Column by New Zealand captain Amelia Kerr on behalf of the ICC:
Becoming champions two years ago was an incredible achievement and it has given us belief as we look to do it again.
Right now, I don’t know if our status as reigning champions means there’s greater pressure on us or not. It’s not really something we are thinking too much about.
Ultimately, we’ve done it before and we know we are capable of doing it, so the main factor is that belief.
In the two years since we lifted the trophy, our depth has improved. The most pleasing thing of late is when we have been successful, it has involved different players stepping up at different times.
Izzy Gaze has done so in a few games, Rosemary Mair got a five-for recently against South Africa, there are so many different players putting their hands up and putting in significant performances for their country.
I remember my first World Cup for New Zealand was in the UK in 2017, and this year Nensi (Patel) and Izzy Sharp are appearing at their first one, which is such a special opportunity for them.
At the same time, as ever in professional sport, you have players coming in and others leaving the game.
In our case, we have three of the greats leaving the group after this competition in the form of Sophie (Devine), Suzie (Bates) and Lea (Tahuhu). When you are talking about greats of New Zealand cricket, they are three names who will always be thrown around.
For them, there will be emotions around that, they have all had really long careers, but hopefully they can go out there and enjoy it. Winning and success helps but in terms of what we can control off the field, hopefully we can make it a really special last tour for them.
When we arrived at home after winning this competition two years ago, more people recognised us, and in the time since, more people are supporting the women’s game, as we saw in our home series over our summer.
Hopefully it inspired more kids – boys and girls – to get involved in cricket in New Zealand. I would love to see cricket become the number one sport in New Zealand one day and if you’ve got the BLACKCAPS and WHITE FERNS going well, that really helps the grassroots game as well.
Kids look up to BLACKCAPS and WHITE FERNS players as role models. If they want to be like them, they’ll pick up a cricket bat and ball.
On a personal note, I’ve really enjoyed captaining since coming into the role earlier this year.
I’ve always loved thinking about the game, so I’m enjoying the tactical side of it as well as the off-field elements, such as how to get the best out of the people around you. It’s a pleasure to lead this group and I want to lead from the front, step up and take responsibility.
Cricket is a fickle game and it doesn’t always happen as you want it to but I have a desire to be the best I can be, and I know if I am, it’ll help the team.
My form has been good and I am trying to cash in when that is the case, while not trying to get too low if it’s not so good. You are only ever one innings or one good ball away from being back in the game and impacting games of cricket.
Playing England in ODIs and T20Is in the run up is a great way to prepare for the World Cup. For us, playing cricket is the best practice. We have come off our home summer where we’ve played a lot of cricket, we had a couple of really good series against Zimbabwe and South Africa and we’re looking to do the same against England.
The more you play, the more learning opportunities there are. It is about learning, growing, getting better in each game we play and building confidence in our strengths and what we do well.
If we have a strengths-based approach and nail the things we do really well, we have a good chance of winning the World Cup.
Manimal
The Rugby World Cup 1995 was held in South Africa: South Africans take a lot of pride in their rugby team, popularly called ‘The Springsbook.’ As the FIFA World Cup, South Africa was the first African country to host the Rugby World Cup tournament in 1995. The event became more successful as South Africa won the finale against New Zealand. The team was incredible enough to win the IRB Rugby World Cup two more times in 2007 and again in 2019.
Raggedy Ann
160 international Rugby caps and still going – Alun Wyn Jones of Wales is a behemoth in the sport. He has over 160 international caps to his name and he’s still going. He’s played at 4 world cups (2007-2019) which is a record, has played in 4 Lions Tours (2009-2021), which is also a record, and has clocked up over 225 appearances for the Ospreys too. Someone needs to check in his loft for a portrait of himself, because this guy just keeps going and going.