Cricket: Improvements required for White Ferns

Erin Bermingham of New Zealand is stumped by Alyssa Healy of Australia. Photo / Getty

Australia have once again proved to be a tricky obstacle in the path of the White Ferns' quest for cricketing supremacy.

The White Ferns' five wicket defeat this morning to their transtasman rivals has dropped them to a 1-1 record through three games of the World Cup, following their win over Sri Lanka and rained out clash with South Africa.

While increasingly competitive, New Zealand have failed to get the upper hand over the defending World Cup champions in the one day international format, and fell short once again in a game which could have ramifications on their tournament chances.

Any prospect of winning the World Cup likely involves having to overcome Australia in the knockout stage, but the White Ferns still have some ways to go to lock in a semifinal spot. The solid starts by South Africa (2-0) and India (3-0) have pushed the White Ferns into fifth spot, with four round robin games remaining.

They conclude pool play with tough contests ahead against India and England, so earning victories over the West Indies (Thursday night) and Pakistan (Saturday night) becomes pivotal.

A victory this morning would have had the Ferns sitting pretty, but they were outplayed by an Australian side who did well to restrict New Zealand to 219-9 in their 50 overs.

The White Ferns were slow from the get-go, with opener Rachel Priest mustering just eight from 30 balls. Handy contributions came from captain Suzie Bates (51 in her 100th ODI) and Katie Perkins (52), but only three others reached double digits as they were tied down by the Australian attack.

Australia had a greater array of contributors in their response, easing to 143-2 before 71 from Ellyse Perry saw them home with eight balls to spare.

Bates believes the White Ferns were short of a defendable total.

"Scoring 220 against a quality Australia side isn't quite good enough. We probably needed about 250, even with the wicket getting a bit slower at the end there."

The West Indies profile as a perfect chance for the White Ferns to rebound with a victory, having been rolled for 48 by South Africa in their last outing.

In the long haul though, Bates is adamant the top order hitters need to be firing for the White Ferns to challenge for the cup.

"For the team to be successful one of the top five needs to be getting big scores - 80s or 100s.

"If we want to get through this tournament, that has to be the key."