September 10, 2024 • 12 mins
White Ferns All-Rounder Amelia Kerr joined D'Arcy Waldegrave to discuss their squad naming ahead of the T20 World Cup later this year.
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sports Talk podcast with Dancy Wildergrave
from News Talk z'd be.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
We're joined now by a white fern Meelee Kerr. Ahead
of a rather hectic schedule. Right in the middle of
that schedule is the T twenty I World Cup. It's
over in Dubai, the Arab Emirates. The team of fifteen
has just been announced. Me Kerr is amongst that number.
No surprise there. She's quite handy with a bat and
a ball. Meely, welcome to the show. I believe you
(00:35):
get a couple of days at home and then you're
tearing away again. What Australia then do buy it? Then India?
Wow's that's quite the mission.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
Yeah, it's a full on schedule, but it's exciting with
what's coming up and really looking forward to it. Nice
that the team's been named today and mareally looking forward
to getting overseas and playing in different conditions and there's
nothing better than playing in a World Cup.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
There isn't what the team itself. You look at that
fifteen that's there and it's got a siah amount of
talented long term individuals, which is good, not too dissimilar
to the team though of the recent years, which I
call a spade a spade, hasn't been going well, has it.
You had that rotten old tour of England, you didn't
do much better over here as well. What's the confidence
(01:22):
levels like amongst the athletes right now?
Speaker 4 (01:25):
Maly, Yeah, it's a good question. I guess.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
The thing with sport sports tough, and cricket's extremely tough.
It's a fickle game and I think you know, we've
recently just come off a really tough tour against England
and for us so we know as cricketers and as players,
we actually are all getting better and I think we've
all made a lot of strides forwards and the results
(01:50):
didn't quite show that in England, but with playing against
one of the best sides in the world, you hope
that the learnings and there's improvements that I guess we've
made from that series and hopefully can implement in the
World Cup. But the thing with our World Cuts is
that you play every every team months or the teams
in your pool once.
Speaker 4 (02:11):
And it's a one off game and anything can happen.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
And with T twenty crack at the shorter format, you know,
a good day can win you a game, so I
think it brings everyone closer together and there's a lot
of talent in this group. But yeah, with tough tours,
the last thing you want is that denting the confidence.
So I think it's really important to keep building the
belief in players and allowing players to go out there
(02:34):
and express themselves because that's what they've been picked for.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
You said it can go one way or the other
because it's such a short game. When we get that,
but when you get beaten five zip and even in
the Odies it was three zip, but it's a different version,
it's hard to gain confidence out of that as a
fan because arguably five games you should have maybe nicked two,
possibly three of those. To see her, I'm coming from
(02:58):
here where we want to support the team. It's not
looking good. What can you tell us to make us
go Damn, I'm buying into this. I want to keep watching.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
Yeah, I guess one it's your country, so you hope
that you have the support of your country behind you.
And I think the other one is I mean, Pinnacle
events are always exciting, you know. You see we've spoil
all around the world. That it's hard, you know, you
look at the all blocks at the moment the Warriors
(03:28):
this year compared to last year, it's hard to consistently
stay at the top. But I think we've been working
bloody hard behind the scenes and what we've done with
the amount of camps we've had to help grow our game.
And as you said, losing does dent confidence and that
doesn't help always, but if we can stay positive, and
that's to do with the culture and the team and
(03:50):
building confidence because as I said, cricket's very fickle and
sometimes the outcomes don't always represent the work you've put in.
But I think when we go and play more games
and more cricket, you've got to go in with a
fresh eye and you're no better or worse than you
were whether you got runs or didn't get runs. And
(04:12):
you've got to back yourself every time. And with World
Cup events, it's exciting. It's an exciting opportunity on the
world stage. And instead of playing with fear and being
low and confidence, you want to be able to express
yourself because not many people get to say they've represented
their country in a World Cup.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
What do you see as far as the team advancing
and mentioned that you are learning, there are areas where
you are improving. It's more apparent to people on the
inside than the outside. We can just see games where
you haven't had the success we want, so internally, where
the areas you think you're actually doing well, how do
you rake that? How do you come to these conclusions meeting?
Speaker 4 (04:54):
Yeah, I think.
Speaker 3 (04:56):
Over the few years we've grown a lot as a team,
and as I said, results haven't always shown that. But
I think the key to being great is probably the
top two inches and it comes down to belief and confidence.
And sometimes with New Zealand and that humble nature, I
think it can be upon us to talk down on
(05:19):
ourselves at times, but we've got to keep believing and
I think that's what it will come down to.
Speaker 4 (05:23):
It The World Cup is whoever believes in themselves the most.
And the thing is.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
Everyone's got the skills, everyone's done the work, So it's
about how you can go and put it out there
when you're in high pressure situations. And that's what great
teams do at World Cups and that's something we want
to be able to do and if we can keep
I guess building that belief and confidence because of what
we're doing at the moment, behind the scenes hopefully that
(05:49):
can then lead to results.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
Has that been changing behind the scenes. You've got Ben Sawyer,
You've got Dean Brown, a Pew people involved in that.
What have they looked at to reshape your narrative about
how you practice and what you do, because if you
keep doing the same things, you probably won't improve. What's
actually changing with in the camp?
Speaker 3 (06:08):
Yeah, I think within the camp is of late it's
nets have become a lot more competitive rather than you know,
someone bowling and then the next person bowling every net,
like each bowl is bowling in an over steading a
field what over.
Speaker 4 (06:21):
It is in the game.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
So trainings are very game like rather than just heading
balls for the sake of hitting balls and bowling balls
without consequences. So I think that just makes training as
similar as you can to a game. And we've also
got Craig McMillan who joined the White Fan's group as
an other assistant coaches of late.
Speaker 4 (06:42):
And obviously he's had a lot of success as a coach.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
He's watched a lot of women's cricket as a commentator,
so the knowledge and energy he's brought and has been outstanding,
but also the way he has worked us as a coach,
he demands high standards, so I think his addition and
the end the way we've adjusted a few trainings here
and there is only to make us better.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
He's never going to forgive me for missing him out
the end of that list. A bit of throat Paul
Wiseman there as well. Paul Wiseman is helping with your
tweaking in and I'm presuming that's going to be very
important in Dubai. What do we know about the decks
over there for this tournament?
Speaker 3 (07:22):
Yeah, I played over there in twenty seventeen actually, as
it wasn't a better the end and it feels like
a long time ago, so I don't quite remember it, but.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
It is seven years. Sorry.
Speaker 3 (07:32):
Yeah, I have heard that there's two different grounds. We're
in Dubai and then there's one in Sharja where we've
played before. And I think Dubai can be flat, a
little bit low, but it will kiss on and I
think it will be better under lights and then Shaja
might turn. So I'd say the wickets might be all
right at the start of the camp, but by the
time it comes to the end later in Paul stage
(07:54):
or Semi's finals.
Speaker 4 (07:56):
It could start to be a bit tougher for the batters.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Merely could joining us a fifteen member squad that's been
named for the ICC Women's T twenty World and she's
part of that. There's only one player who hasn't had
experience at that World Cup level, so the experience is
deep as he gaze as the person there when you
look at the number of players and I'm sure at
(08:20):
the top of their game. And I love seeing someone
like Lee Casprick come back from what she's and Lea
to who and the like as well. This is this
is great stuff, the fact that Divine and Baits have
stick around. I suppose the question here though, is what's
the level like coming beneath because we're not seeing new
players coming through. The results haven't been there, but the
players have held on to their roles, so it's the
(08:42):
next level coming through? Are they pushing hard enough? Do
we have the depth in women's cricket here in New
Zealand to I suppose threaten if you will the status
quo mely.
Speaker 3 (08:54):
I think the death depth is definitely coming through, and
we saw that over the summer with the New Zealand
A series where they bet England and at the England
A side, who in England you've got all of professional cricketers,
whereas the girls that bet there in the A side
aren't professional cricketers or on contracts. So I think that's
pretty impressive. And I mean there hasn't quite been the
(09:17):
investment in the women's sport or a women's cricket in
New Zealand, but now it's improving a lot and getting
so much better. And because of that, I think we'll
see a whole lot of improvement. And I mean some
of the girls in our group, the youngest is still
twenty years old, so it is young, but I think
there's definitely people pushing and having a series and domestic
(09:40):
contracts and winter contracts help improve that because you've got
people knocking on the door. And I think now as
we're moving forward and that investment is starting to be
put in, you're going to see You're going to see
the competitiveness in the team and within the sport and
only see growth from that. Because it's the only way
(10:01):
to get better is when you're able to do it
as a full time job and commit to the and
that's what we're starting.
Speaker 4 (10:08):
To be able to do now.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
So the players are going to be starting to look
behind them going people are on their way. But this
is a case of an investment. It's finance, isn't it.
It's what you're saying here. We need that level to
build it up, to push these people at the top,
because it's very different between being an amateur and being
a professional. But that's happening, That transition is occurring merely.
Speaker 3 (10:29):
Yeah, it's definitely happening, and the support's increasing each and
every year, which is exciting for us as female athletes.
Speaker 4 (10:37):
And I think cricket's probably one of the.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
Fastest game in the women's sport, growing, growing globally around
the world with the investment and where it's heading, So
that's exciting and hopefully inspires girls to want to keep
getting better also. But I think also our Super Smash
as well being played on TV, the double headers. Personally,
(11:01):
I think the standards increased a lot from playing in it.
It's getting harder and harder each year. I see the
work that's being done from the girls and the team
and the girls at Wellington Blaze, and you can't fault
their work ethic and what they're putting in. And the
thing is because cricket is a game where not everything's
(11:22):
always in your control because you're playing an opposition that
can affect the outcoming away. So I think you think
of great players, it actually takes time for them to.
Speaker 4 (11:33):
Be great.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
And if it was easy, everyone would do it. But
I always say, you look at some of the best
in the world and their records. Or Kane Williamson, how
many hundreds he's scored, but how many games he's played.
Speaker 4 (11:45):
I'm sure he.
Speaker 3 (11:46):
Would love more and he's got a lot, but if
it was easy, you know, he'd have a whole lot more.
Speaker 4 (11:50):
But it just shows that crickets such a tough game.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
John F. Kennedy going to the Moon. We don't do
these things because they are easy. We do these things
because they are hard. There you go. I've been dying
to use that, Meily k Always a pleasure chatting with
your Thanks so much for your time. Three games in
Australia is the warm up A couple over there when
you get to the T twenty World Cup and in
(12:14):
your group India Australia at Sri Lanka and Pakistan. Friday,
the fourth of October is when that gets underway. More
sleepless nights for dus Meybe.
Speaker 4 (12:22):
Thanks for your time, cheer, Thanks Darcy awesome.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
Go For more from sports talk, listen live to news
Talks it'd be from seven pm weekdays, or follow the
podcast on iHeartRadio
You're listening to the Sports Talk podcast with Dancy Wildergrave
from News Talk z'd be.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
We're joined now by a white fern Meelee Kerr. Ahead
of a rather hectic schedule. Right in the middle of
that schedule is the T twenty I World Cup. It's
over in Dubai, the Arab Emirates. The team of fifteen
has just been announced. Me Kerr is amongst that number.
No surprise there. She's quite handy with a bat and
a ball. Meely, welcome to the show. I believe you
(00:35):
get a couple of days at home and then you're
tearing away again. What Australia then do buy it? Then India?
Wow's that's quite the mission.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
Yeah, it's a full on schedule, but it's exciting with
what's coming up and really looking forward to it. Nice
that the team's been named today and mareally looking forward
to getting overseas and playing in different conditions and there's
nothing better than playing in a World Cup.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
There isn't what the team itself. You look at that
fifteen that's there and it's got a siah amount of
talented long term individuals, which is good, not too dissimilar
to the team though of the recent years, which I
call a spade a spade, hasn't been going well, has it.
You had that rotten old tour of England, you didn't
do much better over here as well. What's the confidence
(01:22):
levels like amongst the athletes right now?
Speaker 4 (01:25):
Maly, Yeah, it's a good question. I guess.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
The thing with sport sports tough, and cricket's extremely tough.
It's a fickle game and I think you know, we've
recently just come off a really tough tour against England
and for us so we know as cricketers and as players,
we actually are all getting better and I think we've
all made a lot of strides forwards and the results
(01:50):
didn't quite show that in England, but with playing against
one of the best sides in the world, you hope
that the learnings and there's improvements that I guess we've
made from that series and hopefully can implement in the
World Cup. But the thing with our World Cuts is
that you play every every team months or the teams
in your pool once.
Speaker 4 (02:11):
And it's a one off game and anything can happen.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
And with T twenty crack at the shorter format, you know,
a good day can win you a game, so I
think it brings everyone closer together and there's a lot
of talent in this group. But yeah, with tough tours,
the last thing you want is that denting the confidence.
So I think it's really important to keep building the
belief in players and allowing players to go out there
(02:34):
and express themselves because that's what they've been picked for.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
You said it can go one way or the other
because it's such a short game. When we get that,
but when you get beaten five zip and even in
the Odies it was three zip, but it's a different version,
it's hard to gain confidence out of that as a
fan because arguably five games you should have maybe nicked two,
possibly three of those. To see her, I'm coming from
(02:58):
here where we want to support the team. It's not
looking good. What can you tell us to make us
go Damn, I'm buying into this. I want to keep watching.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
Yeah, I guess one it's your country, so you hope
that you have the support of your country behind you.
And I think the other one is I mean, Pinnacle
events are always exciting, you know. You see we've spoil
all around the world. That it's hard, you know, you
look at the all blocks at the moment the Warriors
(03:28):
this year compared to last year, it's hard to consistently
stay at the top. But I think we've been working
bloody hard behind the scenes and what we've done with
the amount of camps we've had to help grow our game.
And as you said, losing does dent confidence and that
doesn't help always, but if we can stay positive, and
that's to do with the culture and the team and
(03:50):
building confidence because as I said, cricket's very fickle and
sometimes the outcomes don't always represent the work you've put in.
But I think when we go and play more games
and more cricket, you've got to go in with a
fresh eye and you're no better or worse than you
were whether you got runs or didn't get runs. And
(04:12):
you've got to back yourself every time. And with World
Cup events, it's exciting. It's an exciting opportunity on the
world stage. And instead of playing with fear and being
low and confidence, you want to be able to express
yourself because not many people get to say they've represented
their country in a World Cup.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
What do you see as far as the team advancing
and mentioned that you are learning, there are areas where
you are improving. It's more apparent to people on the
inside than the outside. We can just see games where
you haven't had the success we want, so internally, where
the areas you think you're actually doing well, how do
you rake that? How do you come to these conclusions meeting?
Speaker 4 (04:54):
Yeah, I think.
Speaker 3 (04:56):
Over the few years we've grown a lot as a team,
and as I said, results haven't always shown that. But
I think the key to being great is probably the
top two inches and it comes down to belief and confidence.
And sometimes with New Zealand and that humble nature, I
think it can be upon us to talk down on
(05:19):
ourselves at times, but we've got to keep believing and
I think that's what it will come down to.
Speaker 4 (05:23):
It The World Cup is whoever believes in themselves the most.
And the thing is.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
Everyone's got the skills, everyone's done the work, So it's
about how you can go and put it out there
when you're in high pressure situations. And that's what great
teams do at World Cups and that's something we want
to be able to do and if we can keep
I guess building that belief and confidence because of what
we're doing at the moment, behind the scenes hopefully that
(05:49):
can then lead to results.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
Has that been changing behind the scenes. You've got Ben Sawyer,
You've got Dean Brown, a Pew people involved in that.
What have they looked at to reshape your narrative about
how you practice and what you do, because if you
keep doing the same things, you probably won't improve. What's
actually changing with in the camp?
Speaker 3 (06:08):
Yeah, I think within the camp is of late it's
nets have become a lot more competitive rather than you know,
someone bowling and then the next person bowling every net,
like each bowl is bowling in an over steading a
field what over.
Speaker 4 (06:21):
It is in the game.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
So trainings are very game like rather than just heading
balls for the sake of hitting balls and bowling balls
without consequences. So I think that just makes training as
similar as you can to a game. And we've also
got Craig McMillan who joined the White Fan's group as
an other assistant coaches of late.
Speaker 4 (06:42):
And obviously he's had a lot of success as a coach.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
He's watched a lot of women's cricket as a commentator,
so the knowledge and energy he's brought and has been outstanding,
but also the way he has worked us as a coach,
he demands high standards, so I think his addition and
the end the way we've adjusted a few trainings here
and there is only to make us better.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
He's never going to forgive me for missing him out
the end of that list. A bit of throat Paul
Wiseman there as well. Paul Wiseman is helping with your
tweaking in and I'm presuming that's going to be very
important in Dubai. What do we know about the decks
over there for this tournament?
Speaker 3 (07:22):
Yeah, I played over there in twenty seventeen actually, as
it wasn't a better the end and it feels like
a long time ago, so I don't quite remember it, but.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
It is seven years. Sorry.
Speaker 3 (07:32):
Yeah, I have heard that there's two different grounds. We're
in Dubai and then there's one in Sharja where we've
played before. And I think Dubai can be flat, a
little bit low, but it will kiss on and I
think it will be better under lights and then Shaja
might turn. So I'd say the wickets might be all
right at the start of the camp, but by the
time it comes to the end later in Paul stage
(07:54):
or Semi's finals.
Speaker 4 (07:56):
It could start to be a bit tougher for the batters.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Merely could joining us a fifteen member squad that's been
named for the ICC Women's T twenty World and she's
part of that. There's only one player who hasn't had
experience at that World Cup level, so the experience is
deep as he gaze as the person there when you
look at the number of players and I'm sure at
(08:20):
the top of their game. And I love seeing someone
like Lee Casprick come back from what she's and Lea
to who and the like as well. This is this
is great stuff, the fact that Divine and Baits have
stick around. I suppose the question here though, is what's
the level like coming beneath because we're not seeing new
players coming through. The results haven't been there, but the
players have held on to their roles, so it's the
(08:42):
next level coming through? Are they pushing hard enough? Do
we have the depth in women's cricket here in New
Zealand to I suppose threaten if you will the status
quo mely.
Speaker 3 (08:54):
I think the death depth is definitely coming through, and
we saw that over the summer with the New Zealand
A series where they bet England and at the England
A side, who in England you've got all of professional cricketers,
whereas the girls that bet there in the A side
aren't professional cricketers or on contracts. So I think that's
pretty impressive. And I mean there hasn't quite been the
(09:17):
investment in the women's sport or a women's cricket in
New Zealand, but now it's improving a lot and getting
so much better. And because of that, I think we'll
see a whole lot of improvement. And I mean some
of the girls in our group, the youngest is still
twenty years old, so it is young, but I think
there's definitely people pushing and having a series and domestic
(09:40):
contracts and winter contracts help improve that because you've got
people knocking on the door. And I think now as
we're moving forward and that investment is starting to be
put in, you're going to see You're going to see
the competitiveness in the team and within the sport and
only see growth from that. Because it's the only way
(10:01):
to get better is when you're able to do it
as a full time job and commit to the and
that's what we're starting.
Speaker 4 (10:08):
To be able to do now.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
So the players are going to be starting to look
behind them going people are on their way. But this
is a case of an investment. It's finance, isn't it.
It's what you're saying here. We need that level to
build it up, to push these people at the top,
because it's very different between being an amateur and being
a professional. But that's happening, That transition is occurring merely.
Speaker 3 (10:29):
Yeah, it's definitely happening, and the support's increasing each and
every year, which is exciting for us as female athletes.
Speaker 4 (10:37):
And I think cricket's probably one of the.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
Fastest game in the women's sport, growing, growing globally around
the world with the investment and where it's heading, So
that's exciting and hopefully inspires girls to want to keep
getting better also. But I think also our Super Smash
as well being played on TV, the double headers. Personally,
(11:01):
I think the standards increased a lot from playing in it.
It's getting harder and harder each year. I see the
work that's being done from the girls and the team
and the girls at Wellington Blaze, and you can't fault
their work ethic and what they're putting in. And the
thing is because cricket is a game where not everything's
(11:22):
always in your control because you're playing an opposition that
can affect the outcoming away. So I think you think
of great players, it actually takes time for them to.
Speaker 4 (11:33):
Be great.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
And if it was easy, everyone would do it. But
I always say, you look at some of the best
in the world and their records. Or Kane Williamson, how
many hundreds he's scored, but how many games he's played.
Speaker 4 (11:45):
I'm sure he.
Speaker 3 (11:46):
Would love more and he's got a lot, but if
it was easy, you know, he'd have a whole lot more.
Speaker 4 (11:50):
But it just shows that crickets such a tough game.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
John F. Kennedy going to the Moon. We don't do
these things because they are easy. We do these things
because they are hard. There you go. I've been dying
to use that, Meily k Always a pleasure chatting with
your Thanks so much for your time. Three games in
Australia is the warm up A couple over there when
you get to the T twenty World Cup and in
(12:14):
your group India Australia at Sri Lanka and Pakistan. Friday,
the fourth of October is when that gets underway. More
sleepless nights for dus Meybe.
Speaker 4 (12:22):
Thanks for your time, cheer, Thanks Darcy awesome.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
Go For more from sports talk, listen live to news
Talks it'd be from seven pm weekdays, or follow the
podcast on iHeartRadio
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