Photo Credit: ICC
WHITE FERNS and Central Hinds pace bowler Rosemary Mair is back after a lengthy injury layoff, eyeing a return to cricket this weekend in the Dream11 Super Smash against the Wellington Blaze.
By her own admission, Mair found missing the recent WHITE FERNS tour to England tough – having been advised a week out from departure she wouldn’t be travelling due to a stress reaction in her shin.
“The first few weeks after the news were hard mentally; I was really excited to go to England,” said Mair.
“I’d been training with the WHITE FERNS for so long which was tough, but I spent some time with family and I’m feeling a lot better now and confident in myself.”
Swallowing the hard medical advice has paid off, enabling a potential return to cricket this weekend.
“I’m really excited to be available, it’s been a long-time off the park and I’m ready to get back amongst the Hinds,” she said.
“The body is feeling good, I’m a bit nervous with the lack of preparation but at the same time I know I’ve got a lot of training under my belt, so hopefully that will pull through for me.”
Mair has also been working on her batting in her time away from the bowling crease, but was quick to shut down any talk of a promotion.
“I think you’ve got to score some runs before you can get a rise up the order,” she said.
While Mair is focussed on getting through the weekend, she also has an eye on the upcoming international season with the WHITE FERNS.
“[India’s tour here] isn’t far away, we’ve got a few summer camps with the WHITE FERNS so we’re all really pushing hard to make that squad.
“We’re all really excited about the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup here in New Zealand – we can’t stop talking about it. Not only for the cricket and hopefully performing in front of our home fans but also to inspire young girls watching us on TV – that’s a big goal for the whole team as well.”
The first steps back to the bowling (and batting) crease start for Mair this weekend and you get the sense she’s ready to make her mark on an important summer of cricket.
Summer ahead for the WHITE FERNS:
The WHITE FERNS have training camps in Mount Maunganui and Nelson ahead of a tour from India Women in February and the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup in March.
WHITE FERNS Mount Maunganui camp: December 6th-9th.
WHITE FERNS Nelson camp: January 9th-13th.
India Women tour of NZ (starts 9th February)
Schedule here
ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup (starts 4th March)
Schedule here
Name of Author: New Zealand Cricket
The New Zealand national cricket team, known as the Black Caps, made their Test debut in 1930 against England in Christchurch, becoming the fifth nation to play Test cricket. After waiting 26 years for their first Test win against the West Indies in 1956, they also played their first ODI in 1972–73 against Pakistan. New Zealand are the inaugural World Test Championship champions (2021) and have won the ICC Champions Trophy (2000). They have reached the Cricket World Cup final twice and the T20 World Cup final once.
