After a humiliating loss against Australia in the Women’s T20 World Cup 2024, White Ferns captain Sophie Devine was disappointed with the batsmen’s and bowlers’ performance.
New Zealand suffered a 60-run defeat against defending champions Australia. After Australia set up a target of 149, the White Ferns were bundled out for 88 runs at Sharjah.
Devine said they let the run rate accelerate quickly from the start where Australian batters scored successfully. While speaking in the post-match conference, Sophie Devine said,
“We needed to get a good start, we let the run-rate creep up and in games like that the run-rate can accelerate so quickly. Disappointing night, but as we said after the first game we won’t get too high when we win or too low when we lose.”
“The wicket played a little better than what we thought it would, we knew what Australia would bring. We will take some key learnings from this.”
Magnificent Melie 🌀
The White Ferns spinner returned excellent figures as New Zealand and Australia went head-to-head at the Women’s #T20WorldCup 👊#AUSvNZ #WhateverItTakes pic.twitter.com/YN6HSY3vW3
— T20 World Cup (@T20WorldCup) October 9, 2024
Sophie Devine wants to improve on the next game against Sri Lanka and needs more wins in the World Cup tournament.
“We will reflect and refocus before our next game against Sri Lanka. With the ball we strayed a bit too far from the stumps, that’s where we were good against India where we kept them in play.”
“In the field we were sloppy and with the bat, we need to be more courageous and that’s what we need to do to win games in this World Cup.”
She pointed out that maintaining a low run rate in the upcoming matches could bring success in qualifying for the semi-finals.
“It was always a discussion point, we want to win the game obviously, there was a thought process about the run rate but we weren’t good enough tonight. We have got two games to go and we have to make sure that we keep ourselves in a good position to qualify for the semi-finals.”
Sophie Devine also spoke about the challenges of facing Chamari Athapaththu when they face Sri Lanka in their next match.
“Taking it one game at a time, not focussing too far ahead. First, we need to win our next game which is against Sri Lanka, that is our most important game, they bring a different challenge with Chamari who is a big threat,” concluded Sophie Devine.
New Zealand women and Sri Lanka Women will clash at the Women’s T20 World Cup on October 12 at Sharjah Cricket Stadium.
