New Zealand women’s head coach Ben Sawyer has hailed the team’s ongoing training camp in Chennai as “an incredible experience” ahead of the upcoming Women’s ODI World Cup. The squad is practising at the Chennai Super Kings Academy, making the most of the spin-friendly conditions.
With it currently being winter back home in New Zealand, Sawyer said the camp offers invaluable preparation. “There’s no cricket in New Zealand right now, and we’re nearly two months away from the World Cup. To have this prep time in India has been amazing. We’ve brought seven contracted players and three players of interest — those we expect will play a lot of cricket in India in the future,” he told ESPNCricinfo on Sunday.
Among the players in Chennai are seam-bowling allrounder Jess Kerr and batters Georgia Plimmer and Brooke Halliday — all part of New Zealand’s victorious Women’s T20 World Cup squad last year. Emerging talents Izzy Sharp, Flora Devonshire, and Emma McLeod are also in the group.
Sawyer highlighted the importance of match exposure before the tournament. “This year it’s even more crucial because, with the FTP cycle, we’ve had no official matches since February. These three one-day games in Chennai, followed by two or three matches in Dubai against England, plus two World Cup warm-ups, mean we’ll have seven or eight games in similar conditions — that’s huge for us.”
