"I hope it's not net run rate following today's fixture," White Ferns assistant coach Jacob Oram said. "After that first-up loss to the West Indies we knew we had really tough games to come – like South Africa and England next week. It's getting to the point of must win.
"It's not an ideal situation to know that every game is potentially must win but it's where we've found ourselves by losing two out of four. That's reality, so we've got to suck it up and make sure we're able to win the rest of the games so we take the run rate out of contention and we get through based on winning games.
"We've just had a little chat with head coach Bob Carter downstairs. It wasn't one of those hairdryer moments. The proverbial happens. We didn't front up for the second half in particular today but with a game in a matter of days we need to learn from it, park it and move on. We won't face Australia again, if we do, until the semis or the final.
"In four days we've got another opponent, a must-win game, a different ground and pitch we won on a matter of three days ago so we've got to get going again."
Despite the harrowing manner of defeat to Australia, who have now won 32 of their last 33 one-day internationals and 13 straight against New Zealand, Oram felt the White Ferns were in control for the first 35 overs before Ellyse Perry, Tahlia McGrath and Ashleigh Gardner flicked the switch.
Gardner's unbeaten 48 from 18 ball onslaught – after recovering from Covid 11 days ago - propelled Australia to take 105 runs from the final 10 overs to expose the White Ferns' death blowing.
"It's a one-off game," Oram said. "We've been going OK with the ball, not great. It's a matter of learning from those mistakes. Those last 10 overs today were a problem. It's not necessarily our plans were wrong. Execution is always the hard thing to do."
Fielding is another issue. While Maddy Green's diving boundary grab was a highlight, several misfields went to the boundary and Hannah Rowe will be disappointed with her shelled catches.
"We've dropped a lot of catches this summer and we've taken some screamers," Oram said. "At the moment it's a case of two steps forward one back. We know that to go far in this tournament we need to field as consistently as we can. We're being hamstrung by mistakes, and I can only put that down to the pressure that is the World Cup stage."
The batting, though, is the discipline that suggested the expectation of a home World Cup was beginning to weigh heavy on the White Ferns' shoulders after being rolled for 128 in 30.2 overs in pursuit of 270. Darcie Brown's controlled swing claimed 3-21 but all six Australian bowlers had the upper hand as they reduced New Zealand to 35-5.
"When you lose three, four, five wickets that early you're always behind the game," Oram said. "We tried to get partnerships going but it was a bridge too far.
"This is our first real blip for the summer and we've got to make sure we remember the multitude of good things that have happened before this and we don't suddenly say it's time for changes or batters need to change their techniques or tactics. It's about learning and moving on and those eight or nine quality games are remembered rather than this one-off performance."
The White Ferns possess the experience and talent to rebound this week but the flaws Australia exposed, and the mental scars they inflicted, must be quickly banished.
