Four down. Two to come. That’s the only way to look at this ICC World Twenty20 2016, says WHITE FERNS coach Haidee Tiffen in Mumbai.
“We’ve been treating every single game as a World Cup Final”, says the former WHITE FERNS captain.
“Six wins and you win the tournament — but to get there you have to take every game as it comes. So we consider ourselves back to zero after every win. Back to zero, start again.”
It must have been working, for the WHITE FERNS (Group A) and England (Group B) are the only unbeaten teams as the top four head into the do-or-die knockouts.
Momentum? Tiffen says that’s just another word for faith, and she has that in her players, and her players have that in each other.
“Momentum, I believe, is really talking about emoiton — it’s the buidling up of faith and belief within a side. Our team’s playing really well, and there is a lot of belief and confidence from within the group.
“And we’re developing a culture of learning and all supporting each other, as we all work to realise a dream.”
The gift of experience: Sara McGlashan has played 75 T20is for the WHITE FERNS
Ever respectful, the WHITE FERNS have been candid throughout about taking their tournament one game at a time — memories still fresh of the loss to South Africa that knocked them out of the 2014 World T20 in Bangladesh.
With chastening memories of a recent tour to the West Indies that did not go at all to plan, they will be treating Stafanie Taylor’s West Indians with due caution in Thursday.
Having two of the top ranked teams facing off in the other knockout Semi-Final (the forerunner to the BLACKCAPS' semi-final in Delhi) is a bonus they have earned from their performance, however.
Listen to Suzie Bates and Haidee Tiffen ahead of the 2016 Semi-Final in Mumbai here
The WHITE FERNS entered the tournament technically ranked third overall in the women’s world — although they have been gathering steam rapidly, and scored a key win over Australia in their third Group A match.
Australia is the WT20 defending champion and, not only that, has practically had an iron grip on the trophy: they’ve won three straight titles.
As we know, Australia is packed with talent — yet do not enter their semi undefeated, since the WHITE FERNS clinically smashed them.
They had also been beaten 1-2 by the same New Zealanders here on our own shores in the Trans-Tasman trophy contest in February, immediately prior to the tournament.
The WHITE FERNS having finished top of Group A, now Australia must face a fierce England side that’s hit its straps nicely.
Along with the WHITE FERNS, England is the only other undefeated team at this tournament — led by the vastly experienced Charlotte Edwards.
That’s unlikely to make the Meg Lanning-led unit nervous. The cream of the side, the likes of superstar-in-the-making Lanning and Ellyse Perry, is just too good to be written off like that.
Young Australian captain Meg Lanning is ranked number one in the world
Australia faces England in the first semi-final in Delhi this Wednesday 30 March, while the West Indies v WHITE FERNS fixture in Mumbai is set for the following day, Thursday night New Zealand time LIVE on SKY Sport from 9.30pm.
Stellar Stafanie Taylor’s West Indies women have been in three out of the four Semi-Finals since the women’s tournament began in 2009, and will enter their sudden death match against the WHITE FERNS with three from four in Group B — where they were the second qualifier behind England.
The WHITE FERNS are meanwhile two-time WT20 finalists, looking for third time lucky.
Having been the tournament’s leading runscorer, remarkably Suzie Bates and England’s Edwards are now neck and neck with 171 runs each — heading into the knockouts with an identical strike rate (116.32) having faced exactly the same number of balls.
Stafanie Taylor is next with 162 at a strike rate of 89.50.
The tournament has been a showcase for captains in all the leading women’s teams, yet none more so than for Suzie Bates — who has produced some of the cleanest hitting of her career, right when it matters.
“Suzie is such a quality, world class player,” says coach “Tiff”.
“She just keeps things really simple. But what we are also seeing is the players around her are stepping up as well, and that is contributing to Suzie feeling that she can play more freely.”
You can hear the echo of that when you hear Bates tell a presser, “I think we are just really confident with the players that we’ve got, and we’ve had everyone contributing throughout the tournament, which is great.”
Dubbed the “pocket grenade launcher” by an astute blogger, Leigh Kasperek is one. The 24-year-old Scot-turned-Kiwi has rocketed up 27 places in the latest women’s T20 rankings to eighth in the world, the most successful bowler of this WT20 to date, with nine economical wickets.
Moreover, the offspinner has a habit of taking them in clumps, to turn a T20 innings with just a handful of deliveries — as Australia has already discovered.
Combined with the exacting Morna Nielsen and Erin Bermingham, New Zealand’s top trio of spinners form a formidable trident.
But two wins from the dream, the WHITE FERNS refuse to get ahead of themselves.
“Every team that has made the semi-final deserves to be there”, says Tiffen. “We’re just happy that we’re there, and we will focus on whatever we need to do.”
Tiffen is expecting more pace in the deck and a fast outfield in Mumbai, which means the stage is set for an exciting contest between two sides up for a challenge.
