World champ White Ferns humbled again in 82-run T20I loss to Australia
Sunday, 23 March 2025
T20I women, Bay Oval: Australia 204-3 (Beth Mooney 70 from 42 balls, Georgia Voll 36 from 20, Phoebe Litchfield 32 from 29) beat New Zealand 122 all out in 16.1 overs (Melie Kerr 40 from 36; Annabel Sutherland 4-8 from 2.1 overs, Alana King 3-27 from 4) by 82 runs. Click here for full scoreboard.
The series was over before game two was even quarter of the way through.
The White Ferns may be T20 world champions, but it remains crystal clear that there is a gulf in quality between them and Australia, who won by 82 runs in Mt Maunganui on Sunday.
The trans-Tasman visitors had romped to an eight-wicket win in the three-match series-opener in Auckland on Friday, and it’s increasingly difficult to see where New Zealand will be able to bridge the gap to at least make a contest of the finale in Wellington on Wednesday.
Australian openers Beth Mooney (70) and Georgia Voll (36) again obliterated the home team’s bowlers in the Power Play, laying the platform for the side to reach 204-3 from their 20 overs.
In reply, the White Ferns lost three wickets in their first five overs and were never in contention, despite Melie Kerr’s 40 from 36 balls at No.3.
Left-handed Mooney top-scored for the second successive match, surviving a chance offered on 22, but was mostly blithely untroubled by all but Kerr of the home team’s bowling line-up.
Her placement was impeccable as she struck 11 fours from 42 balls, and was even happy to play the lesser light to her opening partner Voll initially.
New Zealand’s two fielders outside the ring in the opening over to the big-hitting right-hander were at cow corner and long-on, but that did nothing to stem the flow of boundaries from the outset.
With the second ball she faced, Voll lifted a Jess Kerr delivery over the square leg fielder and out to the boundary, and hit three clever fours against offspinner Eden Carson in the next over.
Voll, who made her international debut in December, had raced to 36 from 20 balls before interim captain Suzie Bates turned to Sophie Devine - not a desperation move, given the veteran’s record with the ball, but indicative of Australia’s overpowering threat.
Devine did the trick with a bouncer as wicketkeeper Polly Inglis pulled off a sharp catch standing up, but Australia still ended the Power Play at 67-1 - just 10 less than they recorded at Eden Park, with vastly bigger boundaries in Mt Maunganui.
It was no surprise that the World Cup winners appeared defeated in the field. Australia’s batters treated seamer Rosemary Mair with disdain, and Ellyse Perry (29 not out from 15) and Annabel Sutherland (23no from 15) delivered further punishment in the latter overs.
Legspinner Alana King, not required in Auckland, got rid of Bates in the second over, and when Devine fell the ball after Georgia Plimmer’s departure, any possible hope of an upset had evaporated. Annabel Sutherland enjoyed the freedom allowed to capture 4-8 from 2.1 overs with her seamers as the home side were dismissed for just 122 with 23 balls remaining.
Melie Kerr tried to do it all, but the Player of the Tournament at last year’s World Cup triumph needs to be employed earlier with the ball to slow down a side which was without vice-captain and allrounder Ash Gardner, who has returned home with a fractured finger sustained at Eden Park.
“I mean, it could be an option,” Kerr said after the heavy loss.
“There's been no chat about it and I know Alana King bowled their second over today. But then it just means I've got less overs through the middle and at the end, where I've been successful for this team and which has helped win games for us in the past.
“Stats for leggies in the power play isn't great, but if the team needs it and we think it's a good matchup, then maybe I'll have to.”
Kerr admitted it had been a tough series to date.
“They're a world-class side, but I think we would love to compete a whole lot more than what we have. We've been off the mark, personally and as a team, with both bat and ball.
“I think we've bowled a lot of loose balls at times, which means we haven't been able to build pressure and the our good balls don't take wickets because they're scoring off our bad ones. Obviously, chasing 200, building partnerships and generating big strike rates has been tough.
“For us, it's how can we compete more and I guess build belief and have a bit of mongrel about us, because we know that if we do play our best we can beat them.”