D'Arcy Waldegrave: One Ferns victory down, two to go

The All Sport Breakfast

White, Black, Silver.

All three of our Ferns teams started the weekend looking down the barrel of a gun.

The Silver Ferns are looking to avoid a whitewash in the Taini Jamieson series against England. Not too long ago, the prospect of the netballers losing a series at home versus the Roses wasn’t unthinkable, but it was close. Since 2022 though, the Ferns have only won four out of the eleven clashes, previously it was 93 wins to 18 and 2 draws.

Tough times. Three on the trot at home will be indicative of the shaky ground the Ferns have occupied of recent times. Out of the three sets of Ferns on display, the Silver version is probably the favourites to not lose.

The Black Ferns got wiped in WXV1 by the Irish, a team that was competing in the third-tier last year, albeit winning the WXV3 championship. It doesn’t get any easier for our world champ team as England are up next, a team that have had NZ’s measure since the famous World Cup win at Eden Park. Beyond the tyranny of the English women, the French await.

The Black Ferns are capable no doubt, but money on them to up-end the English wouldn’t be the best sporting investment you'd make. Based on the White Ferns’ rotten T20 run this year, they’d be a safer bet than the cricketers.

So, who turns up in the first of our three Ferns fixtures this weekend and pulls a comprehensive victory out of the bag? The White Ferns. Out of nowhere

This morning they took on and took apart the Indians in their opening T20 World Cup match.

They batted superbly, the bowled with authority, fielded with aplomb. After 10 consecutive T20i defeats, this was the result no-one was expecting, except the team themselves. It was the traditional strength of Sophie Devine that was the lynchpin of the victory, but the entire team turned up, including Georgia Plimmer, who has impressed, and Rosemary Mair too.

One group of Ferns with victory, two to go.

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