Melbourne, Feb 29 (SocialNews.XYZ) New Zealand's Leigh Kasperek is not concerned by the team's batting problems in Melbourne and is convinced that the big hitters will be upto it when needed against Australia in what would be a knockout match for both the teams in the ongoing Women's T20 World Cup.
On Saturday, the White Ferns were given an almighty scare when Bangladesh bowled them out for 91, their star-studded top order of Sophie Devine, Suzie Bates and Rachel Priest all falling for low scores for the second time in the tournament at the Junction Oval.
But Kasperek (three for 23), who combined with the impressive Hayley Jensen (three for 21) to steer her country to a tremendous comeback, believes their form in the last two fixtures is nothing but a blip and expects to see them fire New Zealand to victory against Australia.
"I don't think it's a cause for concern," said Kasperek after the match. "They'll probably be a little bit disappointed in how they've gone but they've been hitting well in training and we're lucky we've got the number one and number two batters in the world.
"I think the very fact that against both Bangladesh and Sri Lanka we've managed to get over the line proves that. Other people have been stepping up.
"You want your big players to step up in big games, so hopefully they can do that against Australia on Monday.
"We learnt a lot from how Bangladesh bowled in their innings. We went out there and tried to keep it as simple as possible, bowling straight to hit the wickets.
"Hayley and Sophie (Devine) did that really well, so credit to them. When you're defending a small total, you have to switch on more than you ever would normally and do anything you can to defend it.
"I think we were always confident we could defend it if we got them above six an over. Once we did that, we could relax a little. We had a plan and stuck to it really well."
The White Ferns were left quaking after a superb stint from Ritu Moni, but her first four-wicket haul was not enough to steer Bangladesh to a historic victory in Group A.
Her 4/18 figures were the best in the Women's T20 World Cup so far and skipper Salma Khatun kept things tight with 3/7.
Source: IANS
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