ll eat a whole jar of dastardly marmite.

And best of all? The number of kids that this team and tournament has inspired- girls, but also boys. They’ll of course care about our losses, but they won’t get down on the team like the adults do. They’ll wake up and still have the team as heroes. And really, something like a home World Cup is, or should be, all about the kids and not really us, when you think about it.

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